Managing people is a hard thing.

If I had to choose folks to work with, I probably would choose those who could further the policies I felt were important. And that’s what President George W. Bush is doing by choosing Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri.

Not that I agree with his choice.

In the past, Ashcroft soundly has advocated the end of abortion in all situations. In his duties as attorney general, Ashcroft would be responsible for “enforcing laws protecting abortion clinics against harassment by right-to-life groups,” according to a Jan. 22 Newsweek article.

He has been rumored to promote segregation between blacks and whites, the article said. In the 1980s, he worked against the desegregation of the St. Louis school system by opposing busing school children from the inner city to the suburban schools to pass around the wealth.

He spoke at the rigidly conservative Bob Jones University in 1999, saying he wasn’t aware of their past policies forbidding interracial dating. He holds up the right to bear arms, literally, and is backed heavily by the National Rifle Association. Decidedly religious, he supports school prayer and tuition vouchers for religious schools, possibly blurring the barrier between church and state.

Do I have a problem with some of these actions? You bet I do.

I disagree with Ashcroft’s view on women’s reproductive rights. Abortion, like drinking and drugs and sex, will happen. Letting states confer its own laws about abortion has worked fairly well. Regulation, not banishment, is what the situation needs, as back-alley abortions will increase if they can’t be legally performed.

I sincerely hope he will yield to the future of the U.S., rather than his personal views, when enforcing policy on the topic. Better yet, that he yield to the ideas of first lady Laura Bush, who said she didn’t think Roe v. Wade should be overturned when “Today” show host Katie Couric questioned her.

But women’s rights groups are less confident. Patricia Ireland of the National Organization for Women called Ashcroft an extremist and said trusting the government with the right to choose was not a possibility any more.

Though Ashcroft’s views on race relations are less strident, the turnover from former president Bill Clinton to Bush, and inevitably Ashcroft, will grate on America’s black community. Author Toni Morrison called Clinton America’s “first black President,” according to the Newsweek article, while Bush won only 9 percent of the black vote. Gore took 90 percent of the black vote.

Bob Jones University in South Carolina, where Ashcroft spoke, is full of suit-wearing, long-skirt donning college students who submit to dress and dating codes every day, according to a JANE magazine article. His religious views were sung high as he proclaimed no king in America but God. The blur between church and state will have supreme effects on “sensitivity” for those who don’t follow a Christian religion or any religion at all.

In other words, those on the liberal-to-moderate side may fear that conservatism will seep through the nation in a widespread change between a Democratic and Republican president.

About 57 percent of the single population voted for former Vice President Al Gore, while only 38 percent of singles voted for Bush. Most likely that included many college students — if they voted at all. Probably many college students had issues either with the candidates, the election process or the entire political system.

Now, we’re either not paying attention to the process because it infuriates us too much or we’re speaking up.

The same thing happens every four years.

Lobbyists, protesters, picket-people — all these are part of the political process. Every four years, the possibility of a new president presents itself to the U.S. complete with ideas for new laws and policies that somebody’s bound to disagree with. With Clinton, things got on a personal level as the nation had to decide whether they could believe in a president who had an extra-marital affair, despite their commonality within the mainstream middle class.

“But I don’t have a say. Or do I?” you ask.

We have that eight-word phrase in the First Amendment, “the right of the people peaceably to assemble,” and that is powerful stuff.

Protesters at the Inauguration parade in Washington, D.C., utilized at least seven of these eight words to voice their concern over the elected president. I hesitate on “peaceably.”

However, their voice was heard. The media picked it up, commented on it and laid it to rest again. But they were heard.

I don’t agree with Ashcroft — I probably never will. But if our government is going to work together, Bush needs to choose people who can work with him.

And if we don’t like it, we can sure say so.