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
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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
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RECEPTION
Lori Beyeler
INTERN
Brooklyn Flint
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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.)