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Flagpole Magazine
November 20, 1991
William Orten Carlton = CRT.
Special Correspondent For The Flagpole.
“Practice, practice makes perfect; per
fect is a fault, and fault lines change,” quoth
Some Boys We All Know. Good quote. —
Not trying to be smug, but it seems to me
that the more I write, the better I get at
saying what I think and at saying all of it. I’m
not trying to keep anyone else from having
their say, too, you understand, I’m just
working to foster some debate and to get
some ideas flowing. Hoy, just like Dr.
Nemetz. the Philosophy 104 teacher who
taught me (and how 1 ) lo those years ago (he
is dead now), I will do anything it takes to
make you think. My father, a member of the
Botany Department from 1946-1973, felt
the same way about it, too .so. in my own
way, I'm just trying to follow in his footsteps.
And if you think I think I've got all the
answers, try thinking again.
This country is getting in a colossal
mess Every day. I see more evidence of it
right here in Athens, much less considering
what's in every newspaper I pick up. The
population of homeless is rising to a propor
tion like was seen when Herbert Hoover
was in office in 1929 and the Great Depres
sion hit. Business is off virtually everywhere
but at grocery stores and funeral parlors,
because when it gets right down to it, those
two things cannot be done without and
survival continued... or discontinued, as
the case may be.
The real evidence of that, thrust into my
own life, is the fact that I have endured eight
burglaries in the last three months. It must
be kids or else young adults under 21,
because the bulk of what they have stolen
has been beer: full cans — out-of-date stuff
I was keeping as part of a can collection
begun in 1979. Some of what they grabbed
will give them colossal intestinal rebellion,
to put it mildly...too bad about that. The
beer I can live without, and the answering
machine they stole the first time, and the
turntable, and the amplifier, and the speak
ers, and the cassette deck: I can replace
everything there: no sweat. But this last
time, they also got an ancient screwdriver,
five bars of Dove soap, some barbecue
sauce, and ten cans or so of tuna fish. —
This moves me to wonder if they were really
hungry, and that's what they were after:
food. Could they have fallen through the
cracks in the system to such an extent that
they have to resort to thievery to stay alive?
Is this what things are coming to? I am truly
beginning to wonder...
Looking among the hopefuls of the
Democratic Party, it looks like nobody yet
running is a solid choice to wallop George
Bush. There is such a someone, but he has
not announced... and probably will not
unless he receives such a groundswell of
support that he has little choice but to run.
That person is Jimmy Carter.
He is elegible for election again, y'know,
to one more term. I think he is just what we
need. It is not a foolish idea for you to write
and encourage him to run: why not send a
postcard (with a favorite photo on it, even)
to: Jimmy Carter; Plains, GA. 31780. That's
all the address you need for him to receive
it, and if enough mail comes in, perhaps he
can be talked into throwing his hat into the
ring again. With the likes of Colorado's Pat
Schroeder as his Vice-Presidential mate
rial, Carter just might knee-jerk the White
House right out from under Mr. Bush. It's
worth a try, anyhow. Think about it....
A lot of good ideas come to me from
listening to Larry King's Radio Show A guy
the other night, calling from Athens, no less,
proposed two very fine ideas: 1) for an
election to be valid, 50% of the electorate
would have to vote; and 2) a box for "None
of the above " This should be included on
every ballot. — Whoever this guy is. I'd like
to shake his hand and thank him for caring
enough to call in and make those propos
als Perhaps I'll get over my stage-fnght-of-
a-sort and dial in and propose what I've just
mentioned here... but I'll say I'm calling from
Arnoldsville, GA. instead, because if I don't,
nobody ever will. I still have ap o boxthere,
so it’s not a total lie.
Perhaps in the long run we could go to
a system of electing the President to one
six-year term, then appointing the Cabinet
to staggered six-year terms in off-Presiden-
tial biennia, along with the necessary Sen
ate and House races. This would force the
parties to have to work together a third and
two-thirds of the time, whether they wanted
to or not. Then add a provision requiring all
appointments to have a two-thirds margin
to pass We then could retain the Electoral
College system and not have to worry as
much about the effect it has on the selection
of the Chief Executive. After that, perhaps a
system of ''drafting" people into the govern
ment like we have done into the military in
case of emergency would come about
simply put, don’t re-elect anyone. All Sena
tors and Congressfolks would be first-
termers. and let it go at that. Is that too far
fetched 7 In a University, tenure is inevi
table: in government, it is not. New Hamp
shire has over 300 members of the State
House, the largest in the country, it is a
representative sample, from what I'm told,
and William S. Loeb (late editor of the only
Sunday paper in N. H at the time, the
Manchester Union-Leader) was never able
to pack it... do I hear "One person, one
vote" coming home to roost yet 7
Listen, we did away with the County Un t
System in Georgia in the 1960's: now u r -
bamtes have their just power, instead cf
Fulton County possessing only five times as
many votes as Taliaferro County, pop
1,965.. Georgia's smallest. If we can clean
up Georgia (at least to that extent), then we
can clean up our Federal Government be
fore it cleans us up in the process.
And let me stress that I find nothing
inherently wrong with the system we now
have: it's just that it IS a dynamic system, not
a static one. However, ours is still a country
governed largely by middle-aged men who
lack a lot of vision and this isn't the way the
machine was designed to run.
If one person takes to heart one thing
I've said here and grows and goes on with
it his or her own way, I will be thrilled
speechless. We need you. Thanks
And I hope each and every one of you
has a most Happy Thanksgiving Take
good care of yourselves going and coming,
and we’ll see you after you gobble, gobble
(30.)
Ours is still a country governed
largely by middle-aged men
who lack a lot of vision...
LocaI CoIor
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