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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2019)
SEPTEMBER 6, 2019, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 Opinion Sidewalks are for all Keizer governance is com- plaint-driven; usually something doesn’t get done until or unless, a citizen fi les a complaint with the city. The latest example is the pro- posed ordinance to ban mobile bas- ketball hoops from city streets and sidewalks. Posts on social media refl ect the opinion that there surely must be more important issues to tack- le rather the toys of Keizer sports players. It is important for a city to assure its citizens have the ability to walk the streets easily and safely. Everyone uses sidewalks—kids walking to school, fi tness-mind- ed people with a daily regime and those without a vehicle. For those who rely on wheelchairs, walkers and canes for getting around, public pathways free of obstructions is key to their quality of life. It is not un- reasonable to require that all public sidewalks be free and open. The Keizer City Council ad- dressed sidewalks in general and portable basketball hoops specifi - cally. The issue is setting regulations for basketball hoops. Many of these hoops are placed on sidewalks, play- ers using the street for their game court. The city council did the right thing by regulating the hoops for the sake of people who use the sidewalks in our neighborhoods. Sidewalks are for everyone and all citizens should be mindful of others’ needs. This issue is an example of how democracy works on the grass roots level. If you have a complaint, send an email, letter or appear before city council to share your concern. The city council and the city staff do not pass intrusive legislation on their own. Your concern is the concern of the city. — LAZ Cans for the band The coming implosion of our electoral system By E.J. DIONNE JR. The assumptions underlying a controversy are often more important than the controversy itself. Take the case of our blithe accep- tance of the electoral college. There is nothing normal or democratic about choosing our president through a sys- tem that makes it ever more likely that the candidate who garners fewer votes will nonetheless assume power. For a country that has long claimed to model democracy to the world, this is both wrong and weird. And there is also nothing neutral or random about how our system works. The Electoral College tilts outcomes toward white voters, con- servative voters, and certain regions of the country. People outside these groups and places are supposed to sit back and accept their relative disen- franchisement. There is no reason they should, and at some point, they won’t. This will lead to a meltdown. Our brewing troubles were un- derscored last month by the kerfuffl e that Nate Cohn, The New York Times’ political numbers guru, set off with a story that ran under the headline: Trump’s Electoral College Edge Could Grow in 2020, Rewarding Polarizing Campaign. For election junkies, Cohn’s analy- sis ignited quite a stir, especially since it set off a “Nate vs. Nate” Twitter skirmish between Cohn and Nate Silver, another brand-name data ma- ven. (Yes, fate has made Nate a name of choice for people in this line of work.) Silver’s main critique was fair enough: “There’s just not that much we can say about the Electoral Col- lege right now beyond a couple of fairly loose priors (e.g. it’s more likely to help than hurt Trump).” Still, Cohn’s calculations were re- velatory. He stressed, for example, that higher turnout in 2020, which is generally seen as helping Democrats, could actually boost Trump in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylva- nia, and especially Wis- consin by bringing out more of the Trump base. As Cohn wrote, “the major Democratic op- portunity—to mobilize nonwhite and young voters on the periphery of politics—would dis- proportionately help Democrats in diverse, often noncompetitive states.” On the other hand, the GOP’s oppor- tunity is “to mobilize less educated white voters, particularly those who voted in 2016 but sat out 2018.” This “would disproportionately help them in white, working-class areas over- represented in the Northern battle- ground states.” Think about it: The Democratic nominee against Trump could beat him by far more votes than Hillary Clinton did in 2016—and still lose. Clinton led Trump by 2.9 million popular votes, 2.1%. Cohn’s con- clusion: “It is even possible that Mr. Trump could win while losing the national vote by as much as fi ve per- centage points.” This means that the country could render a negative verdict on Trump’s time in offi ce by swinging away from him in a big way—and he would still be president for four more years. Defenders of such a departure from one person-one vote say that if Dem- ocrats run up big leads in a few states and regions—especially California but also, say, New York, Illinois and New England—that shouldn’t count. other voices Saturday, Sept. 7 is Band Day in Keizer. It is the day that members of the McNary High School band and color guard programs spread out throughout the city to solicit dona- tions of recyclable cans and bottles to raise funds. The money raised by redeeming the donated cans and bottles is used to by the bands to fund travel to com- petitions and other needs not covered by the normal school budget. When members of a McNary band appear at your door this Saturday, we hope that Keizer households will clear out their bins and donate their empty cans and bottles. Each team will deliver them to a central location where volunteers will sort. For those households that do not have cans and bottles to donate, the band will also accept cash donations. The McNary High School band programs are important and should be supported. They are certainly a source of pride for the community.Would a Friday night football game at Flesher Field be the same without the march- ing band playing the fi ght song and other game night classics? The two parades in town—Keiz- erFEST in May and Holiday Lights in December are more enjoyable with the marching Celtics. Band Day is the single major fund raising effort of the year for the band programs. The student musicians do the work of gathering, hauling and sorting. They are engaged. Keizerites have many organiza- tions to donate to, all of them worthy. Our generous residents always open their hearts and wallets when asked to help. If you love marching bands or music in general, do your a service, clear out your garage and help make the new year great for the McNary High School bands. —LAZ SHARE your opinion Submit a letter to the editor, or a guest column by noon Tuesday. Email to: publisher@keizertimes.com Their strained claim is that a president is somehow more “representative” of the country if he wins by eking out tiny margins in several Midwestern states. This transforms our democra- cy into a casino. If you narrowly hit the right numbers in some places, you take the pot. What they are really defending, without explicitly saying so, is the idea that states with a higher percentage of white, non-Hispanic voters should have a disproportionate infl uence on who becomes president. As a short-term strategic matter, Cohn is right to stress the importance to the 2020 result of states that were closely divided in 2016. But while I have great affection for the Midwest, I see no just reason for an individu- al voter in California having far less power than an individual voter in, say, Wisconsin or Michigan. And the system’s bias toward white voters only encourages Trump’s hab- it of dividing the country along ra- cial lines. So in addition to being undemocratic, the Electoral College encourages a particularly odious pol- itician with no interest in uniting the country to do all he can to promote minority rule. At some point, the majority will rise up. If Cohn’s worst-case-for-de- mocracy scenario materializes, 2020 could be that year. Our founders ad- mitted that the Electoral College sys- tem they created in the original Con- stitution was defective by altering it with the 12th Amendment in 1804. It’s time we followed their lead in showing the same willingness to scrap a system that is sending us headlong into a national crisis. (Washington Post Writers Group) Is a recall of Brown necessary? A democracy may not be the best possible form of government; yet, ponder on what typically takes its place when a population of people in a state or nation reject it. Meanwhile, not everyone gets personally served in the state of Oregon because our democracy is based on how the ma- jority of voters cast their ballots. Nev- ertheless, elections are fairly frequent in Oregon while now provided con- veniently by mail-in bal- lots no longer requiring a postage stamp. We had an election last year to determine who would be governor of Oregon. There have been no claims of foul play in the election that chose Kate Brown while the two candidates campaigned for months. Thereby, the Republican candidate for governor had as many chances to sell himself to voters in Oregon as did Kate Brown. They both appeared on the same stage several times, providing voters who watched with direct comparisons. Brown is well-known to be a pro- gressive-minded politician who wants the people of Oregon, among her priorities, to address greenhouse gas emissions through a cap-and-trade program. She also supports more funding for public education and she wants to allow undocumented immi- grants to get driver’s licenses. These objectives by her would, by cap-and- trade, address a world crisis in cli- mate change that, without action, is predicted to end life as we know it on earth, she recognizes public edu- cation as one of the only means the non-wealthy have to secure a chance at success in America, and providing driver’s licenses to the undocumented establishes state controls. As a voter, this opinion writer was never clear on what the Republican candidate wanted. Between the lines, he seemed to suggest termination or drastic reductions of all social pro- grams, from delivery of state-provided in- surance-based medical services to cutbacks in public education fund- ing, and the ouster of persons of color and immigrants. It sounded also like this Republican wanted wealthy Orego- nians to be free of tax- ation. He lost the 2018 election by 130,000 votes. Apparently , not disposed to sup- port and honor our democratic gov- ernment, the Republicans in Oregon want to recall Brown and thereby re- move her from offi ce. This move on their part is nothing less than par- tisan over- reach and the worst that any party can do unless its mem- bers want nothing but entrenched political di- v i s i ve n e s s by hostile tribes per- gene h. mcintyre Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 Phone: 503.390.1051 • www.keizertimes.com MANAGING EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $35 in Marion County, $43 outside Marion County, $55 outside Oregon ASSOCIATE EDITOR Matt Rawlings news@keizertimes.com COMMUNITY REPORTER PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Lauren Murphy reporter@keizertimes.com Publication No: USPS 679-430 ADVERTISING POSTMASTER Paula Moseley advertising@keizertimes.com Send address changes to: PRODUCTION MANAGER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Andrew Jackson graphics@keizertimes.com LEGAL NOTICES legals@keizertimes.com BUSINESS MANAGER EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com 2019-2020 President Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon Leah Stevens billing@keizertimes.com RECEPTION Lori Beyeler INTERN Brooklyn Flint facebook.com/keizertimes twitter.com/keizertimes petually tossing threatening barbs at each other. Fueled by over-the-top emotions and mutual animosity, such a new order of politics here jeopardiz- es the state’s future instead of fi nding common goals and shared solutions. Further, Governor Brown has done nothing in her entire career that would warrant such an outcome. Other than holding opinions that dif- fer from those of the GOP, she’s been trustworthy, honest and hard-working as a legislator, secretary of state, and governor. If the Republicans in Ore- gon promised a better future for all of us instead of the one they seem to be advocating for Republicans only, that is, fi nancial improvements of all kinds for their members while removal of benefi ts for everyone else, they’d more likely get elected. Instead of working to build a winning campaign platform that attracts more voters, they end up discouraging too many Oregonians. (Gene H. McIntyre shares his opinion regularly in the Keizertimes.)
