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Wednesday, January 25, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Robert B.
Reich
American Voices
Letters to the Editor…
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To the Editor:
Correction —
Last week I provided information that was
not accurate. While much of Deschutes County
has a code live/snow load of 25 pounds per
square foot, this was not true for all areas of
the county — including Sisters. Snow loads,
in fact, are site-specific and based on location
and elevation.
It is best to talk with your city or county
building department for code information.
That said, code requirements change over
time, and if it is possible to locate original
construction documents, it is likely they will
provide engineering information specific to
your structure at the time it was built.
I apologize for the error — and to those
who’s wives directed them to shovel their
roofs based on my submission.
Kris Calvin
Editor’s note:
Kris is right — best to get information
about your specific house. The county has
been the contractor for building codes in
Sisters for five years.
Randy Scheid, building official for
Deschutes County, said that “all of the
plan reviews that we have conducted for
the City of Sisters have been to 35# ground
snow, except for the very small portion of
the western city limits that is at 45# ground
snow. We have shown the vast majority
of the city at 35# snow load for all of my
career.”
However, that does not mean that all roofs
in Sisters are rated at that level.
s
s
s
See LETTERS on page 17
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Mostly Cloudy
Slt. Chance Snow
Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny
35/20
35/14
33/13
36/18
39/21
40/na
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The ongoing contest
between the Hillary Clinton
and Bernie Sanders wings of
the Democratic Party con-
tinues to divide Democrats.
It’s urgent Democrats stop
squabbling and recognize
seven basic truths:
1. The party is on life
support. Democrats are in
the minority in both the
House and Senate, with no
end in sight. Since the start
of the Obama administration,
they’ve lost 1,034 state and
federal seats. They hold only
16 governorships and face 32
state legislatures fully under
GOP control. No one speaks
for the party as a whole. The
party’s top leaders are aging,
and the backbench is thin.
The future is bleak unless
the party radically reforms
itself. If Republicans do well
in the 2018 midterms, they’ll
control Congress and the
Supreme Court for years. If
they continue to hold most
statehouses, they could
entrench themselves for a
generation.
2. We are now in a popu-
list era. The strongest and
most powerful force in
American politics is a rejec-
tion of the status quo, a repu-
diation of politics as usual,
and a deep and profound dis-
trust of elites, including the
current power structure of
America.
That force propelled
Donald Trump into the
White House. He represents
the authoritarian side of pop-
ulism. Bernie Sanders’ pri-
mary campaign represented
the progressive side.
The question hovering
over America’s future is
which form of populism will
ultimately prevail
3. The economy is not
working for most Americans.
The economic data show
lower unemployment and
higher wages than eight
years ago, but the typical
family is still poorer today
than it was in 2000, adjusted
for inflation; median weekly
earnings are no higher than
in 2000; a large number
of working-age people —
mostly men — have dropped
out of the labor force alto-
gether; and job insecurity is
endemic.
4. The party’s moneyed
establishment — big donors,
major lobbyists, retired
members of Congress who
have become bundlers and
lobbyists — are part of the
problem. Even though many
consider themselves “lib-
eral” and don’t recoil from
an active government, their
preferred remedies spare cor-
porations and the wealthiest
from making any sacrifices.
The moneyed interests in
the party allowed the dereg-
ulation of Wall Street and
then encouraged the bailout
of the Street. They’re barely
concerned about the growth
of tax havens and inside
trading, increasing market
power in major industries
(pharmaceuticals, telecom,
airlines, private health insur-
ers, food processors, finance,
even high tech), and widen-
ing inequality.
5. It’s not enough for
Democrats to be “against
Trump,” and defend the
status quo. Democrats have
to fight like hell against
regressive policies Trump
wants to put in place, but
Democrats also need to fight
for a bold vision of what the
nation must achieve — like
expanding Social Security,
and financing the expansion
by raising the cap on income
subject to Social Security
taxes; Medicare for all; and
world-class free public edu-
cation for all.
And Democrats must
diligently seek to establish
countervailing power —
stronger trade unions, com-
munity banks, more incen-
tives for employee owner-
ship and small businesses,
and electoral reforms that get
big money out of politics and
expand the right to vote.
6. The life of the party
— its enthusiasm, passion,
youth, principles and ide-
als — was elicited by Bernie
Sanders’ campaign. This is
the future of the Democratic
Party.
7. The party must change
from being a giant fund-
raising machine to a move-
ment. It needs to unite the
poor, working class and
middle class, black and
white — who haven’t had a
raise in 30 years, and who
feel angry, powerless and
disenfranchised.
If the Democratic Party
doesn’t understand these
seven truths and fails to do
what’s needed, a third party
will emerge to fill the void.
© 2017 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.