CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS PLAY ROLE OF 'BIG BROTHER'

A free people may elect a government that saps their freedom, warned Alex
is de
Tocqueville in 1840. For their own good, of course. The Frenchman foresaw
93an
immense and tutelary power . . . absolute, minute, regular, provident and
mild.
It would be like the authority of a parent if, like that authority, its o
bject
was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep th
em in
perpetual childhood.94

We may not yet be 93timid and industrious sheep,94 but Congress is cert
ainly
eager to shepherd our lives in the most minute detail. Even if it means
turning
college aid officials into drug enforcement agents, and Head Start teache
rs
into welfare agents.

The new higher education bill includes yet another look-tough-on-drugs sc
heme.
This one would suspend federal college aid to students convicted of using
or
selling an illegal drug.

The proponent, Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana Republican, claims this will
save
students from reefer madness. The provision primarily would affect minor
drug
offenders, since those convicted of serious offenses will be enrolling in
prison, not college. Students would lose one year of aid for drug possess
ion,
two years for a second offense.

Three strikes and they're out. Selling drugs would merit a two-year suspe
nsion
for a first offense; indefinite suspension for a second. However, student
s
could regain financial aid earlier by completing a rehabilitation program
and
passing two surprise drug tests.

Souder's very big on drug tests. He's also proposed giving federal funds
to
small businesses to pay for drug testing of employees. And he's promised
to
start random drug testing of himself and his staff. Linking college aid t
o
drug-free urine could affect millions of students -- in theory.

A majority of college students get some kind of aid, and 75 percent of ai
d
involves federal funds. Furthermore, it's estimated a third of college
students
use marijuana.

It won't affect the No. 1 substance abuse problem on campus: Binge drinki
ng is
epidemic. In a Harvard survey, 44 percent of college students admitted to
binge
drinking.

In response to drinking restrictions, students have rioted this spring at
Michigan State, Washington State, the University of Connecticut, Ohio
University and other colleges, demanding 93the right to party.94 But it
will be
OK for federal aid recipients to get blotto on booze every weekend as lon
g as
they don't get caught with marijuana.

The Department of Education is supposed to enforce the smoke-a-joint,
lose-your-scholarship law, but how? Court records don't report which drug
offenders are attending which colleges, much less their scholarship statu
s.
And
how are federal education bureaucrats going to evaluate when a student is
rehabilitated if the student was never drug-dependent in the first place?

Who's going to be dean of urine, imposing surprise drug tests on students
? The
Clinton administration opposes the provision, saying judges already can d
eny
federal benefits to drug offenders.

Not content with monitoring the behavior of college students, House
Republicans
have their eye on preschoolers. An amendment to the bill extending fundin
g for
Head Start would close the preschool door to kids if Mom is on welfare an
d
fails to cooperate in establishing the paternity of her children, so that
child
support can be sought from their father.

Again, it's duplication. Mothers can be denied welfare if they refuse to
help
establish paternity. Why deny children a Head Start on school because the
ir
mother has not met the requirements of an entirely separate program? Of
course,
college students should stay away from drugs and alcohol, whether or not
they're receiving financial aid, so they don't blur their brains.

Single mothers should identify the fathers of their children, so the kids
will
have some chance at a father and at the child support they deserve. And t
he
rest of us should eat more fiber and less chocolate, lest Congress suspen
d our
Social Security benefits.

This big-daddy despotism 93every day renders the exercise of the free ag
ency of
man less useful and less frequent,94 de Tocqueville wrote. 93It circums
cribes
the
will within a narrower range and gradually robs a man of all the uses of
himself.94

For our own good.

Checked-by: Ghamal de la Guardia