Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 2020)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 Public Square Public Square weclomes all points of view. Published submissions do not necessarily refl ect the views of the Keizertimes. Submit a guest opinion, column or letter to the editor to publisher@keizertimes.com. A rest from labor On Monday, Sept. 7, America ty. It is the men and women who will mark Labor Day, a federal- work that we honor and celebrate ly-recognized holiday. on Labor Day. Labor Day was estab- There are, of course, lished in the late 19th people who work on century to honor and Labor Day. It is these recognize the American should especially editorial we labor movement as well honor—the fi refi ghters, as the contributions of paramedics, EMTs, hos- laborers in the United pital doctors and nurses States. and public safety offi cers. While labor in America looks They serve so the rest of us can much different than it did when take the day off and enjoy a holiday. Labor Day was fi rst suggested, to- Members of the military are day’s workers have as much to on the job as well. The defense of celebrate as their ancestors. Many our country doesn’t take a holiday. fewer Amercians work in facto- American workers can shop, picnic, ries and mines, or on farms today, camp and recreate because the men yet today almost 160 million of us and women in uniform are on duty work, often in jobs a workingman to preserve our way of life. (or woman) of 1894 could never —LAZ have imagined. The goal has not changed much over a century: people work to make an income to live and raise a family, with the goal of even- tually retiring. This country was built by its workforce. This country continues to be an economic bea- con for the rest of the work due to our work ethic and productivi- Is anyone persuadable? By LYNDON ZAITZ cans—can rely on about 45 to 47 Is anybody undecided about any- percent of the electorate to be in thing anymore? We all know what their corner. The millions of dollars we know to be true. We all have our to be spent by campaigns between beliefs. Is there room for debate and now and the election will be spent discussion? Are there open minds to persuade those eight to 10 per- that suggest that someone can be cent in the middle to vote for them. persuaded to think other People who have than they do? voted for one party can Persuasion is a power- be lured to vote in a zaitz ful thing. For centuries, new way. Remember billions, if not trillions, of the Reagan Democrats? writes dollars have been spent to Somewhere along the get people to change their way many of those vot- mind. Advertising and ers said to themselves: marketing have been so “You have a point.” fi ne-tuned, that those in the persua- They were persuaded that changing sion business can drill down to the their political beliefs was good for minutiae of a consumer’s habits to them and good for the country. develop a campaign of persuasion Is that kind of seismic shift pos- to get them buy one product over sible in today’s political climate? another. Are there people who are open to We all are targets of persuasion; it hearing views from “the other side” starts at an early age when our par- without automatically rejecting out ents persuade us to ‘try’ the Brus- of hand those views? Self interest sel sprouts or some other vegetable. drives how we vote—what is best After that, it never lets up. Ameri- for us? What is best for our qualtiy cans are barraged with thousands of life? of messages each day in an effort to Persuading a kid to try Brus- change our mind. sel sprouts is child’s play; however, What about something bigger persuading a voter to consider op- and more important than trying a tions to hard-held beliefs is much vegetable? Between now and Nov. more diffi cult. There are no sweet- 3, airwaves, phones, lawns and me- er words to one trying to persuade dia will be crammed with messages than: “Convince me,” which should of persuasion to get us to choose be an invitation for robust debate, one person over another. When not a hill to die on. (Lyndon Zaitz is publisher of the it comes to presidential elections, each side—Democrats, Republi- Keizertimes.) Wheatland Publishing Corp. MANAGING EDITOR Eric A. Howald editor@keizertimes.com PRODUCTION MANAGER & GRAPHIC DESIGNER Andrew Jackson graphics@keizertimes.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Phone: 503.390.1051 www.keizertimes.com EDITOR & PUBLISHER Lyndon Zaitz publisher@keizertimes.com twitter.com/keizertimes By PATRICK J. BUCHANAN ing, visibly and hard, against the Is Joe Biden forfeiting the law- arsonists and anarchists conducting and-order issue to Donald Trump? the nightly rampages against cops So it would seem. across America. “Republicans Use Law and Or- The weariness of the public der As Rallying Cry” was the top with the riots is palpable. The claim headline on The New York Times’ that these are but the understand- front-page story on Vice President able excesses of “peaceful protests” Mike Pence’s acceptance speech at is getting stale. And the reaction Fort McHenry last week. against the riots and ruin The Wall Street Jour- in the Black communi- nal Page One headline ties, for whom they are other echoed the Times: “Pence allegedly being conduct- Accepts Nomination as ed, is growing. voices GOP Puts Focus on Po- Black leaders in ur- lice.” ban areas are saying we In his address, Pence want good cops, but we charged Biden with sinning by also want more cops to protect silence in failing to denounce the our people from gun-toting gang- rioters, looters and arsonists who have for months attacked police and pillaged Portland, Seattle, Min- Eventually, the neapolis, Kenosha and other cities. Said Pence: “Last week, Joe country is Biden did not say one word about the violence and chaos engulfi ng going to go with cities across this country. law and order. “Joe Biden says that America is systemically racist, and that law enforcement in America has... ‘im- plicit bias against minorities.’ When asked whether he’d support cutting bangers who are running up rising funding to law enforcement, Joe weekly kill rates. Biden replied, ‘Yes, absolutely.’ Tuesday, video surfaced of a “Joe Biden would double down mob of radicals surrounding, be- on the very policies that are lead- rating, cursing and threatening a ing to unsafe streets and violence in woman at a D.C. diner. Her crime? American cities. ... You will not be She had refused to submit to de- safe in Joe Biden’s America.” mands she raise her fi st in a Black Now, it is inexact to say Biden Power salute and proclaim, “Black would “defund” the police. When Lives Matter!” the big agenda item of Black Lives “White silence is violence!” Matter was fi rst raised, Biden screamed the mob. rushed to say he would reform the It looked like a training exercise police and increase spending. for aspiring Nazi Brown Shirts. And, probably after seeing an We are beginning to see how advance of Pence’s speech, Biden this all unfolds. And from here, it tweeted from Delaware about the looks like the Democratic left is chaos that has engulfed Kenosha going to be the loser on all counts. since Sunday night’s police shoot- First, the big mandate—“De- ing of Jacob Blake: fund the police!”—has backfi red. “Needless violence won’t heal The Biden media daily testify to us. We need to end the violence.” its unpopularity by insisting Biden Biden’s belated and tepid con- never endorsed it. Where police demnations of the riots and pillag- department budgets have been cut, ing of America’s cities by “peaceful shooting and homicide rates have protesters” gone rogue night after soared. And Biden’s refusal to en- night testifi es to the dilemma in dorse the mandate tells you what which he fi nds himself. Democrats’ polls are telling them. It is three months since George The police bill passed by Nan- Floyd ceased to breathe under the cy Pelosi’s House featuring re- knee of that Minneapolis cop. But strictions on chokeholds has been it is also three months to the elec- ignored by the Senate, and Repub- tion. And the political tide is turn- licans do not appear to be suffering for having ignored it. The smashing of statues, which has escalated from Columbus to Catholic missionaries and saints, to Confederate generals and states- men like Lee, Jackson and Jefferson Davis, to the four presidents on Mount Rushmore—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, TR—is now seen even by liberal elites as exces- sive. Eventually, the country is go- ing to go with law and order, for, no matter how the liberals’ recoil from the phrase and its associations with Barry Goldwater and Rich- ard Nixon, without law and order there is no justice and there is no peace. What Nixon said in ‘68 re- mains true: “The fi rst civil right of every American is to be free from domestic violence.” The mega-demand of BLM and its collaborators—reparations for slavery and segregation—is not wildly popular. Yet, reparations, which ultimately involves trillions in wealth transfers, is an issue on which Biden will have to choose between the Bernie-BLM-AOC wing of his party and the Scranton Democrats among whom he was raised. The decisive question: Are the nation’s police forces shot through with systemic racism and overpopulated by white cops who relish using violence on Black folks? Or are our police the fi rst of the fi rst responders, the thin blue line standing between America and anarchy? The Republicans have chosen. They stand with the cops. And if and when Biden comes out of the basement again, he is go- ing to have to take a stand. Declar- ing evenhanded neutrality won’t cut it. (Creators Syndicate) Share your opinion Submit a letter to the editor, or a guest column by noon Tuesday. Email to: publisher@keizertimes.com Keizertimes 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, Oregon 97303 facebook.com/keizertimes Is Biden ceding the law and order issue? 2019-2021 President Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Matt Rawlings news@keizertimes.com LEGAL NOTICES COMMUNITY REPORTER BUSINESS MANAGER Lauren Murphy reporter@keizertimes.com Leah Stevens billing@keizertimes.com ADVERTISING RECEPTION Karli McNutt advertising@keizertimes.com Lori Beyeler legals@keizertimes.com INTERN Brooklyn Flint SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $35 in Marion County, $43 outside Marion County, $55 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon
