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2 Wednesday,February24,2016The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon O P I N I O N Robert B. Reich American Voices Letters to the Editor… The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let- ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday. TotheEditor: Whatagreateditorial(“Saving the West,” The Nugget, February 17, pg. 2). I was born and raised in Burns and my grandparents were cattle ranchers. I spent manydaysattherefugebecausemygrandpar- entsweregoodfriendsofthefirstmanagerof therefuge.HisnamewasJohnScharff.Also thefishingwasgoodattheBlitzenRiver. Everyyear(firstofApril)thereistheJohn Scharff Migratory Bird Festival and people comefromallovertheUS.Allkindsofwork- shopsandbirdingtrips.Twoyearsago,within aboutsixhours,Icounted62differentspecies ofbirds.Ihopetherefugeheadquarterscanbe restoredbeforethisyear’sfestival. I’vetalkedtoacoupleoffriendswhotold me how this whole event has divided the community.MaybeweneedtosendRobyn HoldmanandSpeakYourPeaceoverthere. I’msoafraidofwhatthatbunchofhoo- liganshavedonetotherefugeheadquarters. Thereis/wasaveryoldsmallmuseumwith stuffedbirdsoftherefugeandsomePaiute artifacts. Again,thankyouforwritingthiseditorial. AnnMarland s s s TotheEditor: Thecolumn“Athank-youtopoliceoffi- cers,”writtenbyDanGlodeintheFebruary 17Nugget,needstobeapplaudedandpraised. Wearesogratefultothemenandwomen who help and protect us silently every day ofourlives.Aperfectexampleisourcous- in’sson-in-law,JasonSchermerhorn,whois thechiefofpoliceinCannonBeachandwas bestfriendofJasonGooding,the39-year-old policemanwhowasshotandkilledrecently whiletryingtoarrestafeloninSeaside. NotonlydoesJasonworksodiligentlyand longhoursaspolicechief,butalsoasavol- unteerfireman.HewasinjuredintheSeaside fire which happened last month and had to haveakneerepaired.Hiswife,Jennifer,has beena911operator. JasonGooding’slifewashonoredbythe See LETTERS on page 22 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Partly sunny Partly sunny Mostly sunny Rain Mostly cloudy Partly sunny 57/30 58/33 60/37 52/33 53/32 53/na The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. Website: www.nuggetnews.com 442 E. Main Ave., P.O. Box 698, Sisters, Oregon 97759 Tel: 541-549-9941 | Fax: 541-549-9940 | editor@nuggetnews.com Postmaster: Send address changes to The Nugget Newspaper, P.O. Box 698, Sisters, OR 97759. Third Class Postage Paid at Sisters, Oregon. Publisher - Editor: Kiki Dolson News Editor: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Williver Classifieds & Circulation: Teresa Mahnken Advertising: Karen Kassy Graphic Design: Jess Draper Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Accounting: Erin Bordonaro The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. Third-class postage: one year, $45; six months (or less), $25. First-class postage: one year, $85; six months, $55. Published Weekly. ©2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All advertising which appears in The Nugget is the property of The Nugget and may not be used without explicit permission. The Nugget Newspaper, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility for information contained in advertisements, articles, stories, lists, calendar etc. within this publication. All submissions to The Nugget Newspaper will be treated as uncondition- ally assigned for publication and copyrighting purposes and subject to The Nugget Newspaper’s unrestricted right to edit and comment editorially, that all rights are currently available, and that the material in no way infringes upon the rights of any person. The publisher assumes no responsibility for return or safety of artwork, photos, or manuscripts. “Iwishthatwecouldelect aDemocraticpresidentwho could wave a magic wand and say, ‘We shall do this, andweshalldothat,’”Hill- aryClintonsaidrecentlyin responsetoBernieSanders’ proposals.“Thatain’tthereal worldwe’relivingin.” Sowhat’spossiblein“the realworldwe’relivingin?” There are two dominant viewsabouthowpresidents accomplish fundamental change. Thefirstmightbecalled the“dealmakerinchief,”by which presidents threaten or buy off powerful oppo- nents. Barack Obama got theAffordableCareActthis way—gainingthesupportof thepharmaceuticalindustry, for example, by promising themfarmorebusinessand guaranteeing that Medicare wouldn’tuseitsvastbargain- ingpowertonegotiatelower drugprices. But such deals can be expensivetothepublic(the tab for the pharmaceutical exemptionisabout$16bil- lionayear),andtheydon’t reallychangetheallocation of power. They just allow powerfulintereststocashin. The costs of such deals in “the world we’re liv- ingin”arelikelytobeeven highernow.Powerfulinter- estsaremorepowerfulthan ever thanks to the Supreme Court’s2010CitizensUnited decision opening the flood- gatestobigmoney. Which takes us to the second view about how presidents accomplish big thingsthatpowerfulinterests don’t want: by mobilizing the public to demand them andpenalizepoliticianswho don’theedthosedemands. Teddy Roosevelt got a progressiveincometax,lim- its on corporate campaign contributions, regulation offoodsanddrugs,andthe dissolutionofgianttrusts— not because he was a great dealmaker but because he addedfueltogrowingpublic demandsforsuchchanges. ItwasatapointinAmeri- can history similar to our own.Giantcorporationsand ahandfulofwealthypeople dominatedAmericandemoc- racy.Thelackeysofthe“rob- ber barons” literally placed sacksofcashonthedesksof pliantlegislators. The American public was angry and frustrated. Roosevelt channeled that anger and frustration into support of initiatives that alteredthestructureofpower in America. He used the officeofthepresident—his “bully pulpit,” as he called it—to galvanize political action. Could Hillary Clinton do the same? Could Bernie Sanders? Clintonfashionsherpro- spective presidency as a continuation of Obama’s. Surely Obama understood theimportanceofmobilizing thepublic against themon- eyed interests.After all, he hadoncebeenacommunity organizer. Afterthe2008electionhe eventurnedhiselectioncam- paignintoaneworganization called“OrganizingforAmer- ica”(nowdubbed“Organiz- ing forAction”), explicitly designedtoharnesshisgrass- rootssupport. So why did Obama end up relying more on deal- making than public mobili- zation? Because he thought heneededbigmoneyforhis 2012campaign. In the interim, Citizens United had freed “indepen- dent” groups like OFA to raisealmostunlimitedfunds butretainedlimitsonthesize of contributions to formal politicalparties. That’stheheartofprob- lem.Nocandidateorpresi- dentcanmobilizethepublic against the dominance of themoneyedinterestswhile being dependent on their money.Andnocandidateor presidentcanhopetobreak the connection between wealth and power without mobilizingthepublic. (A few years ago, OFA wanted to screen around America the movie Jake Kornbluth and I did about w i d e n i n g i n e q u a l i t y, “InequalityforAll,”butonly on the condition that we deletetwominutesidentify- ing big Democratic donors. We refused.They wouldn’t showit.) In short, “the real world we’re living in” right now won’t allow fundamental changeofthesortweneed.It takesamovement. It’s about standing up to the moneyed interests and restoringourdemocracy. © 2016 By Robert Reich; Distributed by Tribune Con- tent 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.