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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 2016)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 22, 2016 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Stuck between the political extremes Summer distractions This summer the na- tion seems to be going crazy—mass murders, killing of cops, shoot- ings of African-Ameri- cans that has intensifed the battle between Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter. It makes a Keizerite want to turn off the news and revel in life here in our little corner of the world. We should not bury out heads and tell the world to go away—it won’t. The best antidote to a world gone crazy is to enjoy what our community has to offer and the coming weeks will have plenty of offerings for the most cynical. At this writing there are two of the four scheduled performances remaining of Keizer Homegrown Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night (one the Bard’s more accessible plays). The free show starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Keizer Rotary Amphitheatre at Keizer Rapids Park. Filled with pirates, the show is a good summertime diversion for any age. Other free events coming up in- clude city-sponsored concerts at the amphitheatre scheduled for six dates in August plus the fi nal concert fea- turing JFK in September. For those whose artistic tastes run more toward paintings and the like, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art on State St. in Salem has free admis- sion every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. editorial The eighth annual Canterbury Renaissance Faire is being held this week and next weekend near Silverton. This event is a step back about 400 years with costumed play- ers enacting life during the Renaissance including jousts. Finishing up this weekend is the Bite and Brew of Salem at River- front Park. Opening this week and playing through August 28 is The Wizard of Oz, the stage production presented b Enlightened Theatrics at the His- toric Grand Theatre in downtown Salem. The production company aims to build itself into an infl uential regional theatre; see this show and you can say “I knew them when...” Antique Powerland on Brook- lake Road north of Keizer stages its annual Great Oregon Steam-up that runs the last weekend of July and the fi rst weekend of August. This event is good for families and kids (who never seem to tire of seeing tractors and threshers and all the hundreds of other attractions and activities. Aside from the man-made events there are beaches, mountains and rivers to visit to take one’s mind off real life from the national and inter- national news. We all need distractions when things seem unsettled. These cer- tainly fi t that bill. When the world doesn’t make sense go crazy at one of the many events our region has to offer this summer. —LAZ I switched my voter registration to ‘non-affi liated’ several years ago. I have felt less affi liated every year since, feeling stranded in what I suspect is a vast pool of voters abandoned be- tween the ideological rigidity of the extreme left and the extreme right. It looks like we will be asked in the November presidential election to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. These candidates are characterized as having the low- est approval ratings ever seen in a presidential election. Neither seems well-chosen for their ability to bridge the wide gulf between ideological ex- tremes. In the slightly naïve hope that some ideas or proposals would be ad- vanced, I watched the fi rst night of the Republican National Convention Monday night—Make America Safe Again. Instead we got a steady diet of doom and catastrophe. A mother lamented the loss of her son at Beng- hazi and laid the blame squarely on then-Secretary of State Clinton for lack of security/safety. Many more embassy personnel were lost in pre- vious administrations yet requests for increased embassy security, costly in every way, were never funded by a dysfunctional Congress. With Secre- tary Clinton, the soldier’s mother, and a Congressional delegation seated at the same table, do you think reason- able compromise could be reached? letters a box of soap were elected for advocating legisla- tion that benefi ts not their party, but their country. I don’t believe these candidates can be produced from the two-party, money-driven hysteria and hyperbole of now. Who would fund them? We don’t escape this atmosphere just by living in Oregon. Governor Kate Brown, reacting to the slaughter in Orlando, proposed some gun con- trol legislation dealing with extended capacity magazines, allowing more than three days for a background check, and increasing the defi nition of domestic violence to include more than just family members. Kevin Star- rett, Director of Oregon Firearms Federation, offered this—“It’s just in- credibly ignorant, stupid garbage that comes out of these people’s mouths. The reason these people died was be- cause they weren’t prepared to protect themselves.” I wonder if Mr. Starrett’s mix of egomania and belligerence is com- forting to fi nd in a gun owner. I’m not sure that much would be accomplished in a meeting including Gov. Brown, Kevin Starrett, an Or- egon Congressional delegation, and myself. Yet we all live here and we each have a vote. (Don Vowell gets on his soapbox regularly in the Keizertimes.) Mike Pence is a sign of Trump’s weakness By E.J. DIONNE JR. Donald Trump’s selection of Indi- ana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate is just what everyone is saying it is: a safe, traditional choice. Pence won’t hurt Trump too much and may help him with Republican poli- ticians and some conservatives. But the pick is also—and more importantly—something else: a sign of real weakness. There were many Republicans who could have helped Trump far more. He could not turn to them because they are scrambling as far away from this ticket as they could. And there were Republicans with whom Trump personally felt far more comfortable: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Trump could not turn to where his heart seemed to want to go because both were too much like him and carried too much baggage. The irrepressible Gingrich blurted out the truth: that 4. The total revenue he and Trump would constitute “a for the 2014-15 fi scal two pirate ticket,” whereas Pence was year was $36.8 million. “a relatively stable, more normal per- 5. The state of Oregon son.” Never let it be said that Newt is To the Editor: recently required that the entirely bereft of self-awareness. During the last budget minimum wage be raised. The biggest loss to Trump comes meeting Mayor Cathy Regardless of anyone’s from the refusal of so many Repub- Clark stated that “there opinion on the issue, it licans even to be considered for the needs to be an ‘honest’ will raise costs for every- job. Gov. John Kasich or Sen. Rob conversation about what one and hit seniors the hardest. Portman would have brought more type of community we want.” 6. In November IP 28 will be on political heft to the ticket for the Now this week the mayor is quoted in the Keizertimes saying, the ballot to raise the tax on corpo- simple reason that they are from “we need to have a ‘grown up’ con- rations. Again regardless of anyone’s Ohio, at or near the top of the must- versation about our tax rate.” The opinion on the issue, if passed, it will win list for candidates in election af- mayor is also quoted as saying “she raise costs for everyone and hit se- ter election. Kasich had the potential to reach far beyond Trump’s con- is ready to have a larger conversa- niors the hardest. When the mayor ran for of- tion to increase the city budget.” The city fi nance offi cer cites a fi ce she stated “As mayor, I pledge property tax income of $4.8 million to continue these services and the for fi scal year 2014-15 and the po- ‘Keizer Way’ of doing things with Should there be a hint of nervous- lice alone cost the city $5.1 million energy, thoughtfulness and dedica- ness even in the most stalwart Amer- tion.” for that year. We now know the mayor’s state- ican heart nowadays, it may have So mayor, here is my honest and something to do with the fact that grown up conversation related to ment appears to mean; that in her another crazed Muslim extremist opinion past budget committee the Keizer budget: drove a big truck through a large 1. Keizer last updated its tax base members and city councilors have crowd in Nice, France, murdering 84 during the November 5, 1996 elec- not had “honest” or “grown up” persons and harming multiple others. conversations about our city budget tion. France has become a dangerous 2. In 2011 the citizens of Keizer and when she’s elected mayor we’re place where already hundreds of defeated a Public Safety Communi- going to see how much money we lives have been lost to the onslaught cation Tax with 80 percent voting can squeeze out of Keizer residents. of Muslim extremists. Nevertheless, Thanks for your support, mayor. no. even after the Charlie Hedbo news- Jim Keller 3. In 2015 the citizens of Keizer paper killings, the December assaults Keizer defeated a transit tax measure. in Paris and last week’s killing-by- truck in Nice, French President Fran- cois Hollande has managed only to declare an emergency while Muslims continue to seethe in over-crowded slums where poverty and deprivation reign, and ISIS devotees and return- ees plot more bloody attacks. Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 The world owes what it got to a phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com couple of American political lead- SUBSCRIPTIONS NEWS EDITOR ers, one of which acted on a per- Eric A. Howald One year: ceived insult to his father, the other, editor@keizertimes.com $25 in Marion County, a former Halliburton executive who, $33 outside Marion County, ASSOCIATE EDITOR Derek Wiley $45 outside Oregon it’s generally believed, saw the oppor- news@keizertimes.com PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY tunity for millions of dollars added ADVERTISING Publication No: USPS 679-430 Paula Moseley to his personal wealth, started an un- advertising@keizertimes.com POSTMASTER provoked war with Iraq’s President Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER Saddam Hussein. Andrew Jackson Keizertimes Circulation graphics@keizertimes.com President Barack Obama prom- 142 Chemawa Road N. LEGAL NOTICES ised that, if elected, he would get us Keizer, OR 97303 legals@keizertimes.com out of warring ways in the Middle BUSINESS MANAGER EDITOR & PUBLISHER East. That promise was broken when Laurie Painter Lyndon Zaitz Periodical postage paid at billing@keizertimes.com he caved to the wishes of Republi- publisher@keizertimes.com Salem, Oregon RECEPTION can hawks who wanted the United Lori Beyeler States to continue fi ghting Arabs in the Middle East no matter how ob- viously mindless its continuation has become. facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes Just the other day Obama ordered A poor choice of words E ve n t s of last week painfully re- minded us that there remains racial tension in America. An African- American sheriff from Wisconsin’s Milwaukee County was trotted out Monday night to assign blame to the Black Lives Matter movement. May- be we are instead capable of believing there are many truths. Racial preju- dice does exist. It is utterly wrong to target police offi cers. Areas of high crime can more certainly be identi- fi ed by level of poverty than color of skin. If we lock Sheriff David Clarke, black activists and a Congressional delegation in the same room could they fi nd a way to go forward? President Barack Obama received much credit Monday for the wave of Mideast terrorism. Troops were with- drawn too soon from Iraq. Troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001, but you still may resist booking a summer trip to Kabul. It is just as easy to make the case that declaring war on Iraq created hatred for the West. Agreement seems unlikely no matter who you collect to discuss this. My hypothetical pool of voters is left unrepresented in the void be- tween the two major parties. May- be it would be better if candidates stituency and also beyond the Repub- lican Party. The same, to a lesser de- gree perhaps, can be said of Portman. Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico would have been another obvious plus for Trump, who can use all the help he can get with both women and Latinos. But Trump chose to criticize Martinez’s tenure as governor and, in any event, she had already signaled her uneasiness with him. One could multiply the list of lost opportunities, but one of the biggest stories here is just how many Repub- licans have decided that their futures will be better served by staying away from Trump. That left Pence as, in Gingrich’s terms, the best “normal person” op- tion. Pluses for Pence include strong ties to Capitol Hill (including a friendship with House Speaker Paul Ryan), an agreeable personality (a Democrat I know in Indiana who has tangled with Pence on issues sees him nonetheless as a nice-guy sort of politician), and an appeal to social conservatives. But even that appeal is slightly compromised by Pence’s fl ip-fl op- ping on “religious liberty” legislation around gay weddings. As The Wash- ington Post’s Amber Phillips wrote in an excellent sketch of Pence, some conservatives “thought he backed off other views last year’s religious freedom debate under pressure from liberals.” And it says something about the doubts so many conservatives have about Trump and his need to ap- pease them that he had to go to his right for a running mate. He could not turn instead to someone who might have broadened his appeal to middle-of-the-road voters. Trump received a fair share of the ballots of social-issue moderates in the north- east during the primaries. Those vot- ers and moderate independents will not be reassured by Pence. In fact, social liberals will try to use Pence to tie Trump to the most conservative elements of the GOP. So the verdict that Pence is prob- ably the best Trump could do is dou- ble-edged. Yes, Pence has experience; yes, he raised no obvious alarms; yes, he’s from the Midwest, which is the focus of Trump’s strategy; yes he’s articulate (he’s a former radio talk show host, after all); and yes, regular politicians will like him. But Pence adds little to Trump’s appeal outside the ranks of conser- vative ideologues. He does not win over voters who would like to think that Trump, under all his pirate-ness, is more moderate than he lets on. And he does not help build support in a swing state. If Trump is in trouble in Indiana, he’s probably in trouble in a lot of other places that a, well, more normal Republican might be able to take for granted. (Washington Post Writers Group) Leaders needed to keep US safe, secure Keizertimes more Ameri- can troops to Iraq and into the greatest quagmire the world has ever seen. Perhaps ironically, but not inciden- tally, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, among others, will be safe from harm the remainder of their lives at the ex- pense of something like 310 million Americans who pay through the nose for their protection while not getting a lick of protection themselves. Fur- ther, the futility of fi ghting no-win wars in the Middle East reminds us that our country has not won a clear and lasting war-military victory since Victory over Japan in 1945. At home, many former high- ranking American government of- fi cials predict that the same Muslim extremist actions already carried out in Paris, Nice and elsewhere are now being planned to take place here, wherever, that is, those deal- ers in death see an opportunity. We direly need to get busier than the current effort devoted to protecting all Americans, not just the few who are directly responsible for bring- ing whatever is to come to Ameri- cans at home, because if we don’t we’re going to duplicate the frus- trated helplessness of French citizens. Since the typical local police de- partment and federal policing orga- nizations have had their funds cut, resulting in reduced numbers of of- fi cers as the outcome, our federal gene h. mcintyre government should reduce some and close other American bases overseas and spend that money here: U.S. bases, which number in the hundreds overseas, have become redundant and obsolete for modern warfare while our federal government could reas- sign the money to beefi ng up se- curity operations inside our coun- try. Then, too, we desperately need men and women trained in the use of arms (without race-related stains on their service records) to replace those law enforcement offi cers who shoot black citizens with little or no provocation, turning our country into race warfare as has started and is underway today. Hillary Clinton, like Obama, wants to be a do-gooder who opens our nation’s doors to any and all Muslim refugees among whom we cannot know which of them have embraced a mission to kill infi dels. Should Trump be elected we really don’t know what he will do but it’s fairly certain with his lack of politi- cal offi ce-holding experience that he will depend on the GOP warring hawks set to lead him around by the nose while he also turns everything over to his kids’ control. Starting with Richard Nixon, our presidents always end their speeches with a “God Bless America.” Hope- fully, God, by all the imploring by our presidents in recent years to bless us, will divinely intervene to bring us a national savior as surely God recog- nizes how much we need one. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)
