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2 Wednesday, July 27, 2016 The 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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. To the Editor: If anyone has reason to be upset about the airport noise and traffic it would be me. I live catty corner to the airfield, and the parachuters often land in my backyard. Oh dear, they might have trampled a weed and that infernal flap, flap, flap of the parachute is enough to give me a nervous breakdown. Gee, I might have to go to one of the student safe rooms with my binky and pacifier to reconnoiter. Seeing people enjoy the outdoors, participating in a healthy, wholesome sport is so upsetting. We live in a world of terrorism, human slav- ery, debauchery, child and animal abuse. Many of our children are baby-coddled into becom- ing uneducated mental midgets, self-absorbed, entitled and allowed to play violence-promot- ing video games. We feed them cancer-causing chemical- and sugar-laden food and autism is reaching 1 in 10 children — but we have people worrying about a plane taking off every three or four hours and parachuters enjoying themselves? Wouldn’t it be refreshing if all were con- cerned about the important priorities and quit majoring on the minors? This entire situation reminds me of the man who wrote to The Nugget protesting that we had taken our two Wheaten terrier puppies to a craft show and how disturbing that was to his psyche. Mr. Benson, if the small minded curmud- geons start picking on you, just walk across the street to the old Barclay estate and I will help ward them off. Trudie Kae Vlach s s s To the Editor: Imagine what would happen if I approached a small, tourist-dependent Utah town with the following business proposal. My business will: Employ only a few folks, part-time at that. Result in minimal increase in new tourists. Create noise pollution that can be heard for miles, dawn to dusk. Lower property values over a wide area. Irritate tour- ists so much that they write letters to the editor against the business. Create a safety hazard on one of the busy local roads. Negatively affect the quality of life for many area residents. I would be laughed out of town if not tarred and feathered. I would hope that our City Council would react the same way if someone offered such a business plan to Sisters Country. Bruce V. Mason sisters Weather forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday thursday Friday Saturday Sunday monday Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny Sunny 90/50 92/52 92/53 84/46 81/44 80/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. Does Hillary Clinton understand that the biggest divide in American politics is no longer between the right and the left, but between the anti-establishment and the establishment? I worry she doesn’t — at least not yet. A Democratic operative I’ve known since the Bill Clinton administration tells me, “Now that she’s won the nomination, Hillary is mov- ing to the middle. She’s going after moderate swing voters.” In fairness, Hillary is only doing what she knows best. Moving to the putative cen- ter is what Bill Clinton did after the Democrats lost the House and Senate in 1994 — signing legislation on wel- fare reform, crime, trade and financial deregulation that enabled him to win re-elec- tion in 1996 and declare “the era of big government” over. In those days a general election was like a compe- tition between two hot dog vendors on a boardwalk extending from right to left. Each had to move to the mid- dle to maximize sales. But this view is outdated. The most powerful force in American politics today is anti-establishment fury at a system rigged by big corpo- rations, Wall Street and the super-wealthy. This is a big reason that Donald Trump won the Republican nomi- nation. It’s also why Bernie Sanders took 22 states in the Democratic primaries, including a majority of Dem- ocratic primary voters under age 45. There are no longer “mod- erates.” There’s no longer a “center.” There’s authoritar- ian populism (Trump) and democratic populism (which had been Bernie’s “political revolution” and is now up for grabs). If Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party don’t recognize this realignment, they’re in for a rude shock. Trump does recognize it. His authoritarian populism (“I am your voice”) is premised on it. “In five, 10 years from now,” Trump says, “you’re going to have a worker’s party. A party of people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry.” Speaking at a factory in Pennsylvania in June, Trump decried politicians and finan- ciers who had betrayed Americans by “taking away from the people their means of making a living and sup- porting their families.” Worries about free trade used to be confined to the political left. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, people who say free-trade deals are bad for America are more likely to lean Republican. The problem isn’t trade itself. It’s a political-eco- nomic system that won’t cushion working people against trade’s downsides or share trade’s upsides. In other words, a system that’s rigged. Most basically, the anti- establishment wants big money out of politics. This was the premise of Sanders’ campaign. It’s also been cen- tral to Donald (“I’m so rich I can’t be bought off”) Trump’s appeal, although he’s now trolling for big money. Getting big money out of politics is of growing importance to voters in both major parties. A June New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 84 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans want to fun- damentally change or com- pletely rebuild our campaign finance system. Last January, a Des Moines Register poll of likely Iowa caucus-goers found 91 percent of Republicans and 94 percent of Democrats unsatisfied or “mad as hell” about money in politics. Hillary Clinton doesn’t need to move toward the “middle.” In fact, such a move could hurt her if it’s perceived to be compromis- ing the stances she took in the primaries in order to be more acceptable to Democratic movers and shakers. She needs to move instead toward the anti-establishment — forcefully committing her- self to getting big money out of politics, and making the system work for the many rather than a privileged few. She must make clear Donald Trump’s authoritar- ian populism is a dangerous gambit, and the best way to end crony capitalism and make America work for the many is to strengthen Ameri- can democracy. © 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.
