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by Lee Nell
In all likelihood, by the time
this is printed, nearly everything
that can be said about the War
will have been said again and
again. But since some students
may want to know where we
stand, we will write briefly on
the subject.
There will not be many
original thoughts in this editorial
because the war has become a
subject about which original
thoughts are immediately
rejected, and because nearly
everything has been said before.
The point is that we want this
war to end now. Not tomorrow,
not next week. NOW! We have
been bought off too many times
with promises of "as soon as
possible." And we think it's
about time that some real action
must be taken. "Soon" has
arrived.
Of course, no one wants to
see the POW's lives tossed away.
And we are not suggesting that
we pull out at the cost of the
60,000 American lives still
remaining in Viet Nam.
But the question none of the
war-promoters are thinking
about is the one of how many
more lives are being lost with
every day of continued fighting.
But here the other idea of racism
enters.
Since most of the recently
lost lives were Vietnamese, that's
OK. After all, they're less
important than the American
lives. And even if that's not a
consideration, how many of
their lives would be saved if the
war would end. And it would
end if the USA would pull out
its support.
But again, American lives arc
being lost. And if the recent
assinine step-up is not called off,
the number of American losses
will undoubtedly skyrocket. A
helicopter went down the other
day; total deaths - 32. Flow
many men are on a ship.
Multiply that by the number or
ships now within artillery range,
and it gets very grim.
So now, our inept leader asks,
for "national unity.'' In other
words, "Shut up, kids. We're
doing something you know
nothing about." Shut up
yourself, man. We're the ones
who are fighting this stinking
war.
"National unity'' liah!
pretty had when the nicest thing
one can call the President is
inept. With leadership like that,
there can he no chance of
national unity.
The problem, he says, is that
North Viet Nam the "enemy"
has invaded the south. This is a
clear violation of the 1968
The War! NOW!
1711
agreement. Without even
considering the stupidity of
agreements in a war like this, we
can repudiate that argument by
noting that the US has violated
it a number of times as well.
(Our sources say over 150
bombing missions over the north
since this agreement.) But since
those were in the interests of
freedom, that's acceptable.
Maybe this war would make
more sense (admittedly, it's
rather foolish to use the words
"war" and "sense" in the same
sentence) if we just started
calling them "gooks" and then
nuke the crap out of them. At
least then we would do what the
military has wanted to do all
along. And the administration
would not have to make up lies
or excuses to the people of the
country or of the world.
If you aren't convinced by
now that this war is a travesty
and it must end immediately, we
are not about to change your
minds in one week or even in
one year.
But we do want to say to
anyone who's listening that we
do not want any part of this
war, we never did, and we detest
the recent escalation. We are as
American as anyone else around,
and as Americans, we do not
wish to he associated with the
official US policy.
If that statement destroys
national unity, then so be it. It is
an election year, and if we want
a President who does not listen
to public opinion, who does not
think any further than the
Pengagon, who couldn't care less
what the rest of the world thinks
of our "freedom, honor and,
liberty" then, perhaps, we
deserve to return Nixon to the
White House.
But, short of doing something
that gives the police an excuse to
bust heads, we owe it to
ourselves to let our feelings be
known. The Berrigan trail
proved that free speech is still
alive even if it is rather badly
kicked around. And we can still
let our leaders know what we'
feel.
Trying to find a way to
express it is difficult with this
administration. We've tried
every thing, and nothing worked.
But we urge you not to let the
Peace movement struggle along
with only tacit support.
Write someone. Scream about
it. But let someone know
somehow that you do not want
to be a part of bombing women
and children or anyone else for
this war.
If the USA continues to call
THE CAPITOLIST
the North Vietnamese agressors
on land that they liberated from
French domination, if we
continue to bomb everyone in
sight for the purpose of
maintaining a regime which
couldn't care less about
democracy and if the
administration continues this
war for another day in the face
of mounting opinion against it,
then we might as well kiss
goodbye any chance we could
have to make this world a better
place to live.
We might have had that
chance, too. And to even think
of having it again, the price is
"national unity." We cannot
afford to increase by one more
the number of countries who
had that chance and blew it.
Letters To The Editor
Dear Students,
well boys and girls=--------we
are here again. we all get to
exercise our gawd-given
right it's s.g.a. election
time. capitol campus being the
true reflection of democracy in
action that it is, has seen fit to
arrange a political orgasm for all
of us even you
kazonka can be president .
. . provided, of course, that you
fulfill 81 7 requirements
established by the
administration via the student
government association (that
hopeless caucus of munchkin
demigods).
the great white father
administration has provided us
with the s.g.a. it is an avenue for
mature and conscienceous
communication as long as
we use their words, on their
grounds, and on their
issues or no money, sonny.
with my classic case of
paranoia, i see the s.g.a. as
another means by which the
administration can further
isolate and/or insulate the
students from the reality of their
powerlessness.
DIRECTIVE
Because of the 417,386
students on the waiting list, all
faculty residents living on Viet
Nam Avenue in Meade Heights
must move.
what possible good will come
of these few vacancies? it will
ELECTED OFFICIALS
- GODS?
or Richad M. Nixon the Omnicient!
1 was dismayed to find that
yet another presidential
commission has delivered its
report and because the
conclusions drawn do not agree
with the prejudices of our
elected officials their findings
were scorned. 1 am referring to
the c ommission on
over-population whose finding
that it is desirable to have
abortion available on demand
was denounced by the
"HONORABLE RICHARD M.
NIXON THE OMNICIENT,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA AND
WARDER OF OUR MORALS'
as an unacceptable solution.
I would like to know why
after studying problems for
months the conclusions of many
presidential commissions are
Barbary's Philosophy Class
Nixon Morally Right
Robert W. Bonaker
"President Nixon was morally
"right" when he ordered the
mining and naval blockade of
North Vietnamese harbors."
This notion was decided by a
Capitol Campus philosophy class
last week.
Dr. George F. Barbary's class,
Phil. 345, assessed Nixon's move
from a philosopher's vantage
point and concluded by a vote
of 25 to 4 that he took a
justifiable action. One student
abstained from the voting.
The class considered the
following question:
current fantasy
certainly keep the students and
teachers apart so that they can't
find out that they both have the
problem ---the
administration and its s.g.a.
junior partner.
by now i suppose you are a
little embarassed about reading
this garbage thus far well
here's the clincher . . . i offer
you an alternative to the
absurdity of electing pinocchio
to the s.g.a. presidency. i here
announce my candidacy for
non-president of your non-s.g.a.
i make no promises of change
and reform because it is
administratively impossible, and
because i am not interested
enough to bother.
all you have to do to elect me
non-president is to get out there
to the polls on election day and
don't vote. after all the votes are
counted, if the number of
students who haven't voted is
larger than the number of
students who have voted i will
proclaim myself to be your
non-president.
i have great faith that you will
make the right non-decision. i
don't have a petition, but I'm
yours just the same.
rejected offhandedly. If the
politicians "know" the answers,
why form a commission? I'm
tired of "Big Brother" telling a
woman she must have a child
just because she had the
misfortune to become pregnant
in Pennsylvania and not in New
York or in a more liberal
country. Surely some people can
afford to go to New York to
have an abortion but these are
mostly the people who can
afford to have another child.
Please!! Let's pay more
attention to the people who
have studied the problem and
less to our own personal
preconceptions. Let's try to
solve some of the great problems
facing us!
To Mine
b u ngling
ed ludwig
sponsored by:
Cattle Prods Inc
Sincerely,
Francis M. Fox
Thursday, May 18,1972
"Disregarding policies that he
might have followed in the past,
and faced with imminent danger
in Viet Nam, was the President
morally justified at the time he
made the fateful decision?" The
ethics class decided he was
justified, pointing out that the
action was intended to protect
United States troops and
Prisoners of War.
Barbary's group also
considered the ramifications of
Nixon's move in the Far East,
analyzing moral, ethical and
philosophical determinants. The
class briefly discussed possible
actions Nixon may take in the
wake in the blockade. Many
students, though, were caught
up in the constitutional aspects
of the question of the morality
of the President's policy..
The class based its discussion
on three concepts. One angle
was the assumption that Nixon
was acting from a sense of duty.
Another was that Nixon believed
that the over-all end result
would justify his move. The
third was the consideration of
the immediate situation. The
class thought that the President
was trying to balance the
concepts of good and evil by
mixing benevolence and
distributed justice.
While discussing the problem,
the student philosophers
established a list of basic areas,
each posing stumbling blocs
which the President had to
consider, while reaching his
decision. Among them were:
National and international
political ramifications,
economic, constitutional, moral,
social and military problems,
and the image of the United
States in the eyes of the nations
in the world, and the
philosophical basis of foreign
policy.
Dr. Barbary stressed that the
class consensus dealt only with
the question of the morality of
Nixon's action in the immediate
situation that faced him. "Nixon
believed that he had exhausted
all other alternatives and made
the right decision," Barbary
stated. "Yet history may prove
him wrong. Who knows, maybe
events happening as early as next
week will show that."
OUR WAY
We didn't get our way again.
By we, I mean good ole' tricky
dicky has not convinced the
North Vietnamese to
unconditionally give up their
liberation struggle. So since we
didn't we're gonna bomb,
blockade and mine. WHY???
The effectiveness of bombing is
doubtful and Richard the Great
should realize it by now; I mean
it didn't bring England to its
knees for the Germans and the
figures show that massive
bombing didn't effectively
reduce Germany's industrial
capacity. Will the USSR honor
the blockade and what if a
Russian ship hits a mine. But
here we are risking a third World
War because Dicky didn't get his
way slutin
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