Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Thu, Apr 23 1992 Date: Thu, 23 Apr 92 05:38:05 EDT Message-ID: 04-23 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update April 23, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Thursday morning in USA TODAY: King; Budget; Communitarianism. TODAY'S DEBATE - RODNEY KING: USA TODAY'S OPINION: A jury will deliver its verdict soon for four Los Angeles police officers in last year's taped-beating of Rodney King. But communities across the nation must reject the arguments by attorneys for the L.A. four that the officers were just doing their jobs in bashing King 56 times with batons, kicking him six times, breaking his leg and busting an eye socket. Such police brutality violates conscience. It wastes resources. And it degrades the 95% of police who do their jobs without excessive force. But communities too often tolerate it. A Gannett News Service study of 100 police brutality lawsuits found only five of 185 officers involved lost their jobs while 19 gained promotions - despite their communities being stuck with $92 million in payments to brutality victims. ... The job of the police is to battle crime, not beat on heads. OTHER VIEW: LLEWELLYN H. ROCKWELL JR., editor of the Rothbard-Rockwell Report of the Center for Libertarian Studies, Burlingame, Calif.: If four Los Angeles police officers are convicted of being mean to Rodney G. King, street criminals will be wearing party hats and good cops will be afraid to do their jobs. King, an ex-con with a long arrest record, speeded at 115 mph through suburban neighborhoods. When the cops stopped him, the muscular, 250-pound perpetrator danced maniacally, made sexual advances toward a policewoman and refused to do as he was told. The police had good reason to think King was on PCP, even though he was simply an alcohol consumer of historic proportions. Did he have a gun? He wouldn't let himself be frisked. The cops tried to subdue him with an electric stunner, but he was unaffected, something cops rarely see. Then they struck him with their batons. It took 56 knocks to arrest him. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON LAWS GUARANTEEING A BALANCED BUDGET: GREEN BAY, Wis., Michelle Schaetz, 26, receptionist: I don't know if it would guarantee it, but something needs to be done. I think the middle class is being stepped on and the rich need to be taxed more. I think I'd be willing to put up with more taxes and spending cuts because something needs to be done. LACANADA, Calif., Robert Latta, 58, executive director: My company has a budget, and our trustees won't allow us to go into a new fiscal year without a balanced budget. For the government to do anything it wants without constraint and failing to put curbs on the budgeting process is not the reality of life. CHARLOTTE, N.C., Lovie E. Davis, 55, ret. foreign serv. off.: Of course, it's an ideal, but I think it's going to be very difficult for them to reach a balanced budget. Unfortunately, I don't have any confidence that it is ever going to happen. We tend to forget the Gramm-Rudman effort was ignored. CONROE, Texas, R. Vanwassehnova, 35, accountant: It seems like that's the only way they're going to do it. They had Gramm-Rudman a couple of years ago, and that didn't work. Everyone will have to cut back a little bit, but you've got to start somewhere. You just can't keep spending and spending. WASHINGTON, D.C., Christine Riddiough, 45, environ. organizer: I'm skeptical. It's a mechanistic response to a political issue. We need to go back to progressive taxation. Now, the well-to-do get away with paying almost no taxes. Congress wants to get around taking the hard steps by passing a balanced-budget amendment. TOPIC - COMMUNITARIANISM: AMITAI ETZIONI, professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and author of 14 books and numerous articles, was interviewed by USA TODAY's Richard Benedetto. ARE THE POLITICAL LABELS, LIBERAL, CONSERVATIVE, BECOMING OUTMODED? They are outmoded. When it comes to freedom of speech, enforcement of law, public safety, the family and schools, we find it better to talk about authoritarians who want to impose their moral solution on everybody, libertarians who oppose any voice other than that of the individual, and communitarians who want new moral standards reached through consensus. WHAT DO COMMUNITARIANS WANT? It's a new social movement that seeks to restore the moral infrastructure, a concern for the family, moral education in schools, building of the national community and a cleaning up of the legislatures. SO THE COUNTRY'S PROBLEMS ARE ROOTED IN A DECLINE OF MORAL VALUES? Right. In the '50s, you had institutions that were well in place but somewhat authoritarian, where you were supposed to do what you were told and not ask questions. They were very discriminating against women and minorities. AND PEOPLE REBELLED AT THAT IN THE '60S? In the '60s, we attacked all those institutions, from the family to the church to labor unions. In the '80s, we added to that a celebration of greed and self-centeredness. And by the late '80s, we had an enormous moral vacuum. Lots of people now feel we need to restore values but not go back to the '50s. Issues & Debate Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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