Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2018)
NOVEMBER 30, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 Opinion Questioning our leaders Some people identify as liberal, some as conservative. The defi nition of those labels have drasticaly shifted over the past 40 years. What was conservative in the early 1980s is now considered in- excusably moderate. Some Democrats want their party to move further left; some Republicans want to see their party move further right. That has created what we all see across the nation today: two sides with little compromise, entrenched in their points of view. Politics in America today is not completely broken regardless of what some pundits, news anchors and col- umnists would have us believe. The re- ality is there is work being completed by government bodies at every level, from Congress down to the smallest city council. Congress passes legislation every week but that pales in comparison to the sexier news of constant embat- tlement between the two parties. In Keizer, population 39,000, one can fi nd people of every ideological stripe, though most of the city’s councilors have been right of center. The city council gets the people’s business done when it comes to setting policy and approving budgets, all without rancor. Our democracy allows for citizens to express their displeasure with deci- sons their government leaders make, be it via public testimony, letters or protests. That is all part of our civic discourse. That includes the press. It is not treasonous to question political leaders about their policies. Nor is it treasonous to say or write critically of our leaders. We do not live in a coun- try built on the cult of personalities. We don’t have Dear Leader or Glori- ous Leader in America. Our leaders are elected by the people; if we don’t like what they are doing we can vote them out. Not all liberals loathe the current president, not all conservatives embrace him. Voters knew what they were getting when they supported him with their votes. The fact that he trailed his opponent by three million votes fades in the face of his Electoral Col- lege victory. Hate his policies and his behavior or support him, it is import- ant to remember a keystone of military life: respect (or salute) the rank, not the man. That is something big media for- gets—it spends too much time on the president’s tweets rather than on the news items that affect most Americans. Neither the people nor the press should follow a president blindly. The ability to oppose our leaders is as American as apple pie. It is democracy gone off the rails when people are ac- cused of being unAmerican when they don’t support their leader. It is democ- racy functioning well when people use their words and actions to persuade others to their side regardless if it is a conservative view or a liberal view. There is room is this big country for all points of view. A person is not hor- rible just because they disagree—that is unAmerican. —LAZ Codes need to be enforced the location and would coordinate with Code Enforcement. I took her at her word. Nothing happened. On November 10, I took pictures of the vehi- cles as well as three more with expired plates within one mile. On November 13, I took the pic- tures to the police station and report- ed the violations again. It’s November 21 and not one vehicle has been marked, tagged or towed. (The Honda was gone by Jan- uary 13.) A stop sign and utility boxes were tagged at Noren/Keizer Road on or about Oct. 1. Keizer’s Public Works Department fi xed the sign immedi- ately, yet the utility boxes have not been addressed. Some 60 feet of fence on Noren at the south end of Ken- nedy’s playground is still unaddressed. I expect the City to do what it says it will do. Dave LeDoux Keizer our opinion lottors To the Editor: Keizer has some rules to keep our neighborhoods livable: seventy-two hour parking limits on streets, prompt graf- fi ti remediation, house maintenance, vision clearance at intersections, veg- etation heights over roads and walk- ways, to name a few. On November 2, I spoke to a fe- male offi cer on Allendale Way while we looked at four vehicles illegally parked. All had been there at least 30 days. The Harley had no plate and the clutch lever has been stolen. The Ford Escape had plates that expired January, 2017. The Ford van in front of that never moves. The Honda in front of that had no plate, tags or temporary. I told her about an abandoned Jim- my with expired plates two blocks further down the street. I told her of a black pickup with no engine and expired plates across the street from that. She indicated she was aware of Web Poll Results WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SIDE DISH WITH YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER? Stuffi ng 54% Mashod potatoos 23% Yams 8% Cranborry sauco 5% Boan cassorolo 5% Mac and chooso 5% Vote in a new poll every Thursday! GO TO KEIZERTIMES.COM Keizertimes Whoatland Publishing Corp. 142 Chomawa Road N. • Koizor, Orogon 97303 Phono: 503.390.1051 • www.koizortimos.com MANAGING EDITOR SUBSCRIPTIONS Ono yoar: $25 in Marion County, $33 outsido Marion County, $45 outsido Orogon ASSOCIATE EDITOR Matt Rawlings nows@koizortimos.com ADVERTISING Paula Mosoloy advortising@koizortimos.com PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY PRODUCTION MANAGER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER POSTMASTER Publication No: USPS 679-430 Sond addross changos to: Androw Jackson graphics@koizortimos.com LEGAL NOTICES logals@koizortimos.com BUSINESS MANAGER Loah Stovons billing@koizortimos.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com Koizortimos Circulation 142 Chomawa Road N. Koizor, OR 97303 Poriodical postago paid at Salom, Orogon RECEPTION Lori Boyolor INTERN Lauron Murphy facobook.com/koizortimos By L. BRENT BOZELL III and TIM GRAHAM Congressman-elect Dan Cren- shaw of Texas fi rst came to national attention when his looks—espe- cially the patch over his eye that he lost serving in Afghanistan—were mocked on Saturday Night Live. The NBC show amended its rude- ness by putting him on the show the next week and allowing him to make an earnest pitch to Americans to “never for- get” the sacrifi ces veter- ans make. On Nov. 18, Crenshaw appeared with three other House freshmen on CBS’ Face the Nation.”The other three were all Democrats. He sug- gested the public image of Congress could be improved if the tone of the debate were to improve. “Let’s not attack each other’s intent,” he said. “Let’s not ... attack each oth- er as a person. Let’s attack ideas. All right. We can debate ideas. We can disagree on ideas all day long.” That’s not an easy standard in politics. Politicians know that voters say they don’t like negative attacks, but they also know voters are more likely to believe negative attacks than positive presentations. What made Crenshaw’s approach stand out was his challenging the idea that freedom of the press is under attack. Rep.-elect Joe Neguse, D-Colo., claimed that under President Trump, “our democratic freedoms” are un- der attack. Crenshaw demanded specifi cs and said: “Democracy is at work. People are voting in ... re- cord numbers.” Neguse responded, “the undermining of the free press.” He cited CNN having to go to court to fi ght correspondent Jim Acos- ta’s suspended press pass. Crenshaw noted that was one reporter, not the en- tire network, and that he was “highly disruptive.” Rep.-elect Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., then jumped in. “I would argue that our president is consistently disruptive in those very same press confer- ences. And I would argue that he treats them with disrespect,” she said. Crenshaw challenged that, ask- ing, “how is that an attack on the press, though?” Houlihan replied, “it’s literally an attack on the press.” Crenshaw shot back: “Oh, I’ve lit- erally been attacked. ... let’s choose our words carefully.” This underlines that our met- aphors can be far too overdrama- tized, especially in emotional reac- tion to Trump’s ridicule. Houlihan continued: “his language is an at- tack in those spaces.” So Crenshaw asked, “why is he not allowed to use his own language and freedom of speech?” This is a terrifi c question. Appar- ently, it’s against freedom of speech othor voicos to attack the press as a bunch of par- tisans who sometimes put out “fake news.” The media would like to re- write the First Amendment and in- sert the commandment “Thou shalt not question the motives or profes- sionalism of journalists.” They have the thinnest skins in Washington. Houlihan insisted that the presi- dent should lead by example. Cren- shaw said that it’s fi ne to question the president’s style, and that he dis- likes the term “enemy of the peo- ple” to describe the press corps. But if the Democrats and the press think it’s important to lead by example, is Jim Acosta leading by example? Are they proud of his style? It seems obvious they feel strongly that someone really needs to lecture the president like he’s got the intelligence of a tomato. They aren’t telling Acosta he’s setting a bad example for the children. Those on the left have been ranting for years now that the press can’t allow Trump to be “normal- ized”—in other words, the media must always behave as if an elec- tion-stealing dictator is sitting in the White House. For the left, there is no universal morality. There are the idealistic leftists who must be celebrated, and there are the Cyn- ical, Lying Bad Guys who must be destroyed. Dan Crenshaw exposed how much civility is limited when it comes to conservatives. (Croator Syndicato) Green Bay sets good example KEIZERTIMES.COM Eric A. Howald oditor@koizortimos.com Liberal panic on press freedom twittor.com/koizortimos A mere few decades ago in Ore- gon, those born here enjoyed a state in which the wealthy didn’t rule over much of anything and seldom were known to order public offi cials around. Then, too, young bucks still had a chance to make their mark even if they did not come from a family with riches that got that way by under- paying their workers and indulging themselves to live, as now they often do, like potentates. The other day a col- umnist in our time wrote a rather lengthy column about the guy who was as wealthy as any American can get and had used some of his wealth to own and control an NBA fran- chise, the Portland Trail Blazers. As anyone who’s taken notice of the lives of the rich and famous, Paul Al- len, co-founder of Microsoft, passed away a few weeks ago. We’re told that Allen’s last will and testimony seeks to sell his assets, in- cluding the Blazers, and give what’s acquired in amounts of millions upon millions of dollars to charitable causes. Well, good for Allen who, with one surviving sister, and a man who nev- er married and also had no children, my hat is tipped with great respect to him as one who will not make a few relatives rich enough to do nothing except or- der other Ameri- cans around. Then a thought occurred to me, rel- ative to many Ore- gonians I’ve known from birth—they loved and continue to love our state and our nation and de- sire a return, even in some small measure, to those times when hardly any citi- zen of our state was fi lthy rich. How- ever, if there were, back when, even a few enjoying fi nancial good fortune, they didn’t impose their will on ev- eryone else by taking control of the state’s institutions and Capitol occupants. Ah, hah! The Green Bay Packers of Green Bay, Wisconsin come to mind. Here’s the factual scoop on the Packers. The Green Bay Packers Board of Directors is the organization that serves as the owner of record of the Na- tional Football League’s team. The Packers have been a publicly-owned, non-profi t corporation since 1923. Their management structure is unlike anything else in American professional sports. Instead, the Packers are publicly-traded with a total of 112,158 shareholders own- ing 4,750,937 shares in GBP Incor- porated. So, instead of letting the Port- land Trail Blazers be bought by the likes of the Paulson family, Merritt owning the Portland Timbers, or the gono h. mcintyro Knight family, Phil apparently “own- ing” the UO Ducks, the people of Oregon, and anyone else willing to put a few dollars into a collective kitty, being able to claim ownership in a professional sports team. As a result, we, collectively, could take a big step in the direction of common folks owning what they’re cheering for and spending great gobs of mon- ey to see and, in that way, helping rich guys and their families build more homes overseas and buy Ivy League university educations for their offspring. What say you fellow serfs? Is it not time to claim by joint owner- ship what could be ours and avoid another fate like that of the Seattle Super Sonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder. Many an Oregon youth and young adult views small- er futures save servitude because things are more and more often in the exclusive hands of wealthy indi- viduals and corporations: ownership in something like a local team could enthuse more buy-in among them. (Gono H. McIntyro sharos his opinion froquontly in tho Koizor- timos.)
