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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2019)
2 Wednesday, January 2, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon O P I N I O N Jonah Goldberg 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 Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned.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: It is not the role or responsibility of the public school system to teach our children gender politics, as per the book titled “George” by Alex Gino, being considered by the middle school. I believe this is still a free country where values are taught at home. Also, regarding Laird’s expansion to 500+ families — my question is when is enough, enough? Jeanne Brooks s s s To the Editor: Gasoline is an important item in most fam- ily’s budgets. The current national average for regular gas according to CNBC is $2.28 per gallon. Why are Oregonians the only U.S. residents incapable of pumping their own gas? This is a non-partisan issue. Salem, let’s take action now. Ed Derksen Black Butte Ranch s s s To the Editor: I wish to thank the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Dept. for once again providing Christmas dinner for a lot of folks who otherwise would not be with other people and enjoy a good meal on this day. It’s amazing, though, to notice when sign- ing in, how many people DO NOT donate. I think everyone could afford a few dollars to help keep this dinner going. We have no fam- ily here or anywhere that would come here so See LETTERS on page 9 Sisters Weather Forecast Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Partly Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy PM Rain/Snow Rain/Snow Showers 47/33 49/33 43/26 39/26 39/27 42/35 The Nugget Newspaper, LLC 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. Editor in Chief: Jim Cornelius Production Manager: Leith Easterling Graphic Design: Jess Draper Community Marketing Partners: Vicki Curlett & Patti Jo Beal Classifieds & Circulation: Lisa May Proofreader: Pete Rathbun Owner: J. Louis Mullen The Nugget is mailed to residents within the Sisters School District; subscriptions are available outside delivery area. 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For a very long time now, I have been predicting that the Trump presidency will end poorly because character is destiny. I’ve said it so often, I occasion- ally need to be reminded that I didn’t coin the phrase. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus did when he observed “ethos anthropoi daimon,” most often trans- lated as “man’s character is his fate.” Character is one of those topics, like culture or morality, that everyone strongly supports yet also argues about. When James Q. Wilson, one of the great- est social scientists of the last half-century, turned his scholarly attention to character, many of his col- leagues in academia were repulsed. Even though every one of them surely believed in some notion of good character, it was assumed that to talk of it, let alone seek a definition of it or a plan for how to cultivate it, would be an exercise in lending aid and comfort to the moralizers of the right. But Wilson, a man of both good and conservative character, had a more hum- ble and universal definition than his colleagues might have expected: decency, politeness, self-restraint, commitment, honesty, cooperativeness and the ability to think of others’ well-being. Weirdly, it’s gotten to the point that when I say President Trump is not a man of good character, I feel like I should pref- ace it with a trigger warn- ing for many of my fellow conservatives. Most of the angry responses are clearly rooted in the fact that they do not wish to be reminded of this obvious truth. But others seem to have convinced themselves that Trump is a man of good character, and they take personal offense at the insult. They rush to rebut the claim, citing banal or debatable propositions: He loves his children! He’s loyal to a fault! He’s authen- tic! Never mind that many bad men love their children, that loyalty to people or causes unworthy of loyalty is not admirable, and that authentic caddishness is not admirable. Moreover, he is not remotely loyal to his wives or the people who work for him. What’s most worrisome is that these defenders are redefining good character in Trump’s image, and they end up modeling it. Others assume that I am referencing the president’s style, specifically his insults and Twitter addiction. What his defenders overlook is that his insults are not simply an act; they are the product of astonishing lev- els of narcissism, insecurity and intellectual incuriosity. The president who became a celebrity by tell- ing reality-show contestants “you’re fired” has not fired any of his Cabinet officials face to face or even on the phone. He relies on others, or on Twitter, to deliver the news. He loves controversy because it keeps him in the center ring, but he hates confrontation. Nearly all of the contro- versies that have bedeviled Trump’s administration are the direct result of his character, not his ideology. To be sure, ideology plays a role, amplifying both the intensity of anger from his left-wing critics and the intensity of his transac- tional defenders. Many of the liberal critics shrieking about the betrayal of the Kurds implicit in Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria would be applauding if a President Clinton had made the same decision. And many of the conserva- tives celebrating the move would be condemning it. But Trump’s refusal to listen to advisers; his inabil- ity to bite his tongue; his demonization and belittling of senators who vote for his agenda but refuse to keep quiet when he does or says things they disagree with; his rants against the First Amendment; his praise for dictators and insults for allies; his need to create new controversies to eclipse old ones; and his inexhaust- ible capacity to lie and fab- ricate history: All of this springs from his character. © 2018 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.
