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Wednesday, November 2, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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None of this is winning
By Margaret Wood
Guest Columnist
November 11, 1918 — November 11, 2018
Letters to the Editor…
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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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To the Editor:
The October 24 Nugget published a guest
editorial by Jeff Mackey declaring that Donald
J. Trump is the “right person for the job” based
on the premise that Trump is a successful busi-
nessman and that the United States should be
run like a corporation with the President as
its CEO. This strikes me as a simplistic and
absurd assumption.
Trump would hardly be a smart choice to
run a business as complex as the United States.
Trump companies have filed for bankruptcy
six times, leaving bond-holders and lenders
to foot the bill. More recently, he has demon-
strated a complete lack of understanding of fis-
cal policy and the role of the Federal Reserve.
According to the CBO (Congressional Budget
Office) the recently passed tax-cut bill signed
by Trump is estimated to add 1.4 trillion to the
federal deficit by 2027. No business gets an
unlimited line of credit like that.
Running a government is fundamentally
different than running a corporation. A com-
pany’s sole purpose is to make a profit for its
owners. Period. The purpose of our Federal
Government, as found in the Preamble of the
Constitution, is to “establish Justice, insure
domestic Tranquility, provide for the common
defense, promote the general Welfare, and
secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
and our posterity.”
Doesn’t sound much like running a com-
pany, does it?
Candidate Trump promised to drain the
swamp. Instead Robert Mueller has multiple
indictments, and guilty pleas and plea deals
from Trump’s lawyers and aides. Obama had
none.
Integrity starts at the top, and the current
leader seems sadly lacking. I will be voting for
a change of course with my ballot.
Karen Lord
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Last spring I had the
privilege of touring the
National Museum of
African American History
and Culture in Washington
DC. It was a deeply emo-
tional and disturbing expe-
rience and a testament to
our shameful past. In one
exhibit, etched into glass
on a case that displayed a
vicious leather bullwhip
that was used on slaves was
a quote:
“O, ye nominal
Christians! Might not an
African ask you-Learned
you this from your God,
who says unto you, Do
unto all men as would men
should do unto you?”
– Olaudah Equiano,
1789
We should be asking
ourselves the same ques-
tion implored by a slave
nearly 230 years ago. Our
country is in a moral cri-
sis, where decency and
empathy are set aside for a
“win.”
It is not a win when
our president uses words
that incite violence against
detractors, political oppo-
nents, Jewish people,
immigrants and people of
color. It is not a win when
11 Jewish worshippers are
killed in a synagogue and
the president attends a rally
rather than comforting a
frightened, grieving nation.
It is not a win when our
president refuses to admon-
ish Vladimir Putin, or
claims that he “fell in love”
because of “beautiful” let-
ters received from a North
Korean dictator whose peo-
ple are starving, murdered
and silenced.
It is not a win when a
Saudi journalist (U.S. resi-
dent) is slaughtered and
dismembered in a consul-
ate and our government
does not respond defini-
tively and immediately.
It is not winning when a
president claims there were
“fine people on both sides”
in Charlottesville, where a
young women was killed
by a white supremacist and
the torch-bearing alt-right
walked chanting “Jews will
not replace us.” It is not a
win when a super supporter
of Trump mails bombs to
two former presidents, a
former secretary of state, a
former vice-president and
other victims, and the presi-
dent says he’ll “take a pass”
on calling the intended vic-
tims to assure them that he
will do everything he can
to protect them.
It is not winning when
migrant children are sepa-
rated from their parents,
kept in tents and cages or
sent thousands of miles
away from the only people
they know. It is not win-
ning when a president talks
about women as if they are
objects, calls them deroga-
tory names and mocks a
victim of sexual assault. It
is not winning to imitate a
disabled journalist or praise
the assault of another by
a congressman. It is not
winning to say that immi-
grants are “infesting” our
country, that a “caravan” of
“bad people” are coming to
“invade” us or that our con-
stitutionally supported free
press is “the enemy of the
people.”
None of this is winning.
This is losing. Losing a
moral compass.
Let us not forget the
time when a McCain sup-
porter at a campaign rally
approached the senator
and said, “I can’t trust
Obama. I have read about
him, and …. he’s an Arab.”
McCain immediately
shook his head and took
the microphone from her.
“No ma’am,” McCain said.
“He’s a decent family man,
a citizen that I just happen
to have disagreements with
on fundamental issues, and
that’s what this campaign
is all about.” Candidate
McCain would not let that
lie go any further.
It is winning when we
remember that we are bet-
ter than this, stronger than
this and more compassion-
ate than this. When we
stop feeling good about
name-calling at rallies,
about separating families,
about fearing the “other” or
blaming the less fortunate
for their situation. It is win-
ning when we realize that
our children will inherit
this earth and we have an
obligation to future genera-
tions. It is winning when
we stand up for facts, truth,
justice, human dignity and
the values that this country
was founded upon.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.