TO THE EDITOR
DEAN DEBATE
Blair Bobier (12/24) leaves the impres-
sion that Howard Dean is almost as much of a
sneaky warmonger as is the Bush. It’s more
than that and it is the truth. That’s why I’m
voting in the primary for Dennis Kucinich, a
true peacemaker/man of compassion.
But it is also the truth that Dean agrees
with most of us EW readers that the Bush Iraq
war was a big mistake and that Bush’s presi-
dency has caused great harm to the U.S. and
to the world. To hold one’s nose and vote for
Dean in November may be the only rational
option decent people in the U.S. will have be-
cause of the U.S. electoral system train wreck
caused by greed/corruption.
What we really need is a miracle to make
Kucinich surge past Dean in the polls. Can
money and effort buy electoral happiness?
Possibly not because it is another Bush bull-
shit new year.
Bob Saxton
Eugene
NEW AND IMPROVED
As we begin 2004, it occurs to me that we
seek to reinvent a new and improved version
of ourselves. Losing weight and quitting
smoking are on an ever-expanding list. I
would ask that we all srive to be better people
and remember that what we expect and de-
mand from others is no less meaningful than
what we do. When you drive by those who
are walking, be mindful that they are not an
inconvenience, but are your brothers and sis-
ters who want the same things you want.
When you see a bus loading a disabled per-
son, don’t be impatient because you might be
delayed three to five minutes. We are all part
of the same family.
Those of our society who are challenged
need our compassion — not our disdain. To
those who extend your heart, thank you many
times squared.
Measure 30 is a damning response to the
needs of our most vulnerable citizens. We
must get past the notion that we’ve done all
that we can do. Social services are for all and
even though you may be secure, many are
not. Talk to those who have head injuries with
additional mental and physical challenges or
others recieving assistance; I expect they
would give all they “have” to be “normal.”
We must not let our fear and neglect com-
pound their plight. Apparently most of our
taxpayers are not familar with “pay me now
or pay me later.” To those who feel that they
are being held hostage by the request, I ask,
“Shouldn’t the services that will be cut be
availble to YOU if and when they are
needed?”
I urge all to vote with your hearts instead
of your wallets. This is a new year and we all
need to be new and improved.
George G. Brooks
Eugene
FREE SPEECH
After risking my trusty squeezebox’s deli-
cate health with the Anti-20303 carolers in
the rain for an hour on Christmas Eve, I took
the liberty and a break from tradition with an
original piece entitled “Imagine” (loosely
based on John Lennon’s song of the same
name). Many carolers enthusiastically joined
in on the choruses before returning to the
originally planned Christmas/holiday carols.
If you want to call that “factionalizing” go
right ahead, but I call it free speech, which
was what this was all about. And by the way,
the so-called factionalizing took place on the
Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza, not the
Federal Plaza, as reported.
Sing on, people! And thanks to all who
came out in defense of our constitutionally
guaranteed right of Freedom of Assembly.
Queen Accordionna
2000 S.L.U.G. Queen
BAD BOY BOZIEVICH
By distinguishing himself as being “the
first LCC board member in memory to pub-
licly oppose funding support of LCC,” Jay
Bozievich has also distinguished himself as
being perhaps the first principled board mem-
ber. Only people of principle oppose an oner-
ous law that benefits them or their special in-
terest at the cost of others.
Thank you, Jay, for standing up for the
BY DAN CAROL
Doing the New Math
These shameless freaks now want our pants.
S
o politically, it’s my least favorite time of year. I’m not talking about all the hype
over who has won the Democratic primaries before a single vote has been cast
— that game comes every four years and sorry, no predictions here. We’ll find
out soon enough with Iowa and the New Hampshire primary coming up. No, I’m talking
about the annual Kabuki Theater around the State of the Union.
You know the visual. President Bush speaks to the Congress in full assembly, “Hail to
the Chief” plays, Vice President Dick Cheney sits in a chair behind Bush (Dan Quayle, we
miss ya buddy!) and all through the show Democrats squirm and worry if they are clap-
ping too little — or too much.
Ugly stuff. But that’s just the parts we see.
Behind the scenes, we have a month of political jostling before and after the “SOTU”
itself. The Democrats are working on their “pre-buttal” plan to try and anticipate and
pre-spin what Bush says, both sides are lining up their ammunition for the budget fight
that starts right after the speech, Bush is thinking about impressing us by going to Mars,
and White House handlers are scouring the grassroots for the right citizen hero to sit
next to Laura Bush.
Like I said, ugly stuff.
Last year, the main issue was the war. As in, whether we should have one in Iraq.
This year, I think the battle is less obvious but arguably as important. It’s about the
future and what investments we need to make. And we’d better get the math right.
Otherwise, a 30-year, Republican strategy for destroying government’s role in meaning-
ful public investment (outside of space satellites and homeland security) will continue
unabated.
This plays out both nationally and in states like Oregon.
Nationally, we need to deal with the aftermath of the Bush budget binge. After
squandering a trillion dollars on tax cuts, buying off seniors with a dubious drug benefit
that doesn’t kick in until 2006, and putting America in red ink as far as green eyeshades
can see, Bush is now saying we need to trim our belt and cut domestic programs.
Trim our belt? After stuffing their pockets with tax cuts, these shameless freaks now
want our pants — and the shirts off our backs (or better yet, they want state government
to deal with it all).
4 JANUARY 15, 2004
Can we call Bush a big spender without turning our-
selves into budget hawks? That’s a tight fit. Let’s remem-
ber how much credit Clinton and the Democrats got for
“being responsible” and balancing the budget mess left
over by Reagan and his “I Love The 1980s” gang. The an-
swer is zero. Nada. Zilch. So whether it’s Howard Dean (he of 11
balanced budgets in Vermont) or someone else, the Democratic
nominee needs to be careful before we raise our hands and do it all over again.
W
ell here’s an idea. How about we don’t play the Republicans’ game until we
stop stacking the deck against smart policy choices?
It doesn’t have to be that way — not if we demand a serious look at the
costs and benefits of public investment and make the case for payback economics.
We should play this game at the state level too on Measure 30 and so many other is-
sues (Hello Governor K, are you home?)
Here’s an example. This week, The Apollo Alliance (www.apolloalliance.org) is releas-
ing an outside economic study showing how major league investments in good green
jobs and energy independence would, in fact, pay for themselves, create over three mil-
lion new jobs and over a trillion dollars in new economic activity. What’s not to like?
Can we out-trump the Republicans on economics and demand a “policy payback
analysis” to all federal or state investments? How would Bush’s buddies do if their cor-
porate welfare programs had to be benchmarked against, say, proven pre-kindergarten
education investments for kids? Jesse Jackson had it about right years ago in talking
about the importance of investing in the front side of life. Before we spend $30,000 a
year on a jail cell. Let’s get the substantive cost-benefit analysis done to make that case
on everything we are in favor of achieving in the next 30 years.
Republicans will say each idea costs too much. But once we count the benefits, they
won’t have a lot less to say while we will have much more to offer.
Here in Oregon, for example, we could propose a major bond program to make the
state the leading exporter of green technology — or we can keep letting Bill Sizemore
and Kevin Mannix set the bar for voters.
Whether it’s the interstate highway system, the electronics industry or the Internet,
there are endless examples of how public investment has catalyzed economic success.
This is no-brainer stuff. Voters can get this. So let’s do the math.
Dan Carol is a Democratic political strategist and a founding partner of CTSG (www.ctsg.com), a progressive
consulting firm based in Eugene and Washington, D.C.