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From: david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Fuzzy headed liberals
Message-ID: <371@fisher.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Oct-84 09:41:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: fisher.371
Posted: Fri Oct 26 09:41:42 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Oct-84 03:45:06 EDT
References: <569@loral.UUCP> <790@flairvax.UUCP> <2811@ucbvax.ARPA>
Organization: Princeton Univ. Statistics
Lines: 47

I just want to respond to a few of Milo's reasons for supporting 
Reagan:

>I vote for him because he is percieved as being strong abroad,
>esp. in the USSR.

This is a statement of faith, not fact, as there is no emprical
evidence that the Soviet Union has modified its behavior due to Reagan
being in office.  And why should they?  Reagan is scrupulous about
taking no action against them while he exhorts our allies to.  Any
rational Soviet leader has long ago dismissed him as all talk...

>..............................How many countries have fallen to
>to communism during this administration?  Answer: -1 (greneda).

The Reagan administration claimed it intervened in Greneda in order to
(1) preserve the security of the Caribbean and (2) to safeguard
American medical students.  The only substantive support for the first
that was provided was the description of the new airstrip (which the
Cubans were building with Western European financial backing) as
being primarily for military purposes.  Reagan had dismissed the claim
of the Bishop government that the airstrip was necessary to accomadate
tourist traffic as "absurd", yet is now helping finish the strip in
order to -- get this -- promote tourism.  As for the students, I would
not question protecting their safety, but I have yet to have heard
anything even suggesting they really were in danger.  Listen to the
students themselves.  They talk of being cut off from the outside
world, and of having observed armed Cubans near campus.  Reason enough
for worry and even fear on the part of the students, but they were
never threatened and the Reagan administration has not seen fit to
explain why it believed they were.  Sure, being on an island cut off
from the US while a violent coup is underway is damn scary, but there
is a difference between being scared and being in danger.

>I do it because he will install supreme court justices who will
>not try to legislate, and will move for more common sense
>in our nonsensical legal system.

I have no trouble understanding our legal system, and I don't see why
so many prosecutors and police departments are so anxious to expand
their powers rather than perform their jobs correctly.  As far as the
courts "legislating", this is a charge made by those who resent the
courts from restraining legislative perogative, but that's what
they're SUPPOSED to do.

					David Rubin
			{allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david