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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2016)
6 Wednesday, October 19, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon The Bunkhouse Chronicle Craig Rullman Columnist Le Fin de Sièile The French, naturally, have a phrase for it: le fin de siècle. The End of the Century. In its broader con- text it is meant to encap- sulate squalls of cynicism, doubt, spiking religious fervor, a tinge of helpless- ness, and general pessimism during epochs of dramatic change. It is a kind of phe- nomenon that seems to settle over large numbers of people when the trail ahead seems dark and rocky, beset with troubles, and the wagon- masters not quite up to the task of guiding the company through. This seemingly endless caterwauling carnival side- show of an election seems to have cast many of us into a kind of End-of-the-Century mindset. And this discomfit- ing spectacle truly is relent- less in its inarticulate, blunt, and raw depravity — the natural result, perhaps, of decades of Jerry Springer television, failed educa- tion models, the continuous pumping of divisive philoso- phy into the mainstream for profit, and industrial shout- ing matches that pass for heady political analysis on the evening news. I’m susceptible. Some days I want to wear a hair shirt and flagellate myself with a cat-o-nine-tails just to see if it would make them — that conquering horde of tweeters, facebookers, and zealous party hacks — stop and reconsider what they are doing to a process and a nation that deserves far more dignity and gravitas than this offering of bloated political nabobs is capable of rendering. There are some press- ing issues, actually, we might want to consider. And whomever it is that wakes up as our President on November 9 — I can’t, and in good conscience won’t, vote for either one of them — might want to reflect on some of these actual issues with some heretofore unde- monstrated intellectual hon- esty and sobriety. Debt. We don’t hear any of the candidates discuss- ing a meaningful strategy to address this looming catas- trophe. Debt is the dry rot in the foundation of our house. We can’t pay what we owe without massive sacrifice and hardship, which modern Americans, largely insulated from genuine hardship — read: starvation and cata- clysmic homelessness — for Dr. Thomas R. Rheuben General, Cosmetic, Implant and Family Dentistry ~ Over 22 years Serving Sisters ~ We are preferred providers for Delta Dental PPO and Premier, MODA, Advantage, Pacifi c Source, Cigna and the V.A. 541-549-0109 | 304 W. 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Vast swaths of intel- ligent, honest citizens rightly suspect that their government is debased, their representa- tives dirty, and manipulated — if not outright owned — by forces unseen and unap- proved of by the electorate. Most disconcerting is that many in government seem to believe the citizenry is stu- pid, and have forgotten — or never really understood — their rightful place in the order of things. Watching any brief from a “govern- ment spokesperson,” such as the White House Press Secretary, or any of the designer diplomats at Foggy Bottom, is an exercise in enduring the most egregious displays of condescension and arrogance. We don’t do royalty here. Or do we, now? NuggetNews.com Credibility. Whichever candidate lands in the oval office will have almost one half of the country believ- ing they are either an assas- sin, a treasonous criminal, a racist, a serial groper, a closet Bolshevik, or a kind of Manchurian Candidate waiting for the trigger phrase from one dark interest or another. Half of the country, largely good people, hold those beliefs religiously. What can either of them possibly do, at this stage, to unite fully half of a nation that holds them in utter con- tempt? Bread and circuses? A good war? It isn’t diffi- cult to forecast even more divisiveness and the con- tinued balkanization of the American electorate four years from now. War drums. We have been at war for 15 years and there is no end in sight. Having tossed Jefferson’s notion that foreign entanglements were dangerous and counter- productive, we now find our- selves responsible for every- thing and everyone, and our “national interests” inextri- cably tied to the results. New conflicts seem probable, at least of the fast, extremely violent, and low-duration variety. A large-scale war isn’t far-fetched. Perhaps with an increasingly nation- alist and chafing Putin. Or the Chinese. Or the North Koreans. Or the Iranians. Or some, or all of them at once. What concerns me, as I sit here contemplating pre- cisely what size of hair shirt I actually wear, and I think it concerns many of us, is this inescapable notion that the people we are roboti- cally installing in high office aren’t actually up to the job. So I’ll quote Dr. Richard Beeman, a professor of his- tory at the University of Pennsylvania. “There is a story, often told, that upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: “A republic, if you can keep it.” The brev- ity of that response should not cause us to under-value its essential meaning: dem- ocratic republics are not merely founded upon the consent of the people, they are also absolutely depen- dent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health. F A LL F L A VOR S W E N to enjoy at The Porch 541-549-EATS (3287) 243 N. Elm St. Sisters 5-9 p.m. Tu-Su • Reservations Recommended n nd d ed e d