1996_02 The Daily Collegian February 1996

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Tuesday, February 6,1996
Opinion
Managing Editor: Robert Bilvado
Telephone: (209) 278-5732
Hunting, gathering
skills still necessary
in parking lots
Commentary
Shannon Wentworth
Special to the Collegian
I thought technology had out¬
distanced natural selection. I
thought that the survival of the fit¬
test was only in effect in the non-
car-driving animal kingdom.
I was wrong. I had never tried
to park on campus at 9:30 a.m. be¬
fore.
Were parking the measure of
fitness in the modern world, rhy
car would be extinct. The tiny Geo
Metro doesn't intimidate anyone
when it growls "this is my spot".
In fact, it is rathefthe Rodney
Dangerfield of parking as one car
after another cuts it off, threatens
/hftgo over it if it doesn't move and
zip by it into parking space after
parking space. My car gets no re¬
spect.
This was my first experience
with the aggressive and competi¬
tive world of parking at school. I
haven't taken a class this early in
years, nbt since 1 was old enough
to drive anyway.
The skill, instinct and patience
of a hunter are necessary for suc¬
cess at this parking game. The
ones who possess these skills get
to park and make it to class on
time.
I. sadly, do not have the keen
.mstinc/ of a hunter. I tried. I'd
watch the entrance to the parking
compound for my prey—someone
leaving!
I would zip over to where they
were walking and slowly creep
along behind them until they got
to their car. •
But, inevitably they would pull
that most horrible trick of walk¬
ing between cars to get to their car
in another row which some other,
much luckier, hunter has staked
out.       '
Hunter's law number one: (you
may want to write this one down)
The prey doesn't feel sorry for the
hunter. They are done with school
and couldn't care less whether a
deserving or undeserving hunter—< 1
gets their spot. ^      spend the night
After I tried unsuccessfully to
hunt, I decided to try my hand at
gathering. The resource of the cur¬
rent parking lot seemed to be quite
exhausted and I was competing for
a dwindling resource with far more
savvy sportsmen and women than
myself. So I decided to migrate.
There must be parking somewhere.
So I high-tailed it to the Busi¬
ness building lot. There were
empty spaces there all right, but
they were for professors (about 20
empty) and for University Business
Center permit holders (about 40
empty). There were other hunters
in the lot when I got there, but far
fewer to compete with and they had
much smaller, less intimidating
vehicles.
I continued up and down the
rows looking for a space. I was
even tempted, because my car is
small, to wedge myself in a big
space between two vehicles, but I
would have had to climb out my
window to get out.
I was missing the most impor¬
tant class of my college career, the
class that is the key to finishing my
M.A., just because there aren't
enough parking spaces.
I wondered what genius decided
to take a parking survey in late
Spring or early Fall when the
weather is nice and everyone rides
or walks to school, rather than in
the winter when we all need spaces,
preferably near our classes so we
don't catch pneumonia on our way.
I was just about to go nuts and
drive into the lobby of the business
building when a Corvette pulled
out right in front of me.
A spot was mine! It was a good
feeling after all that time to finally
get a space of my own, but the ela¬
tion of my conquest was short¬
lived as 1 began my sprint across
campus and my out-of-breath,
apologizing entrance to class.
I am definitely going to have to
come up with a better strategy, like
arriving the night before and claim¬
ing the space I want, or getting
there still earlier.
I think it would be easier to
Letters to the Editor
Forbes' flat tax
should be considered
Dear Editor,
Mr. Swanson's commentary en¬
titled "Forbjjs to flatten economy"
was enjoyable to read for its humor,
but nothing more. Mr. Swanson
described a chain reaction of events
that would take place if a flat tax
were implemented. Unfortunately
for him, and fortunately for us, he
is completely misguided.
Mr. Swanson suggests, in a
rather humorous chain of events,
Forbes and his flat tax will "drag
this country into a vicious cycle of.
failing businesses and rampant un¬
employment." Unfortunately, Mr.
Swanson should look a little deeper
at the facts. His first premise that
leads to the whole nasty chain of
events is that the three martini lunch
will cease to exist. The fact is, most
business lunches in the United
States today occur because some¬
body is entertaining and existing or
potential client. This could hardly
be done-over take ogt tacos.
But the plain simple fact of the''
matter is the people of the United
States will benefit from the imple¬
mentation of the flat tax. They will
be able to take more of their money
home, and spend it on things they
want, instead of watching Washing¬
ton waste it away. Also, as Ameri¬
cans take home more of their own
money, they will be spending or
investing moFe of their own money
which will increase demand for cer¬
tain businesses and providing the
necessary capital for more busi¬
nesses to open up and employ more
Americans. The economists who
say the Forbes flat tax will not work
because of increased federal defi¬
cits do not take into account that
useless federal departments and
programs just might be eliminated
and that others just might be re¬
duced in size.
The only bit of truth in the ar¬
ticle stated income from interest and
dividends will be tax free- Unfor¬
tunately, he claims the only people
who will benefit are "large execs."
He is wrong. Many Americans,
myself (being a 21-year-old gradu¬
ating senior working two jobs for a
total of 40 plus hours a week just to
pay my bills, I'm one of the farthest
from being a largcexec) included,
have money invested initautual
funds and stocks to provide for their
children's education, retirement or
some other goal. Under current law
the income derived from these in¬
vestments is taxed. This tax after it
was already taxed on the corporate
level. Under this plan, income is
taxed once and only once.
In my opinion, an income tax is '
completely unnecessary, but a flat
tax that taxes income once is a step _
in the right direction. Among the
current field of Republicans vying
for the Republican presidential
nomination, Mr. Forbes is the ob¬
vious choice, and when put up
against the current occupant of 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, he is the only
choice.
Eric A. Wilkins
Daily Collegian
  California State University, Fresno	
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The Daily Collegian h published five
times a week for and by the students of
California Slate University, Fresno.
Opinions expressed in the Collegian are
not necessarily those of the entire Daily
Collegian staff. The editors reserve the
right to edit letters for length and clarity.
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