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November 1984 | December 1984 |
 General Membership Meeting and Budget WorkshopPresident's Message (Dorothy Lum)Voter Information on City Charter Amendments (Marty McGurk)Offices up for ElectionMembership Update: Welcome New MembersHow Do League's New Positions Plug into the National Action? (Dottie Gullicksen)Calendar for NovemberAnne Lee FeaturedPeople Deserve the Government they Get! (Barbara Marumoto)People 'n PixBudget-Making in City Government |
How Do League's New Positions Plug into the National Action?
ARMS CONTROL! MILITARY POLICY! DEFENSE SPENDING! The United States' achievement in ARMS CONTROL has not been reassuring in the past few years. It is to a large extent dealt with by changing administrations on four-year elective terms. Because the public's perception of foreign threat can be altered dramatically by these changing political perspectives, a very distinguished foreign policy association has recently been funded to study the problem of change in this area with each new administration! The League's interest is in non-military measures, including mediation and multilateral cooperation. This is a challenge for action in a period when this administration opts for high-tech high-cost weapons and a nation becomes more and more uncertain of where it should put its faith and money. It means a major action on the part of the League to encourage arms control negotiations! The LWV's unequivocal position against FIRST USE is not at all compatible with the administration's intense drive for an increasingly "accurate", deadly, new technology. Super-accuracy in new weapons technology, given the awesome power of the weapons is quick to develop a nervous trigger finger in the national interest, because if you aren't FIRST, you won't BE! The LWV's position for BILATERAL FREEZE also runs contrary to the current administration. In fact the League's positions join forces against a drive for higher and higher technology weapons as well as against the deployment by NATO vis-a-vis the United States of Cruise and Pershing II missiles in Europe. Nationally, the League has taken the lead in efforts to oppose new space weapons and to support a funding cap for them in the 1985 budget. It is also supporting a moratorium on anti-satellite weapons testing as long as the Soviets continue to observe their moratorium. The League has urged action leading to arms Control talks. Top priorities for 1984 include opposition to the MX missile. Locally, one of the League's action members, Frank Eldridge, has taken our positions to the state where he has received positive and effective support. LWVUS reports that state and local LWVs have worked on bilateral, mutually verifiable freeze proposals. The International Relations Group (formed from the old National Security Committee) will commence regular meetings sometime in January 1985. One of their goals will be ACTION at state and local level! Call me at 247-4298 or the League Office 531-7448 and leave a message if you're interested in joining us or need more information! Dottie Gullicksen cartoon by Richard Gullicksen |
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