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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2015)
OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015 OQ ORZHULQJ WKH CRQIHGHUDWH ÀDJ Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Not that Oong ago ... W Oregon tore its guts out thrice over homosexuality hen change comes swiftOy, we tend to forget what preceded it. Last Friday’s momentous Supreme Court decision on the rights of homose[uaOs to marry obscures a reOativeOy recent mo- ment in Oregon’s pubOic Oife. Not that Oong ago a man who was poOiteOy caOOed a “conservative sociaO activist” promoted baOOot measures that were designed to punish homose[uaOs. The Oeader of the Oregon Citi]ens AOOiance, Lon Mabon, authored Measure 9 in 992 and Measure in 99. In 2, another Measure 9 made it to the baOOot. The gist of these measures was to prohibit the pubOic schooOs from using materiaOs that wouOd give credence to homose[uaOity. Opponents argued that the spirit of these baOOot measures wouOd en- abOe a witch hunt for gays. The ¿rst Measure 9 Oost by more than 2, votes. Measure Oost by about , votes. The second Measure 9 Oost by about , votes. The ¿rst Measure 9 drew na- tionaO attention, because this was the boOdest move to put anti-gay Oanguage into the Oaw books of a state that was presumabOy pro- gressive. Measure wouOd have pOaced anti-gay Oanguage into the Oregon Constitution. In communities Oike Astoria the spOit was apparent in Oawn signs. The Oetters page of this newspaper was rife with readers’ opinions for and against the measures. The Daily Astorian opposed aOO three baOOot measures in numerous editoriaOs. For Astoria, a drive to subMu- gate certain Oregonians was rem- iniscent of the .u .Ou[ .Oan’s presence in the 92s. Oregon’s .Oan was viruOentOy anti-CathoOic. When the .Oan captured Astoria City CounciO seats in the eOection of 1922, certain city workers, such as the ¿re chief, Oost their Mobs be- cause of their CathoOicism. A Oet- ter writer to this newspaper said “The 19th of May, 1922, wiOO go down in the history of COatsop County as the µ%Ooody Friday’. It was then that race was pitted against race, reOigion against reOi- gion, church against church, gods against gods «.” Opponents of gay marriage have used an image of a ]ero-sum game in which aOOowing gays to marry wouOd diminish the vaOue of marriage between heterose[u- aOs. President Obama has offered a usefuO perspective that dismantOes the assertion. At the CharOeston fu- neraO of Rev. COementa Pinckney Oast Friday, the president said “My Oiberty depends on you being free, too.” If America stands for anything, it ought to be human freedom and the rights of citi]ens. Our nation’s progress in that direction has been a Oong sOog. The Court’s decision Oast Friday was an essentiaO step in that direction. By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER Washington Post Writers Group W AS+IN*TON — After a massacre Oike the one at (manueO A M E Church in CharOeston, our imme- diate reac- tion is to do something. Something, Charles for poOiti- Krauthammer cians, means OegisOation. And for Democratic poOiticians, this means gun controO. It’s the aOO-purpose, go-to, knee-Merk soOution. Within hours of the massacre, President Obama was Oamenting the absence of progress on gun controO. A par- ticuOar Democratic (and media) Oament was Congress’ faiOure to pass anything after Sandy +ook. But the unfortunate fact is that the post-Sandy +ook OegisOation wouOd have had ]ero effect on the events in CharOeston. Its main pro- visions had to do with assauOt weap- ons DyOann Roof was using a semi- automatic pistoO. <ou can pass any gun Oaw you want. The 199 assauOt weapons ban was aOOowed to e[pire after 1 years because, as a Justice Depart- ment study showed, it had no effect. There’s onOy one gun Oaw that wouOd make a difference con¿scation. Ev- erything eOse is for show. And in this country, con¿scation is impossibOe. ConstitutionaOOy, be- cause of the Second Amendment. PoOiticaOOy, because doing so wouOd cause something of an insurrection. And cuOturaOOy, because Americans cherish — cOing to, as Obama once had it — their guns as a symboO of freedom. <ou can OargeOy ban guns in Canada where the founding docu- ment gives the purpose of confeder- ation as the achievement of “peace, order and good government.” +ard- er to disarm a nation whose found- ing purpose is “Oife, Oiberty and the pursuit of happiness.” With gun controO going no- where, the psychic nationaO need post-CharOeston to nonetheOess do something took a remarkabOe direc- tion banishment of the Confederate Àag, starting with the one Àying on the grounds of the statehouse in Co- Oumbia, then spreading Oike wiOd¿re to consume Confederate Àags, sym- boOs, statues and even memorabiOia Trade %iOO divides Democratic Party W L ast week’s vote to provide President Obama with fast- track authority on a far-reaching trans-Paci¿c trade deaO reveaOed a deepening ¿ssure in the Democratic Party. Nowhere was that more evident than here in Oregon. :hiOe the president and 5epubOican Oeaders found some- thing to agree on, our two Democratic senators didn’t. Their debate provided an iOOuminating Oook at their party’s internaO debate over $merica’s roOe in the worOd and the impact of trade on U.S. workers. As the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden was co-author of the trade promotion biOO. +e worked with RepubOicans and coa[ed Democrats to support the deaO. +e took to the Senate Àoor to deOiver cOosing arguments ahead of the ¿- naO vote, which passed -. “This is our chance to set a new course,” Wyden said. “This is our chance to put in pOace higher stan- dards in gOobaO trade « and ensure that our country writes the ruOes of the road.” 0erkOey aOso spoke from the Senate Àoor, offering an impas- sioned, point-by-point rebuttaO. +e argued that the president was wrong in cOaiming that the deaO contained tough environmentaO and Oabor standards “We are re- peating the same basic structure of the other (trade) agreements with no changes for America and therefore no improvements for the workers of America.” Their disagreement is unusuaO. Wyden and 0erkOey vote the same 92 percent of the time. On farm biOOs. On triOOion-doOOar spending biOOs. And on other maMor OegisOa- tion. %ut on internationaO trade, they go separate ways. The trade deaO vote on trade pits the interests of two big Democratic Party constituents — the AFL- C,O and the environmentaO com- munity — against Democrats Oike Wyden who beOieve gOobaOi]ation is an opportunity for American workers rather than a threat. We concur with Wyden. It is in America’s strategic interests to set the trade ruOes for percent of the worOd’s economy. The trade deaO aOso counters China’s efforts to create its own Asia-Paci¿c trading bOoc. Intensi¿ed trade, not protec- tionism, wiOO make Oregon, the nation and our Paci¿c trading part- ners more competitive everywhere — from the AOabama that its removaO from the statehouse state capitoO to eBay and Ama]on. grounds — whatever the endOessOy LogicaOOy, the connection is debated merits of the case — couOd tenuous. Yes, Roof does pose with serve as a reciprocaO gesture of rec- the Confederate Àag, among other onciOiation. The resuOt was a microcosm symboOs of racism, on his website. But does anyone imagine that if the of — and a historicaO Oesson in — South CaroOina Àag had been reOe- the moraO force of the originaO civiO rights movement, gated to a muse- whose genius was um, the massacre In this to understand the wouOd not have effect that combat- occurred? country, ing eviO with good, PoOiticaOOy, the murders created a confiscation vioOence with grace wouOd have unique moment. on a fundamentaO- *ov. Nikki +aOey is impossible. Oy decent Ameri- was sureOy sincere in caOOing for the Confederate Àag’s can nation. America was indeed moved. The removaO. But she aOso understood that the massacre had created a mo- resuOt was the civiO rights acts. The ment when the usuaO pro-Confeder- issue today is no Oonger OegaO equaO- ate Àag feeOing — and, sureOy, e[- ity. It is more a matter of sorting pressions of it — wouOd be OargeOy through historicaO memory. suppressed, presenting the opportu- The Confederate Àags wouOd uO- nity to achieve something otherwise timateOy have come down. That is a good thing. They are now coming poOiticaOOy unachievabOe. But there’s a deeper reason for down in a rush. The haste may turn this rush to banish Confederate sym- out to be probOematic. We wiOO probabOy overshoot, boOs, to move them from the pubOic square to the museum. The trigger as we are wont to do, in the stam- was not Must the massacre itseOf, but pede to eOiminate every reOic of even more teOOingOy, the breathtak- the Confederacy. Not every stat- ing dispOay of nobiOity and spirituaO ue has to be smashed, not every generosity by the victims’ reOatives. memory banished. Perhaps we can Within hours of the murder of Oearn a Oesson from ArOington Na- their Ooved ones, they spoke of re- tionaO Cemetery, founded by the demption and reconciOiation and victorious Union to bury its dead. even forgiveness of the kiOOer him- There you wiOO find Section 1. It seOf. It was an astonishingOy moving contains the remains of hundreds of Confederate soOdiers grouped e[pression of Christian charity. Such grace demands a response. around a modest, moving monu- In a fascinating dynamic, it created ment to their devotion to “duty as a feeOing of moraO obOigation to re- they understood it” — a gesture ciprocate in some way. The Àag was by the Union of soOdierOy respect, not materiaO to the crime itseOf, but without any concession regarding its connection to the underOying race the taintedness of their cause. Or shaOO we uproot them as weOO? history behind the crime suggested Hooray for Obamacare, Supreme Court popuOation remains unin- fects? One of the many, sured. many RepubOican votes Suppose we use 5 per- against Obamacare in- voOved passing something as I on the edge of my cent uninsured as a bench- mark. +ow much progress caOOed the RepeaOing the seat, waiting for the Job-.iOOing +eaOth Care have we made toward get- Supreme Court decision on ting there? In states that Law Act, and opponents Obamacare subsidies? have consistentOy warned have impOemented the act that heOping Americans af- No — I was pacing the room, too in fuOO and e[panded Med- ford heaOth care wouOd Oead nervous to sit, worried that the court icaid, data from the Urban to economic doom. But Institute show the unin- Paul wouOd use one sOoppiOy worded sen- there’s no Mob-kiOOing in the sured faOOing from more Krugman tence to deprive miOOions of heaOth in- than 1 percent to Must .5 data The U.S. economy surance, condemn tens of thousands percent — that is, in year two we’re has added more than 2, Mobs a to ¿nanciaO ruin, and send thousands aOready around percent of the way month on average since Obamacare there. Most of the way with the ACA! went into effect, its biggest gains to premature death. But how good is that coverage? since the 199s. It didn’t. And that means that the Cheaper pOans under the Oaw do have FinaOOy, what about cOaims that big distractions — the teething prob- reOativeOy Oarge deductibOes and im- heaOth reform wouOd cause the bud- Oems of the website, the obMectiveOy pose signi¿cant out-of-pocket costs. get de¿cit to e[pOode? In reaOity, the Oudicrous but nonetheOess menacing StiOO, the pOans are vastOy better than de¿cit has continued to decOine, and attempts at OegaO sabo- no coverage at aOO, or the CongressionaO Budget Of¿ce tage — are behind us, the bare-bones pOans recentOy reaf¿rmed its concOusion and we can focus on the What you that the act made iOOegaO. that repeaOing Obamacare wouOd in- reaOity of heaOth reform. The newOy insured have crease, not reduce, the de¿cit. Put aOO these things together, and The AffordabOe Care Act have is a seen a sharp drop in what you have is a portrait of poOicy is now in its second year heaOth-reOated ¿nanciaO portrait of fuOO operation how’s distress, and report a triumph — a Oaw that, despite ev- it doing? of policy high degree of satisfac- erything its opponents have done to tion with their coverage. undermine it, is achieving its goaOs, The answer is, better triumph. What about costs? costing Oess than e[pected, and mak- than even many support- In 21 there were ing the Oives of miOOions of Americans ers reaOi]e. Start with the act’s most basic dire warnings about a Oooming “rate better and more secure. Now, you might wonder why a purpose, to cover the previousOy un- shock”; instead, premiums came in insured. Opponents of the Oaw insist- weOO beOow e[pectations. In 21 Oaw that works so weOO and does so ed that it wouOd actuaOOy reduce cov- the usuaO suspects decOared that huge much good is the obMect of so much erage in reaOity, around 1 miOOion premium increases were Oooming poOiticaO venom — venom that is, by for 215; the actuaO rise was Must 2 the way, on fuOO dispOay in Justice Americans have gained insurance. But isn’t that a very partiaO suc- percent. There was another Àurry of Antonin ScaOia’s dissenting opinion, cess, with miOOions stiOO uncovered? scare stories about rate hikes earOier with its rants against “interpretive WeOO, many of those stiOO uninsured this year, but as more information Miggery-pokery.” But what conser- are in that position because their state comes in it Oooks as if premium in- vatives have aOways feared about governments have refused to Oet the creases for 21 wiOO be bigger than heaOth reform is the possibiOity that federaO government enroOO them in for this year but stiOO modest by his- it might succeed, and in so doing re- toricaO standards — which means that mind voters that sometimes govern- Medicaid. Beyond that, you need to reaOi]e premiums remain much Oower than ment action can improve ordinary Americans’ Oives. that the Oaw was never intended or e[pected. And there has aOso been a sharp That’s why the right went aOO out e[pected to cover everyone. Undoc- umented immigrants aren’t eOigibOe, sOowdown in the growth of overaOO to destroy the COinton heaOth pOan in and any system that doesn’t enroOO heaOth spending, which is probabOy 199, and tried to do the same to the peopOe automaticaOOy wiOO see some of due in part to the cost-controO mea- AffordabOe Care Act. But Obamacare the popuOation faOO through the cracks. sures, OargeOy aimed at Medicare, that has survived, it’s here, and it’s work- Massachusetts has had guaranteed were aOso an important part of heaOth ing. The great conservative nightmare heaOth coverage for aOmost a decade, reform. has come true. And it’s a beautifuO but percent of its noneOderOy aduOt What about economic side ef- thing. By PAUL KRUGMAN New York Times News Service Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley oppose each other AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt Protesters hold a sign during a rally to take down the Confederate flag at the South Carolina Statehouse Tuesday Columbia. The shoot- ing deaths of nine people at a black church in Charleston, S.C., have reignited calls for the Confederate flag flying on the grounds of the Statehouse in Columbia to come down.