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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2017)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 7, 2017 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM The unknowns of the eclipse Depending on whom one talks to there could be as many as one million people pouring into Or- egon for the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21. The eclipse, which has fostered a number of multi-day events along the path of totality in Oregon, has led the state, counties and cities to hope for the best and expect the worse. Mari- on County’s emergency management offi ce is expecting 50,000 to 200,000 visitors to the county. There are too many unknowns so every municipality, including Keizer, must plan for a crush of peo- ple, cars and recreational vehicles. Are the throngs expected in Marion County coming from near or from far? That is a big unknown. If most are coming from out of state, we can expect them to stay around for a few days. If, on the other hand, a majority are coming inside Oregon (where the eclipse is not viewable), then we would expect those visi- tors to come for the day of the solar event and then go home. Local leaders are not taking any- thing for granted. Mayor Cathy Clark and others are imploring residents to be prepared for the onslaught of visitors in August. It is akin to preparing for a disaster such as a hurricane, only it is not a disaster, it’s an opportunity. Local residents are advised to get all their vehicles fi lled with gas and stock up on goods from the grocery store. You would think they are preparing for a swarm of locusts, coming in, buying up everything at our stores, buying all of gas, taking all the mon- ey out of our local ATMs. All of that may come to pass, or the hype may be grander than the reality. Nobody knows. Whichever turns out to be true, there are two truths we do know. We are grateful that our local and state governments are prepared to assure that an additional 200,000 or one million visitors does not adversely affect our lives. And, any number of visistors to our area should be seen as an economic boon. Every business, large and small, can tap into the Eclipse Economy with special promotions and products. An event such as this was made for the entrepeneurial spir- it. Restaurants can cre- ate eclipse themed items, t-shirts and other com- memorative items can be created and sold, with such tag lines as “I didn’t see the sun in Oregon. Total Eclipse, August 21, 2017.” The Keizer Parks Foundation the Keizer Festival Advisory Board (KFAB) are spearheading our own eclipse event at Keizer Rapids Park. More than 150 RV and tent camp- ing sites are being prepared for the eclipse weekend beginning on the Thursday before the Monday event. There will be musical entertain- ment on the Keizer Rotary Amphi- theatre stage for four days. Activi- ties in the park and on the river are being planned to show visitors the best that Keizer has to offer. Those who did not plan ahead and travel to Marion County for the eclipse on a whim will fi nd lodg- ing choices very limited. The camp sites at Keizer Rapids Park will most likely be fully booked by the fi rst of August. Keizer residents may con- sider booking a site for their friends and families. Keizer should be thankful to get its share of the tens of thousands of visitors into the county in August. The city is looking very good; we want people to go away with posi- tive thoughts about Keizer and its residents. —LAZ our opinion Impeachment calls ill-conceived Calls for impeachment of President Trump are whiny and ill-conceived. A political remedy, impeachment has been used against only two of the 44 people who have held the presiden- cy—Andrew Johnson and Bill Clin- ton. A conviction by the U.S. Senate, after impeachment by the House of Representatives, removes the person from offi ce. There are no criminal penalties, that would come from pros- ecuters. Groups call for Trump’s impeach- ment because of his Tweets, for his boorish behavior, or for his treatment of women and others. These alone cannot be considered impeachable offenses. Calls for his impeachment are as effective as pundits and columnists who write about how Trump should change the way he performs as leader of the free world. Whether one totally supports Trump or vociferiously opposes all that he stands for, all have to realize that Donald Trump is the man who was elected. There was not much about his personality, background or behavior that wasn’t known. Though he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, he won the Electoral College, which is the only vote that counts. A person can blindly support a president or blindly hate what and who they are, but supporters and de- tractors alike need to be clear-eyed and work within the system to bring about the change they wish to see. Wishes and hopes don’t create change. Involvement and hard work create change. Always has, always will. —LAZ A gerrymandering of virtues By MICHAEL GERSON If we have learned anything from the last few years in our politics, it is that civility is for suckers, that com- promise is a sign of weakness, and that moderation of tem- perament is boring and unmarketable. It is time to level with our sons and daughters. Winners—real winners, of the kind blessed by religious authorities and trusted with the highest offi ce—are rude and be- littling. They always insist on getting their way. And they are the angriest, neediest people in the room. Just forming these words causes revulsion. Why does such cynical and chaotic moral messaging bother us so much? For one, we suspect that political arguments, over time, seep into our common culture, determin- ing the boundaries of acceptable dis- course. Recalcitrant toddlers, trucu- lent teens, disagreeable co-workers and egotistic exes across America can plausibly claim that “the president is on my side.” But the main consequences are more public. What is the fi rst law of political dynamics? Boorishness has an equal and opposite reaction. My favorite example is that subset of Democrats (including the head of the Democratic National Com- mittee) who believe that populism is demonstrated by profanity. What our sad and desperate politics really needs, in this view, is more f-words. The reaction, however, reaches beyond language. A portion of the Democratic Party views “resistance” as an excuse for ideological purifi - cation —a franker socialism in eco- nomics, a stricter uniformity of cul- tural views, a determination to use tolerance as a cudgel. The decadence of the administration is producing Savonarolas of the left. Just as we need rational policy de- liberation—to do things like repair- ing our health system in a bipartisan fashion, or preventing entitlement commitments from swal- lowing the entire fed- eral budget—we have the politics of resentment in the language of sleazy campaign operatives. There is an element of America’s found- ing that anticipates, even welcomes, such a clash of factions. James Madison some- times sounded like our constitutional structure is a fi nely tuned machine, counteracting ambition with ambi- tion without need for the democratic virtues. In fact, civility and a spirit of com- promise were required, again and again, to prevent the Constitutional Convention itself from breaking apart in anger and recrimination. The structure resulted from the virtues. The heroes of the founding were not those who held the strongest views. It was those who held strong views and still found a basis for agree- ment—frustrating, disappointing, glorious agreement. A constitutional convention held in 2017 would likely fail. It is sober- ing to think that the American po- litical system, at this point in history, would probably be too divided to reproduce itself. Who would want to face primary voters after being iden- tifi ed with a “great compromise”? As most of the founders envi- sioned it, the constitutional order fl ies with two wings. The fi rst is the system of separated and balanced powers. The second is a set of public virtues—such as civility, compromise and moderation—that turn the mob (which they feared) into citizens. Our democratic structure is other views stressed but basically sound. The values, however, come in for rou- tine, ideologically diverse abuse as weakness and surrender. Revive the founders and they would see a coun- try hacking away at its own demo- cratic limb. It is not my purpose to be dismis- sive of institutional reforms that ad- dress campaign fi nance or gerryman- dering. But it is necessary, not only to redraw the lines of House districts, but to redraw the lines of propriety and respect. Americans need to be conscious and intentional about re- building the infrastructure of demo- cratic values. Civility is not weakness. It is the native tongue of a successful democ- racy. What Stephen Carter calls “civil listening” allows people who are op- ponents to avoid becoming enemies. Civility prevents dehumanization. Compromise is not surrender. It is the lubricant of a successful democ- racy. What Jonathan Rauch calls “a cardinal virtue” allows for incremen- tal progress on diffi cult issues such as health care. It is a moral principle that elevates progress on the com- mon good above ideological purity. Moderation is not indecision or centrism (as important as politi- cal centrism may be). It is the mode or mood of a successful democracy. What Aurelian Craiutu calls a “dif- fi cult virtue for courageous minds” puts an emphasis on reasonableness, prudence and balance. It is a prin- ciple rooted in epistemological mod- esty -- a recognition that no one pos- sesses the whole truth. These values are crucial to self- government, and it would be nice if those who govern would speak up for them once in a while, without embarrassment or apology. And oh, yes, us too. (The Washington Post News Ser- vice & Syndicate) Businessman for president? Make it Buffett Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGING EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Derek Wiley 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 By GENE H. McINTYRE I am sure there are a great num- ber of Americans who recognize the name Warren Buffett. Those who know of him know that, current- ly, he is the world’s second-richest man, after Bill Gates. Last week he appeared on the Public Broadcast- ing’s NewsHour and was interviewed by anchor Judy Woodruff. Some of his most salient comments are wor- thy of readers’ attention and consideration. Before his wisdom is shared here, we may wish to remember that Buffet has been an extraordinari- ly successful businessman. The 86-year-old Nebras- kan is the chief executive of investing house Berk- shire Hathaway with a net worth, according to Forbes, at $76.6 bil- lion. Berkshire Hathaway also owns a major share in Wells Fargo and the BNSF Railroad. Inciden- tally, he’s never been a politician or elected to public offi ce although his father was elected to four non-con- secutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from Omaha while the family lived in Washington, D.C. during those years. Regarding the pending Repub- lican healthcare proposal, Buffett says “it amounts to a tax cut for the rich” while “the U.S. economy would benefi t far more from es- tablishing single-payer health care as that is the best system” and “we are such a rich country, we can af- ford it.” Also, “bringing down the costs of healthcare would do more to help American business than cut- ting corporate taxes” but “there is no incentive to bring down costs.” On the economy, “the U.S. econ- omy has recovered since 2009 but the lion’s share of the benefi ts have gone to the very wealthy while all Americans aren’t doing well as this has been a prosperity that’s been disproportionately rewarding to the people on the top.” Buffett has called for higher taxes on the rich. According to Buf- fett, the U.S. should be the world’s moral leader as well as the world’s economic leader. The U.S. leads badly, says Buffett, when it was re- vealed by the latest House and Sen- ate healthcare plans, as analyzed by the Tax Policy Center, that would provide the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S. an average tax-bill de- crease of $37,240. Buffett reported that, if passed, the GOP health care bill would save him $679,999 or 17 percent of his tax bill. “There’s nothing ambigu- ous about that and the people its di- rected at are couples with $250,000 or more of income” while, says Buffett, “you could entitle this the Relief for the Rich Act.” Buffett re- ported that he’s got friends who’ll enjoy savings of $10 million and more. What’s additionally sad to Buffett is that Republican members of Congress voting for the health- care bill as it stands will serve them- guest column selves by bringing down their own taxes. From what’s known of War- ren Buffett, he’s a businessman all Americans can believe in and be proud of. His word can be trusted by his years of telling the truth. His dealings with people are well known as civil and respectful while his charitable actions have helped people all over the world to bet- ter lives. He and his fi rst wife of 52 years, now deceased since 2004, never showed off their wealth, having lived in a modest home they bought as young newlyweds in which they raised their three chil- dren and Buffett continues to live with his second wife who he mar- ried eleven years ago. He’s helped his children, now grown, to establish viable careers of their choosing but do not work for him. He will donate his wealth to charity upon his passing. He’s happy living on $100,000 a year, fi nding a life with those he loves and who love him being the most fulfi lling. A personal opinion of the man fi nds this writer wishing he would consider a run for president as he would only promise what he could deliver and would be hon- est in all matters as he has been as a businessman. If Americans gener- ally want a business man or woman as president, it’s surmised there must be others as grounded and depend- able as Buffett. (Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)
