JANUARY 12, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Measure 101 is not the answer
We salute offi cials and legislators
who endeavor to solve problems,
and there are plenty of areas that
have issues.
The Oregon legislature passed
House Bill 2391 in 2017 that im-
poses temporary assessments on
premiums charged by health insur-
ance companies as well as an assess-
ment on large hospitals to help pay
healthcare for Oregon’s low-income
individuals and families.
This month’s one-ques-
tion special election for
Measure 101 is asking
Oregon residents to vote
whether to keep HB
2391 as is or reject it.
The problem is that
HB 2391 creates prob-
lems also. There is noth-
ing in the bill or the ballot measure
that guarantees that money collect-
ed is earmarked exclusively for the
healthcare costs of Oregon’s needi-
est patients. Money collected could
easily be diverted into other areas
of government operation—that is
not something Oregon voters can
knowingly support.
The other glaring problem with
Measure 101 is that it is uneven in
whom it collects from. Large com-
panies will not be taxed, though
large public service organizations—
such as public school districts—will.
Measure 101 is trying to smooth
over problems in Oregon and on the
federal level. Medicaid payments are
less than in previous years. One bil-
lion fewer Medicaid dollars would
fl ow into Oregon.
Measure 101 is really just a ban-
dage. We think the measure should
go down in defeat. We think this will
force the legislature to address Or-
egon’s healthcare and tax issues head
on. The measure is fl awed. Orego-
nians are in no mood to approve any
new taxes or fees, regardless of what
supporters call it.
The state’s general operating
budget is almost $40 billion per year
and Oregon lawmakers fi ght over
pennies when it comes to funding
education and healthcare. What is
needed is leadership on
taxing and spending issues.
Every bit of spending leg-
islation is picked apart by
interests—exemptions and
waivers become part of a
spending package.
Most people would
agree that enough money
is collected in taxes, fees,
licenses and other sources to fund
what the people want to fund. At the
same time most people are generous
and want to watch out for their fel-
low man. While Measure 101 aims
to help pay for the healthcare costs
of those less fortunate, a hopscotch
taxing scheme is not the answer.
Democrats and Republicans need
to act in the name of all their con-
stituents, not the just the fi nancial
donors. In politics winning is ev-
erything, but in governing quality
of life for all is everything. We call
on legislators of every ideology and
political party to fi x the healthcare
fi nancing problem at its next session
without raising new sources of rev-
enue.
Government’s number one job
is to protect its citizens. Nothing
defi nes that job more than keeping
citizens healthy.
—LAZ
our
opinion
It sounds interesting...
After Sunday nights’ broadcast of
the Golden Globes there was much
chatter on Facebook and news sites
about the speech Oprah Winfrey
gave when she was presented with a
lifetime achievement award.
Monday morning dawned with
people calling for Oprah to run for
president. Her clarion call about a
new day on the horizon in which
women are treated and paid equal
to men and harassment is no longer
part of the discourse. She received
three standing ovations. Yes, Oprah
can speak and she can hold an audi-
ence.
But that is not a reason to trip
all over ourselves to crown her the
next president of the United States.
There is a lot to like and admire
about one of America’s most popu-
lar people.
It was 14 months ago the nation
voted in a media star with no politi-
cal or governmental service experi-
ence. Oprah has no governmental
experience.
Those hoping for an Oprah can-
didacy should stop for a few mo-
ments and think about where she
stands on the major issues. That will
be a long moment because aside
from her humanitarianism no one
knows her position on taxes, infra-
structure, North Korea, Russia and
other hot topics.
Hopefully the voters of the Unit-
ed States have learned that vetting a
candidate’s positions is more impor-
tant than applause lines.
“You get a car and you get a car
and you get a car,” is lovely and
makes a great TV moment but it
doesn’t show what kind of a presi-
dent Winfrey would be.
—LAZ
In Iran today, information is ammunition
By MICHAEL GERSON
Though events in Iran are murky,
their direction is historic.
The Iranian regime—‚which has
made a project of destabilizing oth-
ers through terrorism and regional
adventurism—has been revealed
as deeply unstable. Many Iranian
citizens thought that the
election of the “moderate”
Hassan Rouhani as presi-
dent would bring more
sensible and effective gov-
ernance. Those hopes have
fi zzled. Many Iranians
thought that the nuclear
deal’s sanctions relief and
unfrozen assets would improve their
lives. For the most part, they haven’t.
The result—put in terms Presi-
dent Trump would appreciate—has
been a broad revolt against the Ira-
nian political establishment. The
Iranian government’s problem is no
longer a matter of performance but
of legitimacy. Routine corruption,
vicious oppression and economic
mismanagement are increasingly
seen as essential to the regime itself.
The breadth of this sentiment is
what distinguishes the current re-
volt from the Green Movement of
2009. Instead of mainly involving
the upper middle class, discontent
has taken root in the lower middle
class -- in the labor movement and
among the unemployed. Instead of
being concentrated in Tehran and
a few other cities, current unrest
can be found across the country
in smaller cities and rural areas. (If
it comes to it, this would compli-
cate the imposition of martial law,
because the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps would need to be de-
ployed more thinly.)
“In 100 years,” Iranian dissident
Mohsen Sazegara told me, “we’ve
never had such a movement all
around the country.” The geograph-
ic and demographic scope of the
protests is what makes them so re-
markable -- and so damaging to the
long-term prospects of the regime.
The short-term prospects are a
different matter. Those who hope
that the Iranian national revolution
will succeed in a single, big push --
like the crowd turning
against the Romanian
dictator Nicolae Ceaus-
escu in Palace Square
-- are likely to be disap-
pointed. In most civil re-
sistance movements, the
purpose of mass protest is
not to overthrow the gov-
ernment directly. It is to convince
observers -- and especially elements
of the police and army -- that they
can turn against the regime without
imprisonment or death. Protests act
as a signal to potential defectors that
their risk is reasonable. If enough
people join them, the chance of
violence diminishes.
This depends on the protesters
rejecting violence themselves. In a
study of civil resistance campaigns
between 1900 and 2006, research-
ers Maria Stephan and Erica Che-
noweth found that nonviolent ef-
forts succeeded 53 percent of the
time, compared with 26 percent for
violent campaigns. And nonviolent
approaches generally succeeded in
less than half the time (an average
of about three years). Why this dif-
ference? Because violence reduces
public participation, which makes
defections less likely.
With this in mind, what should
America be doing? U.S. policy
has generally had two objectives:
lengthen the Iranian regime’s nu-
clear timeline and shorten Iran’s
democratization timeline. Nuclear
proliferation isn’t particularly good
anywhere. But such weapons are far
less dangerous in the hands of dem-
other
voices
ocratic governments. For proof, just
compare India to North Korea.
There is signifi cant disagree-
ment on the best way to lengthen
the Iranian nuclear timeline. In the
2015 Iran nuclear framework, the
Obama administration made huge
concessions to buy some delay. But
whatever your view on that agree-
ment, the matter at hand is support-
ing democratic change. And since
direct meddling in Iranian affairs by
America is toxic, this task requires
some creativity.
If the objective is to give the
Iranian opposition the time and
space to encourage recruits and
defections, then the Trump admin-
istration needs to increase the cost
to the regime of a comprehensive
crackdown. This would need to be
done in concert with the Europe-
ans, making clear that repression
will bring a return to economic
isolation and sanctions. An effective
U.S. response would also attempt to
increase the access of Iranian citi-
zens to the internet and social me-
dia -- which is effectively blocked
-- through public pressure or (some
have suggested) satellite internet ac-
cess. This would permit the spread
of information about the regime
-- how about better publicizing the
cost of Iranian interventions in Leb-
anon, Syria and Gaza? -- and reveal
regime violence to the world in real
time. In a struggle like this one, in-
formation is ammunition.
Implicit in all this is something
often dismissed and completely un-
deniable: the strategic value of de-
mocracy promotion in a strong for-
eign policy. Much about the future
of the Middle East, and the nature
of the nuclear threat, now depends
on it.
(Washington
Group)
Post
Writers
Trump’s drug price promises unmet
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By GENE H. McINTYRE
President Donald Trump has ful-
fi lled few of his campaign promises.
One in mind that he could already
have done something about is when
he announced well over a year ago
that, “I’m going to bring
down drug prices. I don’t
like what’s happened with
drug prices.” In Febru-
ary 2016, he went so far
as to promote the idea of
the government using its
market strength to reduce
drug prices.
“I said to myself, wow,
let me do some numbers. If we com-
petitively bid drugs in the United
States, we can save as much as $300
billion a year.” That statement was
an ambitious one even for Don-
ald Trump, who views himself as
a master dealmaker. American drug
buyers spent $450 billion on pre-
scriptions in 2016. Hence, Trump
was fi guring he could twist drug
company arms into huge price cuts.
You may remember that as re-
cent as last October he once again
promised to reduce drug prices for
Americans. He said at that time, as he
did earlier, that drug companies are
“frankly getting away with murder”
and further that his administration is
“going to get prescription drug pric-
es way down.” Recently, Trump was
provided help from the National
Academy of Sciences (NAC) that
gave him a realistic road map to em-
brace his goal regarding drug prices.
The NAC provided guidance by its
report, Making Medicines Affordable: A
National Imperative.
Appearing in The Oregonian last
month was a column by David Laza-
rus who wrote under the title, A road
map to cutting drug prices
Trump should follow.
Having an interest in
this subject parallel to my
own, Lazarus contacted
the White House to in-
quire when Trump will
announce his advocacy
for the common sense
ideas in the NAC’s report
and fulfi ll his vow to make medi-
cations more available and afford-
able. Lazarus reports that he was
unable to get a White House answer
but instead was directed to what has
become a dead end source, the now-
nearly defunct and out-of-order U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS).
So, there’s only a dark hole be-
tween what have been Trump pledg-
es on drug prices and what’s be-
come of his many pledges when he’s
said he was bound and determined
to do something about those deplor-
able drug prices. The truth is that
he’s done nothing, period. Mean-
while, as for his promise also to drain
the “swamp,” he has nominated a
former drug-company executive,
Alex Azar, to serve as HHS secretary.
Hence, we may see pigs fl y before
Azar tackles drug prices.
If it’s diffi cult for you to guess
guest
column
where this matter will go from
here, let’s recognize what happens if
Azar passes muster with Congress
and is appointed to secretary of
health. You see, while Azar was head
of U.S. operations for Eli Lilly & Co.,
among many outrages, the company
more than doubled the price of insu-
lin, a life-saving medication for mil-
lions of people with diabetes.
Meanwhile, the pharmaceuti-
cal industry is helping Republican
members of Congress and has al-
ready contributed nearly $13 million
to GOP politicians for 2018 congres-
sional elections. The top recipient, re-
ceiving $313,000, is Republican U.S.
Senator Orrin Hatch (R/Utah), a
voting member of the Senate Com-
mittee on Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions. Hatch promises not to
run for re-election; nevertheless, one
can be assured that he will help them
as long as he’s there.
Of note regarding the Trump ad-
ministration and GOP members of
Congress on America’s health and
human services: they were active
in the tax bill to eliminate a provi-
sion in the Affordable Care Act that
would have retained many Ameri-
cans with health insurance. How-
ever, even though a specifi c amend-
ment was on the U.S. Senate fl oor
to control drug prices, our “repre-
sentatives” chose instead to do noth-
ing about what are viewed by many
as highway robbery costs: U.S. pre-
scription drug, prices.
(Gene H. McIntyre lives in Keizer.)