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Wednesday, August 5, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I N I O
N
Robert B.
Reich
American Voices
Letters to the Editor…
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number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not neces-
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To the Editor:
I think Hayden Homes should live up
to building the high-density housing they
promised to build when they started their
development.
Sisters needs housing affordable to fami-
lies with young children if we want to keep
our schools open. What do we see as the
future of Sisters? A retirement community
where everyone who works here has to live in
Redmond, or a vibrant mixed-age community
with children?
Bruce Berryhill
s
s
s
To the Editor:
I finally have to write a letter about bike
trails.
I have been very disappointed in our com-
munity response to this issue. Communities
affected like Tollgate and Black Butte Ranch
were asked to take a poll vote on the idea of
a trail. It passed by a substantial majority,
which seems to count for nothing due to the
vociferous comments by those opposed for
various reasons.
The comment that the voting participa-
tion did not represent many of the people
doesn’t fly. If you don’t participate (or read
what is going on) then it can be assumed that
you don’t care. Excellent work was done to
mitigate the problems expressed about the
trail being too close to Tollgate properties. It
seems that voting on the issue doesn’t count
as much as complaining about it.
See lEttErs on page 22
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“He can’t possibly win
the nomination,” is the
phrase heard most often
when Washington insid-
ers mention either Donald
Trump or Bernie Sanders.
Yet as enthusiasm for the
bombastic billionaire and the
socialist senior continues to
build within each party, the
political establishment is
mystified.
Political insiders don’t see
that the biggest political phe-
nomenon in America today
is a revolt against the “ruling
class” of insiders who have
dominated Washington for
more than three decades.
What’s new is the degree
of anger now focused on
those who have had power
over our economic and
political system since the
start of the 1980s. Included
are presidents and congres-
sional leaders from both par-
ties, along with their retinues
of policy advisors, political
strategists and spin doctors.
The other half of the
ruling class comprises the
corporate executives, Wall
Street chiefs and multimil-
lionaires who have assisted
and enabled these political
leaders — and for whom the
politicians have provided
political favors in return.
America has long had a
ruling class, but the public
was willing to tolerate it dur-
ing the three decades after
World War II, when prosper-
ity was widely shared and
when the Soviet Union posed
a palpable threat. Then, the
ruling class seemed benevo-
lent and wise.
Yet in the last three
decades the ruling class has
seemed to pad its own pock-
ets at the expense of the rest
of America.
The Supreme Court has
opened the floodgates to big
money in politics wider than
ever. Taxes have been cut on
top incomes, tax loopholes
have widened, government
debt has grown, public ser-
vices have been cut. And not
a single Wall Street execu-
tive has gone to jail.
The game seems rigged
— riddled with abuses of
power, crony capitalism and
corporate welfare.
In 1964, Americans
agreed by a margin of 64
percent to 29 percent that
government was run for the
benefit of all the people.
By 2012, the response had
reversed, with 79 percent
of voters saying that gov-
ernment was “run by a few
big interests looking after
themselves,” according to
American National Election
Studies.
Which has made it harder
for ordinary people to get
ahead. In 2001, a Gallup
poll found 77 percent of
Americans satisfied with
opportunities to get ahead by
working hard and 22 percent
dissatisfied. By 2014, only
54 percent were satisfied and
45 percent dissatisfied.
The resulting fury at the
ruling class has taken two
quite different forms.
On the right are the
wreckers. The Tea Party,
which emerged soon after
the Wall Street bailout, has
been intent on stopping gov-
ernment in its tracks and
overthrowing a ruling class
it sees as rotten to the core.
Donald Trump is their
human wrecking ball. The
more outrageous his rants
and putdowns of other poli-
ticians, the more popular he
becomes among this seg-
ment of the public that’s
thrilled by a bombastic, rac-
ist billionaire who sticks it to
the ruling class.
On the left are the rebuild-
ers. The Occupy movement,
which also emerged from
the Wall Street bailout, was
intent on displacing the rul-
ing class and rebuilding our
political-economic system
from the ground up.
Bernie Sanders personi-
fies this group. The more
he advocates a fundamental
retooling of our economy
and democracy in favor of
average working people, the
more popular he becomes
among those who no longer
trust the ruling class to bring
about necessary change.
Yet despite the grow-
ing revolt against the ruling
class, it seems likely that
the presidential nominees in
2016 will be Jeb Bush and
Hillary Clinton. After all,
the ruling class still controls
America.
But the revolt against the
ruling class won’t end with
the 2016 election, regardless.
Which means the ruling
class will have to change the
way it rules America. Or it
won’t rule too much longer.
© 2015 By Robert Reich;
Distributed by Tribune
Content Agency, LLC
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.