Switzerland toward the EC: “It is ofrncourse necessary, and it will not be easy,rnto restore the confidence that all therncountries of Europe accorded our countryrnon the path to the interdependentrnconstruction of the Europe of tomorrow.”rnSwiss politicians and businessrnleaders had contended that their countryrncould not afford to remain outside a unifyingrnEurope, and they remained hopefulrnup until the day of the election thatrnvoters would agree. Back in 1991, UrsusrnJaeggi, director of government affairs atrnDu Pont Europe in Geneva, was arguingrnthat the Swiss would eventually ratify-rnthe EEA pact. His confidence—ironicallyrn—was based on a belief that “thernman in the street has more insight thanrnsome of our political leaders.” Perhapsrnhe does.rn—Christine HaynesrnGAMBLING is a fool’s pastime, and arnfool and his money will soon be partedrnlike the proverb says, but gambling is alsorna disease. It’s in this capacity, as arnsick person, that I beg all you councilmenrnand -women, elected officials andrnpublic representatives, not to bring thisrninfectious scourge into your communities.rnIt’s too late for us here in Louisiana.rnThe state has approved gambling, andrnNew Orleans is just now poised on thernverge of allowing the building of a mammothrnfleccc-the-suckers parlor thatrnwould put Vegas to shame. It wouldrncomprise acres of Mississippi River-frontrnproperty dotted with defrauding instrumentsrnand easy scams. The proposalrnenvisions, of course, great economic developmentrnin the shadow of this gargantuanrnthieves’ den. I suggest that onerninevitable development will be franchisesrnof Dr. Kevorkian Suicide Parlorsrnfor the growing multitudes of the destitute.rnNew Orleans has also approvedrnriverboat gambling, which should givernthe town back its merrv cutthroat reputationrnof the last century, and poker machines,rnwhich will insure that entire welfarernchecks get spent to the last nickel.rnI know wherefrom 1 speak. Everyrntime I sat before a blackjack dealer inrnVegas, Reno, or Budapest, I had the sublimernexperience of working for most ofrnthe night in order to lose everything inrnmy pockets. Happily, I never liad muchrnto lose. But the work it took! Like arngu next to me said in Reno while actualK’rnwinning, “If they paid me this lousyrnper hour to work out there I would tellrnthem where to shove it!”rnUnfortunately, there is no “out there”rnfor the gambler, only a sick, neon-lit,rncigarette-smoke-filled eternal “in there,”rnwhere time has stopped and nothing interruptsrnthe hypnotic labor except utterrndestitution. Ask Dostoyevsky. There isrnno such thing as “gambling for fun.”rnThat’s what all the junkies say. Theyrnalso say that they can cjuit any time.rnDon’t believe them. And leave yourrndough in your pillow next time you visit.rnYou don’t yet know what it means tornreally miss New Orleans.rn—Andrei CodrescurnT H E SCHWINN BICYCLE Company,rnwhich was run by the same familyrnfor 97 years, has gone bankrupt. Nornmore Schyvinn bikes? I remember mine,rnand brother Jack’s, and those I boughtrnmy children in the 50’s—visions of delightrnwith their balloon tires, chromernsprings, and coaster brakes. The last ofrnmy four children actually got the “Phantom”rnmodel—1 got a raise that Christmas.rnIt was the Cadillac of bikes: electricrnhorn, luggage rack, whitewall tires,rnand mud flaps with reflectors. It couldrngo anywhere and awe anyone. It was asrnstrong as Superman and as ready tornmeet every challenge.rnNot only will there be no morernSchwinns, but as we enter the ClintonrnEra there also will be no more Superman.rnBeat the drums slowly and lowerrnthe flag to half-mast. Superman diedrnlast November in DC Comics’ issuernnumber 75. The Man of Steel, doomedrnto the junkyard.rnThe message is plain. The age of super-rnbikes and Superman is ending. Wernare no longer invariably Number One,rnbut one among many. All that goes uprncomes down. That need not frightenrnus. As the old Quaker Hymn puts it:rn”And when you get to a place just right /rn”Iwill be the garden of love and delight.”rnThe election—and the Democraticrnvictory—gives some people new hope,rnjust as it gives us a new generation ofrnleaders. After looking at the WhiternHouse through the iron gate for 12 years,rnthe baby-boomers can go inside and getrnto work. We expect no miracles—theyrnplay well in Disney World and Hollywood,rnbut not in Washington. ThernDemocrats have been good at proposingrnnew starts—and at finding apt labelsrnfor them. Wilson promised a “NewrnEreedom,” Roosevelt a “New Deal,”rnKennedy a “New Frontier,” and Johnsonrna “Great Society.” What’s new withrnyou, Bill Clinton?rnThe next few months will give us hisrnanswer. But whatever it is, we are onrnthe brink of two things that are inescapablyrnnew—a new century and arnnew millennium. Before the ClintonrnCrew leaves the White House (if theyrnenjoy a second term) we will reach thernyear 2000 AD.—a magic moment inrntime to summarize the last thousandrnyears and envision the thousand now torncome. It is the ritual death and rebirthrnof history. The new millennium willrndawn on a planet that describes itself asrna global electronic village, ending a centuryrnin which people have witnessedrnmore change than any who ever lived.rnThe thought makes even journalists waxrnpoetic. Lance Morrow writes in Time:rn”Almost every human intelligence willrnbe focused for an instant in a solidarityrnof collective wonder and vulnerability—rnMystery in the Age of Information.”rnWhere will the United States be atrnthat moment, when we usher in the newrnyear at midnight, 1999 A D ? Will wernstill be playing the Number One game?rnWill we still be putting our big bucksrninto the military and social services?rnWill the rich still be getting richer andrnthe poor poorer? We now know that thernglobal economy, instead of eliminatingrnpoverty, has widened the gap betweenrnrich and poor nations. Will we reducernthe gap with a new consensus—or withrna series of revolutions and wars?rnOf course, in a new millennium, wernmust face a new reality. That won’t berneasy. As T. S. Eliot writes in Burnt Norton:rn”Human kind / Cannot bear veryrnmuch reality.” But if we are to hold ourrnown in the new age to come, we mustrnyet act in this one. That is the greatrncentral message of the election of 1992.rn—Marshall W. FishwickrnN E W J E R S E Y children better holdrntight to their allowances because thosernlegislative nannies in the Garden Staternare at it again. As of last July, kids underrn13 who ride their bicycles without wearingrna helmet are breaking the law. Firsttimernoffenders pay $2 5 to the state; second-rntime offenders pay $100. To arnchild, that can mean a lot of lawnsrnmowed and a lot of newspapers delivered.rnThe Kiddie Helmet Law comes onrnMARCH 1993/7rnrnrn