PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 18, 2016
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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.)
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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.)