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Wednesday,February24,2016The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon
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P
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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.
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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
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“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.