The Oklahoma Daily (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 64, No. 89, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 19, 1978 Page: 8 of 12
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viewpoints
editorial
your opinion
Missed
Ambiguity
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point
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lotter Hilar:
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letters policy
Nor-
DOONESBURY
by Garry Trudeau
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fellow humans?
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quotes and comments
By S.G. kinefrock
Inflation vexing
- letter to editor
might lead
>
The Oklahoma Dail
Night Editors
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h
/ do behese that the young people in our state are
looking for consistency in the way w e as adults handle
affairs that come to public notice, and therefore base
their lives and future deportment.
Davtf G. Drumright
Norman rewdeai
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U a* nr Singleierry
Editor
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After the Magna Carta, a slow development took
form, which was quite successfully grafted into
American law m the colonies, this led to having a consis
tent application of the law from king to king, from
judge to judge, being changed by precise processes
which were generallv immune from the vagaries of a
single individual's own point of view.
I
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I a
J.
Warren Leighton, Ed Howard
_ _ Richard Newsome
Copy Chiefs Ellen Cooper Richard Newsome
Newseditors/Layout Robyn Duke. Susan Jackson
u Joyce Peterson
Editorial Supervisor ......... Charles T House
H> S.G. tiaefreck
Law, justice inconsistent
sty.
ba
The onslaught of Watergate drew America's attention
to what they had long harbored as an imprecise suspi-
cion. that the law differed according to the individual
and individuals involved, starting with the defendant
the help and aid of public confidence A little consisten-
cy , leading to greater citizen cooperation, would do fat
mote against crime and lawlessness than scads of black
and white units could hope to do.
Letters to the editor should be typed double space and signed
OU students must include hometown, classification and student ID number
others must include appropriate identification
That woman had a far more profound point than she
might have realized Her narrowly aimed assertion has
far reaching significance for the entirety of government
throughout the land The need for consistency in ap-
plication of the law and the general mores of society and
industry is an overwhelming one, something which
needs to be ground into the minds of every adult in
America
The very nature of the hw is based on the idea of the
Rule of Law. as opposed to the Rule of Man. starting
with the Magna Carta, the law of Anglo-Saxon culture
from Britain to America is centered around the rules be
tng based on a written, uniform law applied without
regard to the individual coming before the bar of justice.
In earlier times, justice resided in the Rule of Man.
that is, dependent on what particular man filled the
position of king or judge; the definition of "proper"
and acceptable behavior could and did change with the
passage of the office holder Accordingly, the status of
the law and its definitions changed form like sand dunes
in shifting winds, with never a precise, year-to-year
definition
The people were usually confused, apathetic and
cynical, prone to believe that it was not their own ac-
tions which were ever at fault, but merely the result of
what person happened to fill a particular office of
“justice ”
The U.S. is playing an ambiguous and dangerous role
tn the latest efforts toward peace tn the Middle East.
The Carter administration has once again failed to
establish a clear stand favoring either side on such im-
portant and basic issues as Israel’s 11-year occupation
of former Arab lands and the possible establishment of
a Palestinian state, during Egyptian and Israeli negotia-
tions.
This ambiguity has added confusion to the Middle
East powder keg. w here the struggle for land and power
by Egypt. Israel, the Palestinians and neighboring coun-
tries threatens to explode at any moment. It also con-
tributed to U ednesday’s breakdown of negotiations be-
ing conducted in Jerusalem
President Carter himself seems to lead the pack for
vagueness on the issues. On one hand Egyptian Presi-
dent Anwar Sadat has said that he is “very happy" that
his views and those expressed by Carter are "identical,"
and on the other. Israel’s Prime Minister Menahem
Begin has come away from his talks with Carter possess-
ing the same beliefs.
Even Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, after par-
ticipating in the initial phase of the latest peace talks this
week, issued such equivocal statements as how he was
glad the leaders of the two countries had shown
"courage and wisdom” by "sweeping aside the barriers
that for so long separated Arabs from Israelis.”
Statements like that can be expected after Sadat’s
historic visit to Israel, but certainly not after the various
sides have sat down to work out specifics of the final
peace plan
This is a critical time for what may be one of the epic
stages in the history of the Middle East. U.S. officials
should take a stand for either side, quit playing the mid-
dle man and use its influence to gam a final and lasting
peace in the Middle East.
Ma/7 letters to The Oklahoma Daily 860 Van vieet Oval 137Copeiano Han
man, Oklahoma 73019 Deliver letters to iff Copeland Hall
( 7 mu riym fu 9011 tna conoenn leffors according
to space limitations and the editor s /udgment Letters should deal with issues
and not personalities
• ANDnoai,mar
^UAJUCf ADO, Tf*
HUNCt Of 60NW-
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Simple toying around with an electronic calculator
• uh a K key function (constant factor memory) led me
to discover what is most likely standard knowledge
among economists. This discovery is perhaps the reason
for that field of study being called the “dismal science ’’
The subject is inflation, something vexing and bother-
some to those in college, but perhaps not often perceiv-
ed to be a true threat to individuals or society But it is a
different thing entirely when one uses the K key to find
what a given constant inflation rate would lead to in 10
or 20 years.
At the minimal rate, long since gone from reality, of
only three per cent per year, one leaving college today
with an income of $14,000 would need, in 10 years, an
income of $18,816 (a 34 per cent increase) to match the
original salary’s purchasing power That doesn’t seem
much, perhaps even a logical necessity The 20-year
figure is a bit more astonishing $25,284 tan 80 per cent
increase)
The problems multiplies over the years, obviously,
but one must remember these figures are only for a three
per cent per annum rate, something long since gone
from the American and world economic scene, passing
with poddle-skirts and bobby sox of the Fifties and Ike's
quiet presidency
Today ’s inflation rates range from a now benign six
per cent all the way up to the double-digit rates of 11
and 12 per cent. Beginning with the same starting wage
9000 6JLNIN6.
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tnotcr n. ifaesno
INAh THC HAVFU
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of $14,000 (today’s median income, and a typical star
ting point for many college grads,) the 10-year rates are
astounding, and even more so for the 20-year rates
Absorbing these figures is more striking as one con-
siders the ramifications in planning for college educa-
tion for future children, keeping up after retirement,
maintaining pace during working years and other dismal
considerations. Indeed, this science and associated
disciplines is depressing and mimical to most American
perceptions
But a little curiosity can sometimes lead to revelation
and perhaps even comprehension and maturity in the
polity. Something which would perhaps be a true civic
service by the calculator distributors would be to include
instructions on the use of the K-key function as a tool in
flation^atV f“tUre *,th respecl 10 1 8nen “>
This sort of "crystal ball" function might lead
Americans to peruse the economic element of politics
more closelv than is currently the case.
In the meantime, remember the next time the astoms
mg number of 12 per cent inflation comes up, that
means that before a daughter graduates from college,
today's job-entry salary of $14,000 will have to rise to
$135,000 in 20 years.
Encouragin' ain’t it!
Your - editorial on prisons in the
Jan 13 Dails misses the point in several
ways
First Prisons are almost universally
ruled through a symbiotic arrangement
between the ruling class among the
prisoners and the legalh constituted
authorities No amount of "fortifica
lion and augmentation" will change the
basic fact the members of the ruling
class are sharing power with the guards
and administrators at the expense of
those prisoners who have less nsonev,
phvsKal prowess or syndicate influence
Part of that power is sometimes the right
to escape without hindrance.
Second The goal of the court suit on
overcrowding was not simph to get
more prisons built but also to compel
Oklahoma's government to consider
alternatives to imprisonment Judge
Luther Bohanan. to his everlasting
credit, admitted that he understood the
issue in that wav but that reduction of
overcrowding was his most available
legal handle on the issue
Third The use of imprisonment is
part of the punitive cultural tradition
that prevails in this part of the I S The
punitive tradition emoutages a kind of
over simplified one trask response that
not only ignores the vast complexity of
human behavior, but n in itself un
worthy of the great problem solving
ability of the human kind
If one is driving an auto, should he
respond to every hazard and problem by
accelerating’ And if acceleration
doesn't remove the hazard, should he
accelerate still more’ Totally absurd
Yet society in its response io criminal ac
none is precisely as stupid as such a
driver When prison doesn't solve the
problem of criminality, our answer is
more prison
W hen a currently used hypothesis «
failing abvvmalh. and there is a mcreas
mg body of admitted!* uxowcluMve but
highly promising results coming in from
alternate hypotheses, the human (as op-
posed to instinct like) response should
be to experiment, to try some of the
alternate methods, la the hope of
abating tome of society 's miseries
How can we be so wowdrowslv
perimental in our approach to.
engineering problem*, and
vubhumanls obtuse m oui dealings with
and ending with the personal preferences of the par
titular judge and or jury, as well as intervening factors
such as the prosecuting attorney » perspectne and the
role of individual poke investigator*
Watergate brought all that home, in a single national
"’Jh *sZ
X m2'luIE’L0'ner)elemn"and*evelol
society Many, like the letter writer, are able to onl*
scratch the surface of what they instinctively feci is ail
gov eminent and publu justice.
.. Defining justice is default, and it is often stated that
justice is illegal by a noted member of the Oklahoma
^ ^mumty Marion Opala His nonon* point
JUS B * infd dlf,ereni>y *1 each individual,
“ n<M **uce' bul in’tead some
sort of law But inherent in any definition of justice
by a thinking man (the "reasonable man" idea of the
law), is that of some sort of consistency of application
dXdiTi ‘i FT’ ,r°m Judgf 10 Jud,e and ,,om
Oevenum io defendant
Ed,’or ■ ■ - Wayne Singleterry
Managing Editor Teresa Terrell
Assistant Managing Editor Lisa Southerland
Entertainment Editors Laura Mecoy. Ellen Cooper
Sports Editor......................Brian Stanley
. W JTML S* O/fKW: AMCFM VWWUMy MMfllslirM, fl If*
tfuXK THATS
A UTTLf HOWL. I
SHAtcrSlU, JUST HOPf
ZONkXX HOSKASOc
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Op.nrt., ,O mi M w, MH W mhu. -a ... ■
lh* <H Uoir<ftffy of Ofelahomt Mminittfaboc
ch, respoAteb.iify •.nanca- ot)».g«t.ors tncuned on
aenait at tm OtHir tM *wmoraai»on ol im oi Stuoen.
honj
Taiephones-eduorwi IZSyeax fa.io,,*, Supewsor JZS-msz Business Osss^ea
O'SPU» *<J»»rTis.nfl J2S-2M1
Anything which moves the basic elements of our
judKial system from this idea breeds diwespect for tk
aw and for the courts and also causes bitterneL among
those who might otherwise reform their wavs if the*
rffldered" * <fonv,"ced 'hal lhfir »<«« m life was not
rendered so dismal as the result of mere bad luck The
jails are full of occupants who are consinced that they
simply drew the short straw in a big poker game of life
But long before the effect reaches the
cbeaieie, it erodes general citizen confidence in the
o gans of justice Their perception is that there is a lack
much i ‘Zh , lpp‘ka,l0n of “* <h« far too
much ts left to chance and luck. According*
lawlessness is on the rise, both overtly and <o*ertk
Only when general confide we and respect is restored
wll the bulk of the citizenry be convinced to support
and aid the forces of the law They will not do so until
they teel their help will be well placed.
THf OKI AHOMA l> All Y. Norman. Oklaboma
Tburvda*. Jimn l«. 1'78
r
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Singleterry, Wayne. The Oklahoma Daily (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 64, No. 89, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 19, 1978, newspaper, January 19, 1978; Norman, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1829888/m1/8/: accessed July 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center.