OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2015
OQ ORZHULQJ WKH CRQIHGHUDWH ÀDJ
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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.