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PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 18, 2016 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Note from the publisher This issue of the Keizertimes is being mailed for free to more than 12,000 non-subscribing households. We want you to see what your local newspaper is covering and why it matters. Businesses are eager to reach the Keizer market and that’s why you see so many ads in this issue, which is atypical of a regular week’s edition. We ask you to look and read through this issue. If you like what you see, we are offering a subscription special on page B9 for new subscribers. Top news stories are available on our website at keizertimes.com but many items found in the printed edition are not available online. If you have a comment about anything in this issue contact the publisher, Lyndon Zaitz, at 503-390-1051 or send him an e-mail at publisher@ keizertimes.com. Is this America? The violence and fear- mongering at political ral- lies in the United States is reaching levels not seen in modern history. A national candidate uses words that incite his supporters who are all too willing to throw a punch or epithat at those who deem to protest at those rallies. The same candidate asks his sup- porters to raise their hands to swear their allegience to him (some did so with what could be construed as a Nazi-esque salute). Plus crude and in- appropriate language is used again and again from the podium. Many Americans feel their life- style is insecure and there are plenty of things to blame (fanned by some candidates for president): immigrants, Mexicans, Chinese, the rich, the bank- ers, the media, the liberals, the con- servatives. Passions are infl amed when people think their way of life is under threat, whatever the source. At one time the nation turned to its leaders who offered calming words during tough times (remember “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”). Now many reach out for leaders who reinforce their prejudices and biases. Would any presidential candidate today ask what you can do for the country rather than what the country can do for you? Them’s fi ghtin’ words these days. Regardless of how one views the policies of Ronald Reagan it is im- possible to deny his ability to use the right words and staging to make people feel better about themselves and the nation. The soaring rhetoric Reagan is known for is nowhere to be found these days. Most of this year’s campaign speeches and debates have been shrill; some of the content we’re hard pressed to explain to our chil- dren. The people who attend the po- litical rallies of presidential candidates don’t seem to want inspiring words, they want results. The bubbling political cauldron is being stirred by talking head pundits, president-wanna-bes and Congressional leaders who will oppose any Presi- dent Obama request until the bitter end. Of course people will reach out to the person who promises to end the deadlocked politics of the country. That includes the usual tax cut promises as well as a lessen of the role of government in the lives of Americans. In Oregon the overreach of the federal government was at the core of the militia overtaking of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County. Residents in that county were divided about tactics used by the militia though many did support parts of their message. The refuge takeover demonstrated a deep-rooted anger at and mistrust of the federal govern- ment. The anger seething around the country at all levels needs to be ad- dressed by any person who wants to lead this country, actually, by any per- son who wants to hold public offi ce. We seek leaders to lead us, not follow us to our most base instincts. Poetic oratory is as useless as rants in Amer- ica today. People are good individu- ally but when they gather in groups it is easier to manipulate them. No one wants to be standing outside the circle of consensus. Politicians know that and have used it to full effect this campaign year. Flowery or fi ery talk needs to be replaced with proposals that benefi t every segment of America. But the result is only as good as those who do their civic duty and vote. As the adults in the country we owe it to our children to leave them a United States that has a government of the people, by the people and, most of all, for the people. —LAZ editorial Dinner for all One of the best community events going on in Keizer these days is the Community Dinner held on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Patterned after a similar program in Silverton, the Community Dinner in Keizer will feed up to 400 people. It is for anyone who wants to attend regardless of need. So far the dinners have drawn people from across the community. Local churches and other organi- zations including Marion-Polk Food Share (MPFS) have committed to pre- pare and serve dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. on dinner days at St. Edward Catholic Church. Each month the menu is dif- ferent. Rick Gaupo, president of MPFS, says all the organizations are making sure no one goes hungry in Keizer. Kudos to the those who plan and prepare the dinners. Keizer residents would do themselves well by making dinner plans each fourth Wednesday. A modern moral to Downton Many Americans, myself included, have enjoyed PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre presentations, Downton Abbey being no exception. A very old nation, spe- cifi cally compared to our own, there would seem to be a nearly endless se- lection of subject matter from which to choose. Nevertheless, Downton Abbey just completed a six-year serialized pre- sentation that ended like all dramas my wife will watch, that is, with al- most everyone among the players happy and fulfi lled. In review of that statement, it would seem that only the forced medical retirement of the Earl of Grantham’s butler, Mr. Carson, is negative news: He may not face a fu- ture full of anticipated satisfactions. But what about this fascinating sto- ry of great wealth that enabled fami- lies, like the fi ctitious Crawley family, to own and control a palatial estate, employing dozens of workers who, around the clock, year-in and year- out, kept the family and the estate in tip-top shape. It must have been rather pleasant for family members as they were waited on to the extent of hav- ing an “in service” worker dress them and undress them at least six times a day and respond whatever the hour to a bell calling them to meet a family member’s or household guest’s every need. As for the small army of persons in service to do their bidding, I can- not imagine any other ultimate state of mind than that of chronic exhaus- tion and just a bit of bitterness, too, al- though Downton Abbey left the viewer with the notion that most everything went very well and the nearly slave- like lives of the service workers was re- warded by doing the bidding of a col- lection of pampered and spoiled rich folks. After all, viewers may have no- ticed that while the family’s bedrooms were spacious, there were no indoor toilets in sight. So, among their du- ties, perhaps more than once a day, was the coming for, disposing of, and clean- ing the so- called cham- ber pots used for urine and defecations. The fi cti- tious Crawleys, like their kind all over England back then, had managed to make fortunes by being granted land and other wealth-producing means by the king or the queen upon appre- ciation for their service to the crown such as also were soldiers granted land and titles. These recipients could pass these riches along to relatives, mainly fi rst-born sons, but friends, too, and over time, through decades and cen- turies, enable them to stand tall in wealth and establish lavish estates with fi ne buildings and landscaped grounds built and cared for accordingly by a peasant class. Along with baron, tenant in chief, lord, earl titles, one had land which meant also one had local power. Ad- ditionally, the church was immensely powerful and wealthy, too, everyone having to pay 10 percent tithe to the church. This way of doing things meant that the money just “rolled” in to those who managed to secure secu- lar and ecclesiastical titles. Howev- er, while things went this way through local battles for years, the Black Death or Bubonic Plague in the 1340s wiped out about 20 percent of the popula- tion so there was property to be had by the cunning among the survivors and the race to the top in merry old England took off again when the plague somewhat subsided. The agricultural, feudal society continued until Henry VIII’s refor- mation, a big money and land grab from the church took place and was redistributed to Henry’s friends who agreed with his divorce and his break with the Pope over it. Life went on gene h. mcintyre afterwards with a whole lot of peas- ants and a few rich lords served by them. The industrial revolution threw a wrench into all the traditional ways of the British with the new-growth cities referred to by the landowners as irreligious, venomous, and vermin- ridden “dark, satanic mills.” The esca- lators of change from the 1800s were set into warp speed with the First World War (1914-1918). World War II slaughtered masses of young aristocrats, causing many fami- lies to cease to exist. With fewer male heirs, the grand houses were often sold off, even razed. There was depression after the war with an economy that was dicey to say the least. Many sur- viving families sunk what was left of their inheritance to buy stocks and bonds and then 1929 took place. Well, anyway, the Crawley’s story did not go beyond January 1, 1926, so we don’t know what Downton Abbey creator Ju- lian Fellowes would have done with them but we do know that the real Downton Abbey (Highcleve Castle), still stands but must charge visitors a few pounds to visit it, that which up- set the Earl of Grantham and his but- ler, too. Is there a moral to this Downton Ab- bey story? Possibly, but it requires an American to stretch it a bit into the U.S. context. You see, the wealth in the U.S. is being greatly concentrated into the hands of something like one per- cent of the population with more and more citizens sleeping under bridges, in public parks, stacked like cord wood in abandoned buildings and anywhere else they’re permitted to rest with no means of fi nancial support while those, often with hungry, threadbare children in tow, wanting even a roof over their heads, will be resorting to peasant work in the grand homes of the U.S. rich in order to survive. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.) Working to make Oregon the best it can be Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS NEWS EDITOR Craig Murphy editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Eric A. Howald news@keizertimes.com One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY ADVERTISING Publication No: USPS 679-430 Paula Moseley advertising@keizertimes.com POSTMASTER Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER Andrew Jackson Keizertimes Circulation graphics@keizertimes.com 142 Chemawa Road N. LEGAL NOTICES Keizer, OR 97303 legals@keizertimes.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com BUSINESS MANAGER Laurie Painter billing@keizertimes.com Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon RECEPTION Lori Beyeler facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes The Oregon state legislature just fi nished a grueling 32 day “short ses- sion” at the Capitol and I’m still re- covering. I am not very happy with much of the legislation we passed so I am now working very hard to get new folks elected in House seats all over the state and to perhaps even repeal some of the very hurtful leg- islation. This week I’d like to respond to last week’s column by Don Vowell (The effect of Trump on Republicans). He wrote about the effect of Donald Trump on the country and Repub- licans specifi cally and wrote about how he felt about being represented by Sen. Kim Thatcher and me. First of all, as for my view on Trump, he was correct in his assumption that I am not a fan of Mr. Trump’s. I have another choice in the Republican Primary and will vote for that person in May. Most humbling was when he wrote such kind words as: “I am at ease being represented by Sen. Thatcher and Rep. Post even though I’m a wild-eyed liberal.” The reason that really makes me happy is it repre- sents perfectly what I have tried very hard to do in the Capitol: be a friend to all. I try very hard to reach out to the “other team,” so to speak, and work with them on legislation I feel is best for Oregon and my district in particular. I can honestly say some of my closest friends in the Oregon Legis- lature are Democrats. The greatest compliment they can give was once summed up by one of them when she said: “I wanted to hate him for all from the capitol By BILL POST that he represented on the radio, but after two weeks of working with him he voted just as he said he would, he speaks just as he said he would and you always know where he stands, I now call him ‘friend’.” That means a lot to me and so does what Mr. Vowell wrote. You see, we can com- pletely disagree on the politics of any matter but if we respect each other, if we “agree to disagree” and walk off having shook hands, well, doesn’t that make the world a better place? Nei- ther side has to “compromise” their values or beliefs, they just have to re- spect those values and beliefs. After reading in the Keizertimes about the upgrades to parks around Keizer, especially a place that I have many fond memories of, Keizer Lit- tle League Park, I am reminded again of how much I love my hometown and how proud I am to serve it. The May 17 primary election is coming up soon. This is not a platform to en- courage you to vote for me but rather to encourage you to register if you haven’t and vote—period. I would love to see our little town have 100 percent voter turnout, nothing would please me more. (Bill Post represents House District 25. He can be reached at 503-986-1425 or via email at rep. billpost@state.or.us.)
