LET TERS
A PROPHETIC MOMENT
I’ve had the privilege of being Peg
Morton’s scribe for her many writings in
the last months of her life. More of these
writings will be disseminated after her
memorial service as she requested. In
mid-November she wrote a proposal
that was communicated throughout
the world to her “peace-building,
nonviolence-loving groups and others,
including faith communities, friends and
family.” Thousands of people have now
read, shared and are acting upon Peg’s
proposal, which begins:
“I am envisioning the rise of a broad,
nonviolent movement that calls for this
country to face itself, to publicly and
humbly acknowledge the suffering and
destruction which we have been engaged in
throughout our history and in the present.
We need to seek forgiveness and to make
amends. And we need to grieve. We cannot
be healed as a society until we have deeply
and honestly faced ourselves.
“My dream is that we, our country, will
learn to step back out into the world and
our planet humbly, as citizens of the world,
of our planet, joining with others in its
healing. Let’s give it a start.”
During the days of Peg’s dry fast she
was writing fervidly about this being a
prophetic moment in time, “for a new
world fi lled with the energy, humility and
love for our beloved planet.”
Be a part of fulfi lling this prophecy; this
was her dream!
“Granny” Laurie Granger
Eugene
WHEELS IN MOTION
We’re not giving up! Oregon’s
grassroots organizers for universal publicly
funded health care have a solid plan that
builds on success: action groups in 14
counties with 120 organizational members
and 18,000 supporters; over $500,000 in
donations to date to conduct voter polls
and an economic study; and we now have
a funded bill from 2015 to study models
for fi nancing our system.
The groundwork is being done. Now
Oregon’s Legislature needs to complete the
HOT AIR SOCIETY
job: We want a funded work group to design
a health care system based on the study in
2017, a bill with a defi ned tax structure in
2018 and the plan referred to the voters in
2020. If that fails, we will collect signatures
to qualify an initiative petition supporting
publicly funded health care in 2020.
We know what we need to do! We
will attend town halls and speak to our
representatives. We will create a mandate.
Our opportunity is to create a health care
system designed to serve people, not
maximize corporate profi ts.
This is obviously the right choice. For
Oregon to be a leader, we each need to
do our part to bring our state health care
system up to par with every industrialized
county in the world. Get involved. Go to
HCAO.org, see what statewide activists
are doing and plug in, come to the monthly
Eugene chapter meeting at 7 pm the fi rst
Mondays of the month at First United
Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street. Let’s
create the world we all want together!
Patty Hine
Eugene
A COLD CHRISTMAS
What kind of society allows a young,
vulnerable, developmentally disabled,
homeless woman to roam the streets in a
thin sweater on a freezing Christmas night?
No matter what you think of homeless
people, those who are not able to take
care of themselves or protect themselves
should not be left out to wander the streets
in freezing weather.
It was my fi rst week of volunteering for
the Egan Warming Center when this sweet
woman came in. She was too afraid to stay,
so we went for a walk and looked at some
pretty Christmas lights, but then she got
too cold. All the donated coats had already
been taken. We went back inside but there
she was nervous around so many people.
Another volunteer went to her own
house and returned with her own coat
to give to this woman. Later she calmed
down enough to lie down on her mat
and go to sleep. The volunteers were all
great, caring and patient, but a vulnerable
woman like her should not have to depend
on random kindness to help her.
BY TON Y CORCOR A N
Trump Off, Oregonians?
NATIONAL INTOLERANCE AFFECTS OUR LITTLE STATE
W
elcome back, students, to the cold wet winter of your discontent,
otherwise known as the dark term before spring break 2016. It’s
time to shake the shards of sugarplum fairies out of your sensory-
savoring limbic systems and pay attention to politics. The Oregon
Legislature returns to Salem in less than a month. Beware!
As you know, the Legislature had a dramatic impact on students in 2015: New
laws required students to have both a driver’s license and a recreational medical
marijuana card in order to vote! I might be getting this wrong. Actually, students are
now required to vote in the primary and general election in order to get a driver’s
license and a recreational medical marijuana card. Yeah, that’s it. Sorry. Actually, one
reader actually took me seriously the last time I tried to analyze our new laws. Please
don’t!
Anyway, we should all pay attention to what effect the national clown show
Republican presidential primary will have on Oregon politics in general. How will
national politics, awash in the Citizen United SuperPAC money, affect our statewide
and legislative races?
Former U.S. Speaker Tip O’Neill had it right: All politics is local. But timing is
important, too. The Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary also occur in
February, and Republican winner-take-all primaries will occur in March. You can’t
read a newspaper or turn on a TV today without seeing Donald Mania and its impact
on every race-baiting, neo-Nazi, gun-waving group in this country. San Bernardino
immediately lowered the rhetoric of the Republican debate to a nasty anti-Muslim,
anti-immigrant frenzy. It’s amazing how quickly intolerance can catch hold.
I’m hoping Trump will open an Oregon campaign headquarters (or at least build a
casino) at Malheur National Wildlife Reserve, given recent events. Apparently there
have been several sightings of the species Corkscrewicus Republica, a cuckoo bird
so named for its genetic adaption of having only a right wing — which forces it to
plummet to the ground whenever it attempts to fl y. Some political pundits believe
that’s why Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 1982. (On the other
hand, Whirlybirdicus Democratica, another prevalent cuckoo, has a genetic adaption
featuring 11 left wings and three right wings, all of which appear vestigial, functionless
in the course of evolution.)
But I digress. Of course this conservative national turn of events will affect Oregon
politics. As I said before, Democrats have been getting shellacked recently in state
and federal elections: Republicans now control 70 percent of our state legislative
4
JANUARY 7, 2016 • EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
chambers; in half of our states Republicans control both legislative chambers, and
more than 60 percent of our states’ governors are Republicans.
The key question regarding the impact of national politics on Oregonians is this:
Who turns out for the primary and general elections in 2016? Historically, primaries
always have lower turnout than general elections, and primaries and general elections
during presidential years have greater turnout than non-presidential years. Will the
Republican presidential race be decided months before Oregon’s May primary, and
will Oregon Republican voters turn out if it is? We don’t know. They’ll obviously
come out in higher numbers if it appears to be a brokered convention with no clear
winner by May. There will be no referrals on the primary ballot, and the only current
contested statewide race for Republicans is for secretary of state. So we can’t assess
Republican turnout until we get closer to the e May primary. Republican turnout in the
general election will depend on who’s at the e top of the ticket and
on the ballot measures that may appear in November.
rimary, but who
Democrat turnout could be muted in the primary,
d progressives.
knows? Bernie excites the young and the old
ested statewide
As with Republicans, the only current contested
race for Dems is for secretary of state. But t the dynamic in
that primary is intriguing, very different than two tired old
males in the Republican race. Democrat women may have a
man and two men
reason to vote in a race featuring one woman
— Val Hoyle vs. Richard Devlin and Brad Avakian. The
son to turn
Democrat base also should have good reason
tial race,
out for the general election — the presidential
te race
the governor’s race, the secretary of state
rabs
and several swing districts are up for grabs
nd
in the Legislature. There won’t be a “grand
g
bargain” this year, no compromise regarding
the ballot measures that could appear in
November, from the right or the left, so we
still need to see what qualifi es.
Quién sabe? Maybe Trump is a verb.
Tony Corcoran of Cottage Grove is a former state senator r
and a recently retired state employee.