Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 25, 1994                   TAG: 9406030063
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A HUE AND CRY THAT'S HOOEY

It's a given, of course, that Gov. George Allen supports Virginia Military Institute's male-only policy. There are arguments to be made for it. None strong enough to deny access to women, in our opinion, but legitimate arguments based on educational philosophy.

So why does Allen resort to bombast and baloney?

Last Saturday was Big Bad Wolf time again, as the governor assured the graduating class at VMI that the commonwealth will stand firm against the "oppressive boot of federal interference [that] usurps the right of the people of Virginia to set their own policies and control their own destiny." Well, haul out the Stars and Bars, boys. We can all rest easier in our beds tonight.

This kind of rhetoric grates on the nerves, not simply because it is overwrought, but also because it implies a unity of opinion among Virginians - or perhaps we should say true Virginians - that sets apart those who disagree as some sort of enemy sympathizers.

It seems not to have occurred to the governor that the Justice Department represents Virginians, too. Many Virginians who happen not to agree with VMI's policy. Some Virginians who want to chart their own destiny but might trip over the "oppressive boot" of a discriminatory tradition.

This same divisive rhetoric punctuated Allen's inauguration address with ham-fisted promises to "fight the beast of tyranny and oppression that the federal government has become." A curious choice of words, given the state's historic massive resistance to school desegregation that was broken only by the resolve of the federal government, that nasty, ol' oppressive thing.

Allen's hyperbole would be mildly aggravating - perhaps even mildly amusing - were it not for the offensive spin he put on his remarks with an exclusive claim to core values. Those who challenge VMI's tradition of excluding women do so not from a belief in equality or fairness or any true-blue American principles like that.

No, the governor has looked into their hearts and discovered they simply want to destroy VMI. Why? Of course, "because they blanch at what VMI stands for: the traditional American values and virtues of moral character, personal discipline, self-reliance and an unabashed and unashamed love of home, state and country - and the willingness to fight to defend them. In other words, the most politically uncorrect value of modern times - patriotism."

In other words, a woman who values the VMI tradition enough to want to attend this state taxpayer-funded school must be immoral and unpatriotic?

One wonders if Allen has been reading the speeches of Spiro Agnew, another politician who used overwrought rhetoric to sneer at anyone with the audacity to question the status quo.

There are always politicians who detect a lack of patriotism in anyone who holds opinions in conflict with their own. To claim for themselves alone a love of country suggests a lack of appreciation for the freedom and toleration of diverse viewpoints on which America was founded and has grown great.

Ours is a wonderful country, the greatest on Earth, and it will be even better when women enjoy fully the opportunities made available to men.