PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 21, 2016
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Keizer City Council
There are elections
for mayor and three city
councilors next month.
All but one of the four
races have candidates run-
ning unopposed. That has
been the trend in the city
for the past several elec-
tion cycles.
The one contested race is for the
council seat currently held by Mark
Caillier, who was appointed to the
post this summer to fi ll a vacancy
left by Dennis Koho’s resignation.
Caillier is not seeking a full term.
Keizer city government’s only
contested race is between Laura
Reid, a McNary High School
teacher and Allen Barker, a retired
businessman and member of the
Keizer Budget Committee. It has
been a quiet, courteous race thus
far; there is no hot-button Keizer
issue that is getting the candidates—
let alone voters—riled up. Yet, we
remind Keizer voters that every
election is important.
Neither Barker nor Reid are po-
liticans, they are citizens who see an
opportunity to affect the future of
Keizer.
We laud citizens who give their
time and expertise to serve on com-
missions, boards and task forces in
their community, especially those
who put their names on a ballot for
a post that pays no money and takes
a hefty amount of time for reading
reports and attending meetings that
are key to setting policy for Keizer.
The immediate issue the coun-
cil will face in 2017 is funding two
areas that are essential to the Keizer
way of life: public safety and public
parks. Many are angry when man-
dated expenditures take money that
they want used to add a few police
offi cers or maintain our parks.
Laura Reid supports sustainable
funding for the parks and
is hopeful that communi-
ty involvement will help
maintain parks and she
is amendable to a bond
measure to operate them.
She thinks Keizer Police
Dept. is doing a fantastic
job and they are doing
well with community relations and
safety.
Allen Barker thinks that police
are more necessary than parks. He
says that adding police offi cers will
relieve stress on the current roster of
active cops.
Barker and Reid both want to
attract more business to Keizer, es-
pecially on River Road. Barker fa-
vors mixed used development on
the city’s main thoroughfare, Reid
would like to see more offi ce space.
Engaging the public in city mat-
ters is important to both candidates.
Barker would like the city to have a
phone app for citizens to give their
feedback on any issue. Reid says it is
important to go where the people
are who don’t generally step for-
ward or get involved to better un-
derstand their perspectives.
Though evenly matched on is-
sues, we endorse Laura Reid for city
council position #1.
She will bring important aspects
to the council: she works with our
children every day as a teacher. She
wants to be a voice not a rubber-
stamp—that’s important regarding
the issues the city will face in the
next four years.
By electing Reid to the city
council Keizer wins: it will get a
new voice on the council and Al-
lan Barker will remain on the Keiz-
er Budget Committee where his
knowledge and experience will be
an important voice.
—LAZ
editorial
Never Hillary
To the Editor:
On Jan. 13, 2013, Hillary
Clinton said, “What differ-
ence, at this point, does it
make?”
Here are four rea-
sons why Hillary Clinton
shouldn’t be elected presi-
dent: Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean
Smith, Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods.
Hillary lied after those four Ameri-
cans died.
Renee Dick
Salem
letters
A vicious
debate indeed
To the Editor:
For once a semi-positive letter
about Hillary Clinton. I am sick of the
witch hunt on Hillary Clinton. The
Republicans have created scandals
when there has been none. They make
up false accusations and have a presi-
dential candidate that says he is going
to jail her when no criminal charges
have never been found.
Compare that to Donald Trump
who has actually bragged about un-
wanted sexual acts against several
women. This is more likely to bring
criminal charges. He is a sexist, racist,
bigoted creep. He is disliked by latinos,
blacks, Muslims, women and anyone
with half a brain. Poll numbers prove
this, his own comments he makes
publicly and by his actions.
Thank you E.J. Dionne Jr.
for your article. (A vicious
presidential debate, Keizer-
times, Oct. 14).
Kristine Adams
Keizer
Not all rosy at
new Starbucks
To the Editor:
It appears those of us who like to
meet friends and settle in for a cozy
chat are out of luck at the new Star-
bucks. There is not nearly enough
parking close to the door, and the
alternative is parking that involves a
hike—not a pleasant prospect in our
nasty weather.
Inside it is quite loud, making it
diffi cult to hear the friend sitting
across the table. Some kind of sound-
dampening materials are needed.
I’m sure the brisk drive-thru busi-
ness more than makes this business
model quite profi table and all of the
things cited above make me think
that’s all they cared about with this
design, including the lack of parking.
Gone are the days of being able to
walk just steps between your car and
the front door and stepping inside a
buzzing (but not loud) coffee shop to
meet friends.
Sue Miholer
Keizer
Keizertimes
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Salem, Oregon
Descending into ideological psychosis
By MICHAEL GERSON
Given even the lowest expecta-
tions, Donald Trump still has the ca-
pacity to surprise.
In recent days, Trump has sneered
at the looks of a woman who accus-
es him of sexual assault, denigrated
the appearance of Hillary Clinton,
proposed to drug test his opponent,
used his campaign to promote what
appears to be a Russian covert op-
eration, asserted that Clinton has held
secret meetings with international
bankers “to plot the destruction of
U.S. sovereignty,” attacked Saturday
Night Live, promised to jail his oppo-
nent and contended that “the whole
election is being rigged.”
Which means that Trump is sick-
eningly cruel, boorish, bonkers,
subversive, conspiratorial, obsessive,
authoritarian and reckless with the
reputation of American democracy.
This is quite a closing argument
for a presidential candidate. I imagine
it did not emerge from focus groups.
So what does all of this mean?
(1) It means that the Republican
nominee for president is frightening-
ly unstable under pressure. He is eas-
ily baited, highly sensitive to slights,
prone to using faulty information
from off the internet, hyperbolic and
vengeful. Now imagine those charac-
teristics during a confrontation with
China in the South China Sea.
(2) It is an indication of the qual-
ity of his closest, non-family advisers.
Stephen Bannon and Rudy Giuliani
are not attempting to keep Trump in
check. They are feeding his manias.
Trump is completely unmoored from
restraining infl uences, and would be
as president.
(3) Trump’s closing case is a ver-
sion, not of
movement
conservatism
or tea party
conservatism,
but of crack-
pot
conser-
vatism—an
alt-right rage
against a vast, scheming establish-
ment that includes the liberal media,
global fi nanciers and a growing list of
women making accusations of sexual
assault. All this was previewed during
Trump’s political rise, which included
birtherism, vaccine denialism and in-
sinuations of foul play in the death of
Justice Antonin Scalia. GOP leaders
can hardly pretend to be surprised by
this bent.
(4) It is a further indication that
Trump has no commitment to the
American political system. He is per-
fectly willing to delegitimize demo-
cratic institutions as a campaign tac-
tic, squandering a civic inheritance he
does not value. Even before his cur-
rent troubles, he said that an electoral
loss would be prima facie evidence of
fraud and encouraged supporters to
monitor majority-black polling sta-
tions in Pennsylvania.
(5) Trump’s descent into ideologi-
cal psychosis is tainting the reputa-
tion of all who were foolish enough
to associate with him. Consider his
running mate Mike Pence. Inter-
viewed recently on “Face the Na-
tion,” he defended the Republican
nominee’s verbal assault—Trump has
called them “sick,” “horrible” and
“phony”—on women who accuse
Trump of sexual assault. This reac-
tion is justifi ed, Pence said, because
of Clinton’s “deplorables” comment.
other
views
Here is one of the chief promot-
ers of Christian morality in politics
employing the ethical reasoning of
9-year-olds in the schoolyard. Some-
day Pence (and others) will look back
on their shattered standards and ask:
For this cause? For this man?
(6) Trump’s fi nal appeal is also cor-
rupting a portion of the public and
crossing moral lines that won’t be eas-
ily uncrossed. There are certain quali-
ties of heart and mind that allow for
self-government—civility, tolerance
and mutual respect. Trump is inviting
Americans to drink from a poisoned
well. The broader result is radical po-
larization in which citizens question
the legitimacy of elections and view
some fellow citizens as enemies.
(7) Practically, Trump’s downward
spiral means that House Speaker Paul
Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell and Republican Na-
tional Committee Chairman Reince
Priebus will need to repudiate the
nominee before the end—after they
have shed the last of their credibility.
The political argument against repu-
diation is admittedly strong. It could
ignite a self-destructive civil war
within the GOP just before an elec-
tion. But history generally does not
remember good political arguments.
It remembers acts of conscience in
the face of them. It is time, and past
time, for Republican leaders to do
the right thing.
Trump’s crackup complicates
American political life in a variety
of ways but simplifi es one point: This
man is temperamentally, ideologically
and morally unfi t to be president of
the United States.
(Washington Post Writers Group)
Measure 97 taxes would even things out
Every so often, Oregonians expe-
rience an Elvis Presley moment—
when almost everyone is “all shook
up” and these shake ups almost al-
ways take place over proposals to raise
taxes. Our illustrious legislature can-
not come to grip the matter with any
consequences, mainly, because they
are too often more concerned about
keeping their capital jobs than behav-
ing like statesmen. Hence, in recent
years all they can agree on is to try to
take money away from those former
state workers who kept things go-
ing and are now retired PERS’ ben-
efi ciaries.
What happens in the vacuum is
that Oregonians who want to real-
ize progress in this state must use the
initiative process to stop the hemor-
rhaging in critical areas such as public
education, health care and services for
seniors. At the same time, the observ-
er wonders how it is that grown-up
voters in Oregon fail to realize that
they subsidize the large corpora-
tions, their customers and stockhold-
ers, that realize big profi ts in Oregon.
These corporations use our roads,
bridges, and so many other publicly
fi nanced services but make almost no
contribution by taxation to the care
and maintenance of these and other
public facilities and services. Further,
they expect well-educated and tech-
nically-trained people here to employ
and create a good place to live but do
not want to help pay the costs.
Does Donald Trump represent all
these corporate types throughout the
nation? Trump says he’s smart not to
pay taxes and apparently sets the pace
by modern day American corpora-
tions to relocate their headquarters
overseas and shelter income else-
where. Infrastructure concerns? By
way of corpo-
rate speak, they
say they want
to ship their
products into
and all around
Oregon
but
quietly let the
little guy in the
state pay for everything from which
they benefi t while their profi ts are
pocketed to the personal advantage of
big corporation CEOs and their ex-
ecutive subordinates.
Of course, those who invest—the
stockholders—and those who run
the national corporations should
receive compensation that makes
the risks worthwhile and keep the
American economic engine reason-
ably healthy and viable. However,
free-reigning capitalism, a condition
seldom known in the U.S. anymore
because of federal subsidies to the big
corporations, cannot be tolerated in
a country that got used to enjoying
gene h.
mcintyre
a strong middle class during the last
century. The people of this state ad-
ditionally subsidize the national cor-
porations that operate here, afford-
ing them nearly tax-free status while
those families and individuals living
here pay their way and get stuck with
all the bills in the process.
What’s going on now with Or-
egon’s lowest-in-the-nation taxation
of corporations is not right and it is
not helping to preserve a democracy
when only corporations can enjoy
the American dream via a good life.
It is high time we Oregonians do
something about our plight in spite of
our legislators and rock and roll that
ballot to read “Yes” on Measure 97.
Otherwise, the national corporations
view us as a bunch of easy pushovers
as they get their surrogates by TV ads
and mailers to create a ruse over false
claims of a hidden sales tax while a
“no” vote falls for it.
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)