"America is not the citadel of virtue it would have the world believe" - UMBC Police Public Information Officer Frank Wiley

Election

To the editor:

The Presidential Election: Here we go again

The political philosophy of the nation is unconscionable. The Reagan Administration has polarized the country. The country is split along racial lines and, to some degree along socio-economic class too. The election results indicate that the country does not desire fairness, equality, and justice. The compassionate presidency is an ideal whose time has yet to come. The Reagan Administration will not even address, much less satisfy the needs of the disadvantaged and the underprivileged. The real issue was not about taxation, defense, or inflation.

The election was a referendum on America's current political philosophy. Was America prepared to embrace all of its citizens to share with them the country's wealth and power? It was not. Civil rights, affirmative action, and equal opportunity are all threatened. The conservative social mood which led to civil unrest in the sixties is present again. Mr. Reagan speaks of moving forward—but who's kidding whom?

The result could be social instability. The seeds of frustration are already present in urban communities. These are people—black, white, and brown—left out of the policy making mainstream. The spirit of intolerance clearly demonstrated by Reagan policies will fertilize the frustration. Jesse Jackson could be the galvanizing agent who fuels the explosion. (That is, peaceful resistance of course!)

America is not the citadel of virtue it would have the world believe. When its electorate sends archconservatives Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond, and Ronald Reagan to high office—people who clearly desire to abridge the civil rights of many of its citizens.

Where is the quality of America's integrity?

The election speaks for itself. The winner, in Clark Clifford's world, The Amiable Dunce—overwhelmingly!

The United States. Are we really the United States?

Frank Wiley

The Retriever. November 13, 1984: 6. [Emphasis on "United" in original.]

Jesse Jackson's January 1984 anti-Semitic remarks soured many people on his 1984 Presidential campaign (if not the man entirely), but not Jackass "Frank" Wiley!

Wiley's remarks about civil rights are quite ironic given how eager he has been at UAlbany to violate them.