Show October 27 1994 Page 3 Socialist’s exclusion shows flaws of traditional politics by Matthew Stannard Asst Director of Forensics There are in fad three candidates not two on the ballot running for the Third District Congressional seat The “mysterious" third candidate is Barbara Greenway representing the Socialist Workers Party Greenway a longtime fighter for the rights of workers and women has no illusions about the viability of the political system in America By her own admission she does not expect to win and is running to increase exposure of the socialist alternative— an alternative that rejects traditional politics altogether in favor of a new government run democratically by workers and farmers instead of big business and their paid puppets Understandably Greenway has received little attention from the big business media It is less forgivable however that public television stations have refused to include Greenway in televised debates The soon to be televised KURD debate between Bill Orton and Dixie Thompson and the KBYU debate between those same candidates later this week will both exclude a legal balloted candidate on grounds that arc at best dubious and at worst cynical and politically motivated There arc several reasons why Greenway should have been included in these debates first she has collected the necessary signatures and paid the $ I (XX) fee to appear on the ballot So from a legal standpoint she is no different than Orton or Thompson Second Greenway is the only other candidate on the ballot which distinguishes her from write-i- n independents or unsupported political crackpots The logistical difficulties of including one more candidate would be minimal at best— another chair a little more time Finally Green way should have been included because it is the responsibility of public television to tell the whole story We are told that stations like KUFD and KBYU exist to provide an alternative to commercial television one which unlike commercial television does not insult the intelligence of its viewers by pretending that our choices — political or otherwise — are limited to a couple of packaged deals Instead public television ought to aspire to show all sides of the political situation And many people myself included feel that Greenway represents precisely the side that needs to be heard In their defense KUFD personnel make many arguments which scarcely distinguish them from privately owned commercial stations — and that is a scary thought Their basic position hinges on resources: time and money Director Ken Verdoia in a letter to Greenway and a personal conversation with this writer cites the need to create an objective standard for inclusion which KUFD meets through employing local opinion polls and establishing a cutoff point of live percent support for a candidate by name n Apart from the unreliability and political slanting of such polls there is one important reason why the “on the ballot” standard is preferable: In a democracy debate and exposure arc supposed to prceedc political decisions like voting Instead by establishing artificially consistent criteria such as public opinion polls conducted prior to the election KUFD is essentially deciding the outcome of the election or at least who the “relevant” candidates are So Green way wlm with her message and approach could sway many more voters than are currently aware of her is left without the chance to do so simply because she failed to do so well-know- US soldiers maintain peace in Haiti while political war wages on at home initially Why that initial failure? Verdoia admitted to me it was probably because she did not have the money to bus things like billboard ads or television time Get llic picture? By using early public opinion polls Kl 'ED cannot avoid favoring the most wealthy candidates and because of this a legal honafide balloted candidate has no chance to get her message out Kl'FI) also cited limited air time They reason that if there were say 10 or 12 candidates on the ballot there would be no possible way to cover them all “Would you have us do an eight hour debate " Verdoia asked me Obviously there would be many ways to accommodate multiple candidates (has Mr Verdoia read up on Furopean politics lately?) One could cut (lie number of actual questions asked to candidates and allow greater response time 'fhe debates could be split with different sets of candidates on different programs And in any event there are only three candidates on this ballot and seldom more than around ft veon most Utah stale ballots Surely politics warrant more than a scarce miserly hour on public television Ironically Grcenway's message the socialist message is that decisions in our society arc made by someone besides you and me — by the people who own everything and have the power to silence us by withholding our access to communication (along with food housing and medical care) When public television assumes the same role the distinction between the state and corporate America becomes pretty fuzzy KUFD and KBYU should remember who they profess to serve and working folks should remember to gel upset when one of our own is denied her legally obtained democratic rights - ifge&p?'-- by Carl Rowan King Features Syndicate Well Lt Gen Raoul Cedras and the other bad boys of (Ik Haitian junta have fled and the elected “man of the masses” Father Aristide has returned to power Jean-Bertra- Ordinary Americans arc saying “Whew!" or "Thank God!" But there are clusters of Americans w ho hate in I laiti Bill Clinton and former president Jimmy Carter so blindly that they still hope for a bloody blow-u- p They do not want a recently unthinkable foreign policy success to get in the way of the Republicans taking control of the US Congress So they still yearn secretly for the arrival of some body bags full of Americans And there arc avid supporters of Clinton and Carter who pray that disaster is not just one or two US blunders away So they arc pounding us with myriad “wisdoms" about w hat the US occupiers must do to avert political tragedy Much of what I am reading flows out of the condescending nature of Americans (Democrats and n Repuhlieans) who have been listening to Ik' recent drivel of those who insist that we teach our that we have “the greatest society in human history” So Americans now have the gall to tell Fatkr Aristide how he must avoid letting Haiti’s wretchedly poor masses lord it over the island's wealthy class which has ken dominant for almost 2(X) years Our CIA spy would side with the poor people w ho voted masters have waged a secret war against Aristide out of fear that for him Spies forbid! OPERKtlOH UPHOLD DEMOCRACY Insofar as class warfare goes we should find contentment in the fact that Haitians are just like North J American Yankees Remcmkr why for generations tk most important committees of Ik US Congress were kaded by Tkodorc Bilbo and James Fastland of Mississippi FugencTalmadgc of Georgia and others was just a referendum among from the former slave stales They held power not only by denying real citizenship to black Americans but by effectively denying the ballot to poor whiles Getting tkir privileged class Haitian dictators may have learned a lesson from the Southern barons supposedly wiping out race and economic class as determining factors in tk allocation or political power We may feel superciliously superior to Haitians now that we passed the Voting Rights Act of But do not forget that our Supreme Court is right now trying to resolve biller disputes in which people who used to gerrymander districts to prevent blacks from king elected to anything are now crying that redistricting that gives blacks a chance to wield power in Congress is “unconstitutional” Haiti does remain a perilous place full of challenges that Americans will not understand and cannot control to perfection The only things our occupiers can do with reasonable safely is to impose enough luck control to prevent a blood hath of stupid retribution— and give enough food medicine and hope to ordinary Haitians to give democracy a chance The rest will school-childre- k fezS-- l3 k Gas Wells The impact study is in Ik drafting stage An opportunity for public planned for the first part of I993N (Sun Adiwate) input will In a memo to Daryl Trotter in the Moah office of tk BLM from Carbon County commissioners Milovich Brcinholt and Krompcl outlined comments and concerns about the scoping process for tk Coal Bed Methane Environmental Impact Statement Their concerns include: Questions of reclamation logistics for example: who is liable if tk company should go bankrupt k Let your voice be heard Tht Etglt InvitM students faculty and members of the community to submit their letters to the editor guest viewpoint articles and political cartoons Ad works must have the persons full name and a number where they can be reached Editor will provide anonymity of opinions under special circumstances The Elgin reserves the right to edit any letters Art work must be In Ink and nonretumabls concerns in respect to vegetation wildlife and human aspects Hindrance to the Fairground Rille Range and model airplane airfield Traffic which may require additional widening intersection sinage reconstruction and enforcement activities Seeding us part of reclamation and tk promotion of plants by the well sites Tky also questioned Ik overall management issues such us imwildlife vegetation recreation and overall Environmental non-knefici- al socio-econom- ic pacts The issue of methane gas drilling in lricc and its surrounding areas reflect a pragmatic application of analysis and sustain ability Ewcrt questioned Ik very nature of capitalist gains and tk ignorance of thought which promotes short-terlong-tercosts to future generations This is a quickly developing issue which is quite comprehen cosi-kncf- m m it sive— not just statewide but nationwide This article while lengthy merely scratcks tk surface of understanding and ikies not profess to any more Tk outcome of this issue will rely on how wc handle the information we have ken given In tk opinion of tkse two writers tk facts speak for themselves quite convincingly What Iky say to you is relative but wkn the lime comes listen asked as a community I low wc At the start of next year we will feel about the expansion of River Gas and Anadaiko into our communities as permanent resiilents Make sure you enjoy your new neighbors mil just for the small fawns but for the stay Wkn talking to I loshiko of Greelley he had one warning "do not trust anyone We have found no hope from tk government the SicrraCiubor the companies tkmselves II you want results it will the community watch-dogroups that have tk impact and even road Good luck” Talk to your county a long then it will still commissioners read tk literature from the BIM and other sources afraid to say mi because once Iky and most importantly do not are kre Iky are here to slay k k k g k k |