RUST COMMENTARY: AS PAUL HARVEY SAYS, NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY

Broadcaster Paul Harvey told a version of the following story on the radio many years ago.

There was an old man who was a great admirer of democracy and public education. So close to his heart did he hold both institutions that he tried to bring them together into one grand experiment, a public college where students would practice self-governance. There would be no regulations. The goodwill and judgment of the students would suffice. After years of planning, the school was finally opened. The old man was overjoyed.

But as the months went by, students proved time and time again that they were not the models of discipline and discernment the old man envisioned. They skipped classes, drank to excess and wasted hours in frivolous pursuits. One night, 14 students, disguised by masks and "animated with wine," went on a rampage that ended in a brawl. One struck a professor with a brick, and another used a cane on his victim.

In response, the college's trustees convened a special meeting. The old man, now 82 years old and very frail, was asked to address the student body. In his remarks, he recalled the lofty principles upon which the college had been founded. He said he had expected more -- much more -- from the students. He even confessed that this was the most painful event of his life. Suddenly, he stopped speaking. Tears welled up in his failing eyes. He was so overcome with grief that he sat down, unable to go on.

His audience was so touched that at the conclusion of the meeting the 14 offenders stepped forward to admit their guilt. But they could not undo the damage already done. A strict code of conduct and numerous onerous regulations were instituted at the college. The old man's experiment had failed. Why? Because he took for granted the one essential ingredient necessary for success: virtue. Only a virtuous people can secure and maintain their freedom.

A short time later, on the Fourth of July, the old man passed away. Engraved on his tombstone were the simple words that reflected the success and failure of his most important experiments: "Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and father of the University of Virginia." Now, as Mr. Harvey says, you know the rest of the story.

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"The Eiffel Tower is the Empire State Building after taxes." --Anonymous

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Some other questions and answers from State Rep. DAVID SCHWAB'S recent constituent survey:

Welfare Reform

* Should Missouri allow for the use of drug testing of welfare recipients suspected of using drugs and denying cash benefits to those testing positive?

Yes 93 percent No 6 percent No Opinion 2 percent

* Should Missouri increase welfare funding allowing more people to qualify for basic medical benefits who didn't previously qualify?

Yes 22 percent No 65 percent No Opinion 13 percent

*Should Missouri bar all legal immigrants from receiving all types of cash and medical assistance until they become naturalized citizens?

Yes 80 percent No 13 percent No Opinion 6 percent

*Should Missouri withhold or suspend drivers', occupational, and recreational licenses for individuals who fail to pay court-ordered child support?

Yes 74 percent No 19 percent No Opinion 7 percent

* Should welfare recipients who have additional children while on welfare be limited in assistance to medical benefits and food for the children, with no additional cash payments?

Yes 89 percent No 7 percent No Opinion 4 percent

* Should Missouri fund any recipients beyond the federal limit of five years for persons other than the permanently disabled?

Yes 13 percent No 81 percent No Opinion 6 percent

Driving while intoxicated

* Should the penalty be increased for causing the death of another person by driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated?

Yes 75 percent No 19 percent No Opinion 6 percent

* Should any minor convicted of driving while intoxicated have his/her license suspended until age 21?

Yes 79 percent No 17 percent No Opinion 4 percent

Corrections

* Should inmates be required to perform work?

Yes 97 percent No 1 percent No Opinion 2 percent

Education

* Should charter schools be permitted in Missouri?

Yes 36 percent No 37 percent No Opinion 28 percent

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Clinton Strikes

We have just caught the Clinton administration in an unbelievable act of deception. On April 21 the administration published in the Federal Register an executive order on environmental hazards and children. At the very end of that order there was a single line that repealed a previous Executive Order.

Some quick research indicates the repealed order had nothing to do with the environment. In fact, what was repealed was an executive order on the family that I wrote for Ronald Reagan when I was his domestic policy adviser.

That order required the federal government to consider what impact it had on the American family when it passed new rules or regulations. We know that some of the worst schemes of government bureaucrats in the last 10 years have been blocked by our executive order.

Now the order has been obliterated with the stroke of a pen. Why? I can only assume that the president has big plans in the days ahead to push socially radical policies, from gay rights to government-run federal daycare, and our executive order was an impediment. How ironic and predictable that the newly "pro-family" president has eliminated a significant pro-family protection. The Congress ought to go all-out on this one to reinstate the order and force a presidential veto! -- Gary Bauer, Family Research Council

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NEA STATS: The Washington-based Alexis de Tocqueville Institute has compiled an interesting set of statistics about the National Education Association and its officials that could sully the image of the country's most powerful union, which presents itself as the defender of the average, supposedly underpaid teacher. "More than 2,000 officials of the NEA and its state affiliates make more than $100,000 a year in salary and benefits," says the institute. In fact, "the NEA has become a well-heeled political organization." Some of the NEA's most radical stances have nothing to do with education: demands for reparations for American Indians, statehood for the District of Columbia, and that old standby, a nuclear freeze. The institute "reminds teachers and parents that there are alternative teacher organizations now in about 20 states. They typically charge much less in dues than the teachers unions while providing professional services including liability insurance policies that many teachers want. -- Human Events

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Should marijuana be legalized?

Teen Challenge just concluded a survey of 233 students in the Teen Challenge residential programs across the nation.

"I wanted to be accepted by my friends," was the most common reason given for starting to smoke pot.

Marijuana had been used by 97 percent of these young people before they came to Teen Challenge; 51 percent had smoked it for over 10 years; 19 percent smoked it for 20 years or more.

1997 Marijuana Survey of 230 Teen Challenge students:

97 percent used marijuana

29 percent started using it aged 12 or younger

42 percent started using it when 13-15 years old

22 percent started using it when 16-19 years old

6 percent started using after they were 20

70 percent -- marijuana was a gateway drug to using other drugs

73 percent -- marijuana should not be legalized

Medical facts about marijuana:

* It contains more than 450 chemicals, including 66 cannabinoids -- the THC chemicals that give marijuana its mind-altering effects.

* Today's marijuana is 10 times as potent as the marijuana of 20 years ago.

* It takes 5 to 8 days for just half the THC in a single marijuana cigarette to clear from the body.

* Chronic marijuana use caused loss of short-term memory.

* The chemicals in marijuana alter the person's perceptions. Users say it enhances their performance, but controlled tests prove the opposite.

* Smoking pot carries all the risks of smoking regular cigarettes. Marijuana caused much more damage to the lungs. It contains 2 to 3 times as much tar as regular cigarettes.

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The Invisible Man

Media bias hardly ever takes a day off. A new list just published by Ebony magazine of the 100 most influential black Americans omits Clarence Thomas. Lest you think the absence of Thomas might be justified because it was an un-political list, Ebony includes Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, other Clinton administration appointees and the entire membership of the Congressional Black Caucus. Now, I live and work in Washington, so I can name most of the members of the caucus, but the vast majority are hardly household names.

Blindness comes in many forms, and so does bias -- but the determination in some quarters to continue to "punish" Thomas for the crime of independent thinking is appalling. -- Gary Bauer, Washington Update

~Gary Rust is the president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.