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NORTHWEST HERALD Section B Tuesday, August 13,198$ Page 3 Opinion Political shootout at Boise WASHINGTON (UPI) - Last week in Boise, Idaho, the nation's governors in all their majesty were holding one of their typical high-minded national conferences when, as the saying goes in mixed company, the peanut butter hit the far). Suddenly, the National Gover­ nors' Association, which prides it­ self on its membership's record of bipartisan cooperation, became a cockpit of snarling politicians. At one point, the majority Demo­ crats boycotted the climatic wind- up session of the conference and even muttered threats to sabotage the organization's tradition of al­ ternating the NGA leadership be­ tween the parties by refusing to vote for Republican Lamar Alex­ ander of Tennessee, the designated 1985-86 chairman. What caused all this angst? The Democrats claimed it was a six- page letter over the signature of President Reagan soliciting 1986 campaign funds for the Republi­ can Governors' Association. The Democrats objected violent­ ly to claims in the letter that Dem­ ocratic governors raise taxes while Republican governors cut them and that the Democrats, who hold 34 governorships to the GOP's 16, represent "the last unchal­ lenged stronghold of the liberal 'tax and spend' philosophy that nearly brought America to her knees." It is true that such a representa­ tion of Democratic governors is generally off the mark. Even in the North and especially in the West, Democratic governors tend to be more conservative than many of the party's members of Congress. Democratic governors who move on to the Senate also seem to be relatively conservative, as witness James Exon of Nebras­ ka, David Boren of Oklahoma, Wendell Ford of Kentucky and others. In any case, the Democratic gov­ ernors in Boise were furious about Arnold Sawislak the Reagan letter, pointing out that all but one of their number had a balanced state budget in 1985, in sharp contrast to the presi­ dent, and that while some of them had raised taxes, so did a number of GOP governors, including Alexander. The Republican governors at Boise defused the flap over the Regan letter by promising to stop sending it out (120,000 copies had been mailed) and declaring that they did not mean to be unfair to anyone. That was some distance from the apology the Democrats originally demanded, but it saved enough face to accept. Actually, it probably wasn't the letter that upset the Democrats so much as what it represented -- the entry of the national Republican Party into state campaign fund- raising. The national GOP has expanded its prodigious mail order fund-rais­ ing machinery in recent years to help congressional candidates, but until now, Republican governors and GOP candidates for the job have been pretty much on their own in the campaign finance area. There have been some expensive gubernatorial contests in recent y&rs, but in many states it costs far less to run for governor than for the Senate, or in some cases, the House. There is no doubt that a $5 million national Republican war chest for governorship campaigns could be use to make a significant impact in some of those states. The Democrats at Boise claimed they were concerned about retain­ ing the bipartisan spirit of the NGA. They may have received sat­ isfaction from the Republicans on that issue (if it ever was an issue), but they still have the problem of dealing with a whole new factor in the political arena. (Arnold Sawislak is a senior editor for United Press International) National editorial sampler St Louis Globe-Democrat P»r fbose * who still harbor fairy tale illusions about the totalitarian intent of the Sandi- nista government in Nicaragua, or its growing ability to impose a rigid communist stamp on the country they are so expertly mis­ ruling right now, the following tale of "agrarian reform" should be instructive. ... In early June the government mounted a campaign of public agi­ tation for the takeover of various privately held lands in the Masaya area. Top Sandinista officials be­ gan cranking up the ideological machinery for the move. Mean­ while, all news reports of the threatened confiscation, including denunciations of the move by crit­ ics, were conveniently scrubbed out of the pages of the fiesty inde­ pendent daily, La Prensa. Any further questions about the wonders of agrarian reform, Marxist-style?" Los Angeles Herald Not content with crippling Cu­ ba's ecomony, Fidel Castro is after bigger game: He wants Latin American and Caribbean nations to stop payment on the $360 billion they owe collectively to various governments and foreign banks -- mostly American. ... if Castro's debt-war ever oc­ curred, he would likely be a con­ scientious objector: He has as­ sured Western banks holding his IOUs that Cuba will pay. Still, the last thing America's banking industry needs is for the rest of Latin America to follow Castro's hypocritical advice. In part because of bad international loan portfolios, more banks failed in 1984 than in any year since the Depression. If Latin debtors repu­ diated their' huge debts, things would quickly get messy. It is possible to feel some sympa­ thy for Latin America's plight. Al­ though the region's financial prob­ lems are largely due to mismanagement and corruption, other factors -- including reces­ sions, rising interest rates during the 1980s and the unprecented strength of the dollar -- also contributed. WjPoin&Qu;?-- §> 5NIES liVsS ® iSTtfELV ©eXiMfoliSAiTo To vmi mux// w NORTHWIST HERALD "Government is a mo­ nopoly. It it the oddest, the biggest, the best estab­ lished, the most enduring, and the most extensive monopoly that this country or any country has ever had." LeeLoevinger ROBERTA. SHAW Editor and Publisher LEONARD M. INGRASSIA Executive Editor STEVEN H. HUNTER Marketing Director MICHAEL E.MORSCH News Editor/Regional DENNISM. McNAMARA Editorial Page Editor RONALD L.STANLEY Circulation Director UNq 1NES5A BEAT IT, BUDCVl WE DONT SERVE VOURTyPE™ bar41> % 1 % V/WY? //' / - torn try "y Y es, hang the traitors A few years ago I was asked if I would publicly debate before a Southern legislature a prominent American who has devoted much of his time to the cause of abolition of capital punishment. It was to be a very big televised affair de­ signed to move the politicians of that state, who were divided on the issue, one way or the other. I declined. I did so because there are causes one defends which causes never­ theless leave one uncomfortable in the role of advocate. In recent months I have gradually inclined to the position that we cannot suc­ ceed, unless we give up liberal democratic practices, in eliminat­ ing street drugs, and that there­ fore we are probably better off licensing the drugs and mounting huge campaigns against their use. The result has been, once again, invitations to advocate on public media the legalization of drugs; which invitations again I have de­ clined. It is one thing to make the case for a particular reform, an­ other to identify oneself as an ac­ tivist in such a cause. If memory serves, there is a law somewhere in the dusty archives of the Connecticut code dating back to the 17th century that speci­ fies hanging for the crime of sod­ omy. I would not spend a major part of my public hours arguing for the repeal of that law. But I think that as regards capi­ tal punishment I would leave my typewriter, and argue -- advocate -- capital punishment for traitors. I have in mind that passel of dirty human beings who are being tried for turning over to the Soviet Union the keys to American secu­ rity. Of course they should have a fair trial. But if they are found guilty as charged, they should be executed. This is said only in part in reac­ tion to the magnitude of their of­ fense. The recommendation issues also out of considerations of pru­ dence. Imprisoned traitors are at the very least attractive nui­ sances; at most, the cause of ter­ rorism and kidnapping. Israel has several times debated the dilem­ ma: The Israeli constitution for­ bids capital punishment except for Adolph Eichmann. And so innocent people die -- as the result of the efforts of others to pry loose guilty people. And there is the further point: Spies and terrorists tend to live long lives in the 20th century because amnesties are in mode, and, as often as not in the volatile governments of the Third World, this month's traitor is next month's hero.- Lloyd's of London probably has especially cheap life insurance rates for Bolivian politi­ cal plotters. _ - IHPT ' ' ' • • • Y J William F. Buckley But one returns to the crime itself. Every society should hold some things terminally unforgiv­ able. And such a thing is treason: patricide. It is less than healthy that there is really less than what one would think of as wholesome indignation against this new slate of traitors. In England a dozen years ago the Daily Telegraph gave to Lord Birkenhead to review the autobiography of Kim Philby, the British traitor who gleefully consigned to death any number of British patriots, and wrote now blithely about what he had done. Birkenhead, who in his youth was arguably Britain's greatest (and wittiest) lawyer, concluded his review: 'We shall never know how many agents were killed or tortured as a result of Philby's work as a double agent, and how many operations failed. He is now safe in Russia, and we must, alas, abandon any wistful dream of seeing this little carrion gibbeted." And Birken­ head finished with an observation that haunts us for its applicability to modern America. "One has, also alas, the feeling that if Mr. Philby were to reappear in fin- gland, he would go over to Oxford or somewhere to lecture on the transcendental cause he served, and be instantly acclaimed as a prophet of the new and the sublime." No doubt about it. The traitor Alger Hiss writes a solemn indict­ ment of the excesses of ftfeatgan&m in the letters column o(f$arperls magazine. Flag-burning parties, so popular during the Vietnam years, are by no means extinct. There is more felt indignation in America over apartheid than over treason in the Navy, let alone ex­ cesses in Afghanistan. One has the feeling that in executing Ethel And Julius Rosenberg, the United States used up its entire reservoir of capital energy. And yet, and yet ... What would be the response if a call came in to Congress to execute American traitors? We have such a law, ap­ plying only to the theft of atomic secrets. There are few if any atom­ ic secrets the Soviet Union does not have. What is secret is just how we plan to frustrate their de­ signs against our liberties. These are the secrets worth both dying for and killing for. (William Buckley is a columnist for Universal Press Syndicate) Reader Forum Site K knocked To the Editor: No-K. I think that makes my point. I op­ pose the building of a county airport at site K. I have been active in private avia­ tion for the last 25 years, and have supported aviation growth. But, I find myself in the other camp on the subject of siteK. There are three reasons for my decision to oppose site K. First, although I am not a resident of the peaceful little subdivision of Knoll Top, I understand the feelings of the folks who live there. I moved to McHenry County last year because I desired the serenity of a country set­ ting. Attending the No-K meeting last week, I heard many of the Knoll Top people say the same. The drawing of site K, produced by Ralph Burk and Associates, shows mile-long runways both to the west and to the south of the subdivision. Knoll Top would be nestled directly between the runways^ Quiet little Knoll Top would lose much of its quiet. I have never had sympathy for those who move in next to an airport and then opposed it -- a la Midway. But Knoll Top was there first. The addition of an airport at site K would greatly change their lives. Secondly, I oppose site K because of the effect it would have on the Fox Valley Shire Horse Farm. One of my first impressions of the Marengo area came from this farm. Although I have never met Mr. Smrt, I find his efforts in developing a complex of nicely renovated farm buildings on beautifully kept grounds very im­ pressive. I admire this man's efforts. Lastly, the Year 2000 Land Use Plan recommends "continued use of this area for agricultural and rural purposes." An airport is a sharp diversion from this plan. This plan was developed to provide the residents with the security of a stable growth plan for the county. Building an aiiport at site K would encourage industrial and commer­ cial developments -- a great change from the "agricultural and rural" environment the residents were an­ ticipating. I oppose site K. Larry Krengel Marengo To the Editor: Having lived in Crystal Lake for two years and living through the same sort of Sunday each week, a CrOUD Of US RPfltor ottitfcn* hav« decided to ask for some help. We are literally forgotten on Sun-; days. Unless you have family or a car, you too are one of us. Since the RTA or Dial-A-Ride (yes, even the taxi cabs of Crystal Lake) do not run on Sunday, we are stranded. We walk, but many of the senior, citizens of Crystal Lake cannot walk too far, so here we sit and wait for some kindhearted soul to offer us a ride, even to church. We do have the train, but many people cannot walk; to the train. Would it be at all possible to have' some sort of bus transportation run for certain hours. For example: Leave destination at 11:30 a.fri. and return around 4:30 or 5 p.m., making only one trip to Crystal Point Mall and then on to Spring Hill Mall. We feel so left out because we can­ not get to any restaurants, as our on­ ly one closes at 1 p.m. In fact, everything here on Main Street is closed'until Monday. Won't you please help us. We feel we use this service all week and need some help on Sunday. We can't even le for us I'm sure we would all do our share and use this form of transportation at all times. Mildred Linke senior citizen PrvtUllJkii (