NOVEMBER 24, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
For my holiday tradition
I’ll say Christmas
By LYNDON ZAITZ
We’re in that traditional transi-
tion from Thanksgiving to Christ-
mas and other December holidays.
On the fourth Thursday of Novem-
ber, many of us gather around a din-
ner table and solemnly say what we
are personally thankful
for: good health, a job,
a family, the new Taylor
Swift CD and so forth.
Then, on the day
after, Black Friday and
onward through Dec.
24, the focus is on what
we want, not what we
have. Wish lists are written and re-
written. Our Christmas would be
great if only someone would give
us the newest widget or the shiniest
whatsat.
How fast we move from thank-
fulness to gimme. But that’s how the
holidays work. We can hold a num-
ber of different thoughts at the same
time, it’s emotional potpourri. We’re
giddy, we’re happy, we’re depressed,
we’re blue, we’re envious, we’re ro-
mantic. In short, the holidays bring
out everything that makes us hu-
mans.
What we accept in children
(holding an endless list of presents
they want from Santa Claus) we
might fi nd a bit unseemly in adults.
Christmas loses its element of sur-
prise when we tell what we want
for a present. As many say, better to
receive something you want than
something you have to return.
I have never returned a gift I have
been given, except to exchange for
a correct size. I don’t view a gift
as a commodity, to be traded for
something else. When someone of-
fers me a gift I accept it in the spirit
in which it was given. I fi t that gift
into my life and that’s that.
Christmas and I have had a com-
plicated relationship for years. No
one loves the traditions of the sea-
son more than I. Caroling through
a neighborhood (sans fi ggy pud-
dy)? Check? See a performance of
Handel’s Messiah? Absolutely. Enjoy
the bustle of the crowds? Sure.
It is the tradition of gifts that is
complicated for me. Why am I re-
ceiving a gift? What have I done to
deserve a gift? Religions, tribes and
nationalities exchange gifts to cel-
ebrate, be it the birth of Jesus Christ,
a good harvest or the sun. By not
having a religious upbringing, I
have no connection to Christmas
Mass or other church services.
The funny thing is, I enjoy noth-
ing so much as spending a day shop-
ping for friends and family. Each
year I decide on a wrapping theme
and each gift I give is wrapped si-
miliarly.
In the past I was diligent about
sending Christmas cards. I would
fi nd the box of cards that refl ected
me perfectly, I’d write a personal
note in each and mail them off. It’s
a tradition that is fading
as many use social media
rather than cards. Time
marches on; things can’t
always remain the same.
But assuring some things
stay the same is called tra-
dition. The traditions that
we maintain in our lives
are generally those we lived with
as children. What happened in our
homes when we are kids become
the traditions as adults.
This week millions of Ameri-
cans dined at two or more homes
for Thanksgiving—more for those
with large blended families. That’s
a lot of eating and a lot of travel-
ing, but it’s tradition. The Thanks-
givings I have enjoyed included
the traditional dinner at home with
the whole family, then dinner with
friends and eventually dinner at a
restaurant. My traditions are a little
more fl uid than most.
The best thing is that in America
people can do what they want. They
can shop in stores or on line, they
can decorate their homes in Octo-
ber for Christmas, they can travel to
many different houses for holiday
meals. People can celebrate in their
own way according to their beliefs
and traditions. They can call the hol-
iday Christmas or they can be sensi-
tive and just call it the holidays. The
best tradition would be of tolerance,
respect and dignity. Not everybody
celebrates Christmas, but that is no
reason for anybody to stop others
from saying and celebrating the day.
Forcing others to take Christmas
out of the holiday is not political
correctness, it is domestic shaming
and it should not be tolerated. De-
cember 25 is Christmas; it can’t be
changed anymore than Tuesday can
be changed to Ewokday.
Forcing anyone to celebrate
what they culturally do not cel-
ebrate is just as frustrating and use-
less. The holidays, in all their glory,
mean many things to many peoples
and cultures. The enjoyment and
the marking of our holidays should
never be changed or altered due to
the beliefs of others. Tolerance and
respect should always be part of our
traditions in regards to others.
I am ready to transition to the
holidays and all that it offers: crowds,
carols, cooking and Champagne.
on my
mind
(Lyndon Zaitz is publisher and
editor of the Keizertimes.)
No victory dance yet on tax bill
By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS
When the GOP House voted to
repeal Obamacare in May, President
Donald Trump invited supporters to
the Rose Garden to celebrate with
him and to pat themselves on the back
for making history in record time.
In the fall of his fi rst year in offi ce,
Trump has come to understand that
passing the halfway mark is no guaran-
tee you’ll cross the fi nish line.
Yet it took only three
dissenting Republicans—
Sens. Susan Collins of
Maine, Rand Paul of Ken-
tucky and John McCain
of Arizona—to announce
their opposition to a Sen-
ate bill before Senate Ma-
jority Leader Mitch Mc-
Connell decided not to bring it to the
fl oor in September.
This go round, Trump is wiser to
the ways of the swamp.
“Nobody knew that health care
could be so complicated,” Trump mar-
veled in February—to the delight of
his entrenched critics. On tax policy,
on the other hand, Trump pretty much
refrained from oddball assessments.
When it comes to matters of the wal-
let, Trump has a long personal history.
Another difference: Mark Harkins,
senior fellow at the Government Af-
fairs Institute at Georgetown Univer-
sity, noted that Trump has refrained
from lashing out at reluctant Repub-
licans as he did on health care.
Already Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.,
has let his dissatisfaction with the cur-
rent Senate tax bill be known. As Har-
kins sees it, that means Trump probably
cannot afford to lose the votes of the
two Senate Republicans whom he has
savaged most mercilessly—McCain
and Bob Corker of Tennessee.
“If you’re a member of Congress,
the last time you went to the White
House to celebrate a bill signing, a
week later your bill was being pil-
loried by the president,” Harkins re-
called. Trump did not help himself on
Capitol Hill when shortly after the
House passed its Obamacare make-
over bill, the president called
it “mean.” Who wants to go
out on a limb with that guy?
The Trump White House
worked harder to promote
tax reform and did a bet-
ter job reaching out to like-
minded stakeholders. Linda
McMahon, administrator of
the Small Business Administration,
spoke to state and local offi cials Thurs-
day about how the measure can help
small businesses in their jurisdictions.
That followed trips she made across
the country to listen to what entrepre-
neurs say they need most.
In a meeting with reporters Tues-
day, Offi ce of Management and Bud-
get Director Mick Mulvaney said he
thinks the tax bill will pass both the
House and Senate because “folks want
to get a deal done, and many of the
basic principles have been established.”
Probably the most useful principle
is that Republicans aren’t even trying
to pay the whole freight for the cuts,
and instead are adding $1.5 trillion to
the national debt over a decade.
“For those who care about defi cits,
you should vote no because this bill
increases defi cits by over $1.5 trillion,
likely more,” warned Senate Minority
other
voices
Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Any
defi cit hawk should be against such an
increase.”
To that, Republicans can respond
that Schumer and other Democrats
weren’t worried about adding to the
national debt when it rose from $10.7
trillion in December 2008 to almost
$20 trillion at the end of President
Barack Obama’s tenure. At least the
GOP plan is designed to grow the pri-
vate economy.
As Mulvaney sees it, the only way
to “get a truly healthy economy” is to
attain 3 percent sustained economic
growth, and that requires reforms that
encourage investment.
Another factor in the tax reform ef-
fort is absence. Harkins isn’t sure the
House would have passed this bill if
not for the president’s 12-day Asian
tour.
“I think another thing that assisted
this time is the fact that he was out
of pocket for almost two weeks,” said
Harkins. That absence made it easier
for the leadership to do what needed
to be done to keep House Republi-
cans on the team.
As Harkins put it, rather diplomati-
cally, “It seems that it’s easier for Con-
gress to move these large, diffi cult bills
when they have less guidance from the
executive branch.”
One more thing: After failing to re-
peal and replace Obamacare, Repub-
licans in Congress know that 2018 is
right around the corner -- and if vot-
ers think they can’t get things done,
some of them will be political toast.
(Creators Syndicate)
Today’s safe cars: thank an activist
Keizertimes
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By GENE H. McINTYRE
My cable service includes the Ve-
locity channel. It is all about cars,
how various models are manufactured,
how they’re rebuilt when rusted and
generally used up but can be made to
look like new again, engine types and
kinds, safety features and anything else
auto-related.
The car was not invented in Amer-
ica but we’ve made it ours. Technical
innovations, vehicle mass produc-
tion, the electric starter—Americans
added these features. As the world
has turned, Europeans can claim just
as many automotive
achievements, including
unibody construction,
disc brakes, and front-
wheel drive. Yet, nowhere
else in the world can any
other group of nation-
als compete with what
we’ve given to the mean-
ing of cars along
with our insatiable American appetite
for their dream fulfi llment.
Cars became important to me at
an early age when I owned and drove
several grossly-used versions, such
as a 1956 Chevy Bel-Air, until I was
able, during my fi rst teaching job, to
buy my fi rst new one, a Chevy Cor-
vair. Some readers will remember the
Corvair as a poor man’s sports car,
rear-engined, air-cooled “space-age”
compact. Ralph Nader was primar-
ily responsible for doing away with
the Corvair by his fi rst book, Unsafe
at Any Speed.
It was only later, as I learned more
about how cars made in the 1950s
and ‘60s, that I considered myself, and
most every other young person I ever
knew, fortunate to have escaped the
use of them and still kicking. Unpad-
ded metal surfaces, blunt knobs and
rods, steering columns that could im-
pale in a crash, while seatbelts could
not be purchased or even installed as
options on those cars.
Hoping not to cause cold sweats
among those who were driving
around in Chevys and other brands
way back when we look at such fea-
tures then as A-Pillars, that looked at-
tractive in wraparound windshield de-
signs, but left the roof supported only
by thin pillars of sheet metal ready to
collapse underneath a car’s weight if
a rollover occurred. Collapsible steer-
ing columns were invented in the
1930s but General Motors (Chevy’s
parent company) did not use them
until 1967. Steering wheels included
a bullet-nose cap that in
a crash almost guaranteed
forehead and sternum-
wrecking injuries. Mean-
while, the dashboards had
no cushioned material, the
hood ornament could fi l-
let a person in a pedestrian
altercation, and door latches
jammed in a crash while the
doors thereafter wouldn’t open.
The facts about the young lives of
my wife’s and mine, regarding safety,
is that we had been, as babies, small
children, adolescents and young
adults, riding around in unsafe cars.
My mom and dad owned an aged
Chrysler from the late 1930s they
used to take me home from the hos-
pital without seat belts or any other
safety feature and used thereafter dur-
ing my growing-up years. Whenever
we went anywhere we kids were in
the back seat fi ghting with each other
and for the most part using the area as
a wrestling mat and boxing ring. My
wife’s growing up years were similar
with several siblings to make every
trip somewhat like being aboard a
scary carnival ride.
Modern day car-driving protec-
tions, in the U.S. at least, can be at-
tributed in large measure to the work
of Ralph Nader and his team of young
Nader’s Raiders. One of his earli-
guest
column
est safety calls resulted in those goofy
automatic seatbelts while his super-
cilious manner sometimes discour-
aged some Americans from enthusi-
asm for his safety appeals. Nevertheless,
against the mighty General Motors,
and its car-manufacturing competitors
like Chrysler and Ford, and other car
companies, Nader began his campaign
by going after the Corvair.
Nader turned the nation’s attention
to some dangerous negligences that
the auto industry had overlooked in
production of cars for decades. His
work resulted in the enactment of car
impact, safety, and passenger-protec-
tion regulations. He promoted and
lobbied successfully for the impact-
ful National Traffi c and Motor Safety
Act. Further, if you appreciate clean
tap water, safe operating equipment at
your job, protections against predatory
banks, private universities, insurance
companies, drug companies, electrical
and telecommunications utilities, gov-
ernment transparency and account-
ability, to the extent you do, you have
Nader to thank.
Specialty car shops across the
country can make old cars look new
again. Those cars are still old cars
without most or any modern safety
features; therefore they remain inher-
ently unsafe but are fun to look at for
nostalgic satisfactions. They should be
seen at summer fairs and festivals but
not out in traffi c competing for space
with the current models. If your life
has been saved by an air bag, anti-lock
braking, crash-worthy frames and the
like then you may want to keep your
new or near-new car for the length
of the Trump administration as The
Donald wants, as his inimitable contri-
bution to America, to do away with all
federal regulations and those include
the ones that have made our cars so
much safer.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)