ustxtxb_obs_1995_02_24_50_00023-00000_000.pdf

Page 6

by

on commercial stations as well. If not, public discourse stands to lose even more diversity, particularly at the local level. According to a recent survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, first-year college students feel alienated from the political processa process they don’t really understandand only one-third of those same students eXpress an interest in current affairs. Many of us who teach these students basic American government regularly rely onand recommend that our students make use ofpublic radio and public television, because neither the networks nor the local media offer adequate coverage of national affairs. Eliminating or weakening these public information resources hardly seems the way to promote the health of our democracy or our economyany more than would privatizing public libraries and schools. Yet while the quality and quantity of public debate in our democracy is reduced, Gingrich’s political action committee, GOPAC, is disseminating the speaker’s ideological platform, mostly to young peo, ple he is training to run for public office first at the local level and later at the state and national levels. Gingrich calls these young people his “farm group” because he is using them to “grow” a Republican Party in his own ideological image. His success thus farwhich promises to have revolutionary effects on party politics in this countryis due in part to his use of information age technology. GOPAC offers “distance learning” through telecommunication and distributes free audio and video tapes, which carry Gingrich’s political doctrines to young conservatives nationwide. Among the tapes GOPAC offers are “Renewing American Civilization” \(the name of his controversial Popular Culture Versus the Elite Counterculture” \(with Dan Quayle and William Replacing the Welfare State.” And, because GOPAC has been set up as two different political action committeesone that deals with federal elections and is subject to the rules of the Federal Election Commission, and one that deals with state and local candidates and is exempt from FEC rulesthe latter organization, which is “growing” the “farm group,” can avoid revealing its contributors, who may give up to $100,000 per person. Such a strategy might build a stronger, more ideologically cohesive Republican party, but it seems strikingly at odds with Gingrich’s vision of a “laptop” democracy. Ultimately, Gingrich’s stated policy priorities oppose rather than welcome an information age that celebrates pluralism and the free market of ideas. ANDERSON COMPANY COFFEE TEA SPICES TWO JEFFERSON SQUARE AUSTIN, TEXAS 78731 elf 1 453-1533 Send me your list. Name Street City Zip CLASSIFIEDS ORGANIZATIONS WORK for single-payer National Health Care. Join GRAY PANTHERS, intergenerational advocates against ageism and for progressive policies promoting social and economic justice. $20 individual, $35 family. 3710 Cedar, 3738. TEXAS AIDS NETWORK dedicated to improving HIV/AIDS policy and funding in Texas. Individual membership $25, P.O. Box 2395, LESBIAN/GAY DEMOCRATS of Texas Our Voice in the Party. Membership $15, P.O. Box 190933, Dallas, 75219. SICK OF KILLING? Join the Amnesty International Campaign Against the Death Penally. Call: 3925. WORK FOR OPEN, responsible government in Texas. Join Common Cause/Texas, 1615 Guadalupe, 474-2374. TEXAS TENANTS’ UNION. Membership $18/year, $10/six months, $30 or more/sponsor. Receive handbook on tenants’ rights, newsletter, and more. 5405 East Grand, Dallas, TX 75223. CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER of the ACLU invites you to our noon Forum, the last Friday of every month, at Wyatt’s, Hancock Center, 459-5829. LIBERTARIAN PARTY Liberal on personal freedoms, but conservative NATIONAL WRITERS UNION. We give working writers a fighting chance. Collective bargaining. Grievance procedures. Health insurance. Journalists, authors, poets, commercial writers. Forming Austin local. Noelle McAfee, 450-0705; Bill Adler, 443-8961. PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. Join The Texas Civil Rights Project, 227 Congress #340, Austin, Texas 78701. $20/year. Volunteers also needed. Contact Jim Harrington or BOOKS HILARIOUS BOOK of humor by Richard Deats: HOW TO KEEP LAUGHING EVEN THOUGH YOU’VE CONSIDERED ALL THE FACTS. Send $11.50 to Fellowship of Reconciliation, Box 271, Nyack, N.Y. 10960. SERVICES LOW-COST MICROCOMPUTER ASSISTANCE. Tape to diskette conversion, statistical analysis, help with setting up special projects, custom programming, needs assessment. Gary Lundquest, 6882, 1405 West 6th, Austin, Texas 78703. PHOTOGRAPHY Reality is us. 20 years for the Texas Observer and he will take a few for you. Alan Pogue, 1701 Guadalupe, Austin, MARY NELL MATHIS, CPA, 20 years experience in tax, litigation support, and other analyses. 400 West 15th, #304, Austin, 78701, REALESTATE HOUSEBUYERS The Consumer’s Agent. Our allegiance is to the residential buyer. 201 Jefferson Square, Austin, Texas 78731. CALL GARY DUGGER with REAL-TEX when you are ready to buy or sell your home or property. Office 512/288-3170; D.P. 397-8580. New listing: 169 acres, seven houses, recreational facilities galore. Dripping Springs. $1,100,000. New listing: Downtown Dripping Springs. Springs always run. 1,880 sq. ft. custom home. Faces 290 and Mercer. Restaurant perfect for this historic spot. CLASSIFIED RATES: Minimum ten words. One time, 50 cents per word; three times, 45 cents per word; six times, 40 cents per word; 12 times, 35 cents per word; 25 times, 30 cents per word. Telephone and box numbers count as two words, abbreviations and zip codes as one. Payment must accompany order for all classified ads. Deadline is three weeks before cover date. Address orders and inquiries to Advertising Director, The Texas Observer-, 307 West 7th, Austin, TX -0746. THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23