TO THE EDITOR
pressed in recent articles in this paper, fails
my mother’s test.
There are two aspects of this issue that
may seem impossibly Midwestern to those
who support the culture of pre-emptive
alienation.
First, if there are two Americas, the break-
down is not 50-50, it’s 90-10. During the
Revolutionary War only 10 percent of colo-
nials supported the resistance. For the rest,
one George was as good as another. The busi-
ness of daily life was, and rightly so, the only
worthy cause: working, parenting, loving, liv-
ing. It is the differences in our natural re-
sources and our geographic location that dis-
tinguish us from our sisters and brothers in the
Ukraine or Uganda. Sign-carriers on down-
town Eugene street corners will be lonely for
at least another century.
Another aspect of this issue glares at me:
If there is a conservative agenda, liberals run-
ning away to a Canada-of-the-mind supports
it nicely. Peter DeFazio is doing something.
The guy who directs Eugene PeaceWorks is
not. When the idealists on one end of the see-
saw refuse to sit down, the result is going to
be obvious. The nature of politics allows no
vacuum.
Let’s be honest about what “working
outside the system” is and is not. It’s self-
expression. It’s therapy. It’s even stimulat-
ing to read about it. But my mother would
not approve.
Steve Downey
Eugene
SEXISM REIGNS
Our Constitution is being much touted
these days, and now there’s a suggestion that
foreign-born people be allowed to run for
U.S. president. Hey! First let’s pass the ERA
(equal rights for women) into the
Constitution. Sexism still reigns in certain
areas. Let’s fix that.
Nancy Slagle
Springfield
dismiss any dissent as paranoia or sour-grapes
rhetoric. Where is the outrage? Is blind ac-
ceptance the default reaction of the general
voting public? Perhaps a nation of such sheep
deserves to be led to the slaughter?
Pat Sheppard
Cottage Grove
ENVIRO R’S
SOLSTICE SEASON GIFTS
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RUBY CHASM
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When you think of environmental pro-
tection, you probably think of Sierra Club
or NRDC. Another organization, however,
works equally hard to preserve our air,
water and land. That organization is
Republicans for Environmental Protection,
or www.rep.org.
Sound surprising? Not really, when you
consider that it was Teddy Roosevelt who set
aside more than 100 million acres of national
forests, Dwight D. Eisenhower who helped
create ANWR, and Tom McCall who guided
more than 100 conservation bills through the
Oregon Legislature.
Sadly, many of today’s Republicans are
trashing some of the same environmental
protections that members of their own party
labored to create. Fortunately, there is REP.
Founded in 1995 by conservation-minded
Republicans from around the country, REP
seeks to restore the GOP to its proud tradition
of environmental preservation.
If you are a Republican and value a
healthy environment, I urge you to contact
REP. Roll up your sleeves and work alongside
other compassionate individuals who, like
yourselves, seek to protect this sacred planet
upon which we all depend for life.
Brian W.S. Moore
Eugene
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The election Nov. 2 introduced an insidi-
ous threat to the integrity of our voting sys-
tem— the use of electronic voting machines
that produce unverifiable and virtually unau-
ditable election results.
Regardless of whom you voted for, the fu-
ture consequences of the use of this method
must be eradicated. Unverifiable voting ma-
chines jeopardize not only our federal presi-
dential vote, but our votes on local issues and
propositions as well.
The potential for malicious manipulation
is overwhelming. This is how a democracy is
overthrown; not in a dramatic military coup,
but eroded one layer at a time right under our
noses, by our own people. It’s done by evolu-
tion, not revolution.
We must be vigilant to jump immediately
on the slightest infringement on our rights.
Would-be usurpers’ tactics must be nipped in
the bud no matter how petty or inconsequen-
tial they may seem. In this kind of internal
coup, if you give the insurgents an inch,
they’ll take a mile, and then turn around and
demand 10 more miles from you as if it were
their right.
Most Americans don’t seem much con-
cerned about this flagrant violation of their
constitutional rights. Some even mockingly
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DECEMBER 23, 2004 7