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OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2016 Carson endorses the demagogue 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 By CHARLES M. BLOW New York Times News Service O n Friday, I watched yet another bizarre scene from an already bizarre election cycle: The affable but hopelessly vacant Ben Carson endorsing the dema- gogic real estate developer who once said of Carson that he had a “pathological temper” as a child and compared him to a child molester. The worm turns Carson said in his endorsement speech that there are actually “two different” sides to the front-runner. Suddenly, LNG sees red lights at both ends of the Oregon Coast What does this mean? Which one is real? Are they both? Is there a Jekyll to this Hyde? It was an exceedingly strange and fee- ble attempt to diminish the Charles danger that this Blow man poses, but in a way, if anyone could understand this duality, it would be Carson. This is the same Ben Carson who has inveighed against the “purveyors of division,” who played a video at his presidential campaign announce- ment in Detroit in which the narrator said in part: “If America is to survive the chal- lenges of the modern world, we need to heal, we need to be inspired, and we need to revive the exceptional spirit that built America. Never before have we been so closely connected to each other, but more divided as a country.” This is the same Ben Carson who used this closing statement at the sixth Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina, by imploring Americans to join him “in truth and honesty and integrity.” And yet, on Friday, Carson endorsed one of the most dangerous and divisive demagogues in recent presidential election history, a man for whom “truth and honesty and integ- rity” are in¿nitely malleable, and eas- ily discarded, concepts, and whose ral- lies have been plagued by vileness and violence. Carson, like so many conserva- tives, isn’t truly interested in unity as much as silent submission, a quiet in which one can pretend that hostility has been quashed, all evidence to the contrary. These are folks who view dis- cussions about reducing racial ineq- uity and increasing queer equality as divisive. They are people who see efforts to protect women’s health, in W hat a difference a decade makes. Not that long ago, the proposed Jordan Cove LNG terminal and pipeline in Coos County was considered the most likely to go the distance. But last Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said no to the proMect. FERC said the proMect¶s Eene¿ts did not out- weigh the adverse effects on landowners on its pipeline route. This stunner follows the dates stay in the race so long, recent reversal thrown at which is all about the plentiful Oregon LNG. On March supply of campaign money. , a hearings of¿cer for the Oregon LNG’s quest is a law Warrenton City Commission ¿rm’s full employment act. The economics of the fos- rejected land use permits for the Skipanon LNG termi- sil fuel sector have changed nal, saying it would likely dis- dramatically since the 2010 rupt ¿shing and potentially demise of the Bradwood harm the ecology of the Lower Landing LNG terminal. And that makes a certain point Columbia River Estuary. Oregon LNG is already in about the new prospect that court with the Army Corps Oregon may avoid the LNG of Engineers, which has boomlet altogether. One can feel sympathy for easements on the Skipanon Peninsula. The project’s third out-of-work coal miners in red light is the Clatsop County Appalachia or North Dakota Board of Commissioner’s business people feeling the 2013 decision to deny a por- reversal of the oil industry. tion of the pipeline. It has been But the bruising life in the upheld by the state Land Use coal belt or an oil county is not something to wish or plan for. Board of Appeals. In the face of these obsta- Boom and bust is typical of the cles, the persistence of Oregon energy world, and if Oregon LNG is akin to the puzzle of can avoid that hazard, that’s a why some presidential candi- good thing. Lynne Sladky/AP Photo Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, left, speaks with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump after a news conference at the Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., March 11. particular their full range of repro- This is the same Ben Carson who ductive options, including abortion, on a radio show in 2013 said of white and to reverse our staggering income liberals: inequality as divisive. Indeed, the “Well, they’re the most racist peo- very words white supremacy, privi- ple there are because, you know, lege, racism, bias, sexism, misogyny, they put you in a little category, a lit- patriarchy, homophobia, and poverty tle box — you have to think this way. are seen as divisive. How could you dare come off the Somehow, they think, these very plantation?” real oppressive forces will simply die This is the same Ben Carson who if only deprived of conversational oxy- has compared women who have gen. In fact, the opposite is true. By not abortions to slave owners, who said naming these forces and continuously Obamacare is the worst thing since confronting them, they strengthen and slavery — yes, he’s obsessed with spread. slavery — and that being gay is a Carson’s endorsement further tar- choice because people go to prison nished his already tarnished reputa- straight and leave gay. On the issue of tion. He validated and rubber-stamped whether a Muslim should be allowed a grandiloquent fascist who is sup- to be president, he said: ported by a former grand “I would not advo- wizard. cate that we put a Muslim All Carson’s calls in charge of this nation. I All for civility were in that absolutely would not agree Carson’s with that.” moment proven hollow. No wonder so many isn’t the calls for only Carson Americans despise politi- one. Chris Chris- cians and see them as soul- civility tie’s endorsement of the less and without principle. front-runner is just as baf- were And although both these Àing and unprincipled. As men pride themselves on The Los Angeles Times proven put it: being political outsiders who’ve never held political had spent hollow. years “Christie of¿ce, they are undoubt- curating an image as edly political animals and a policy-focused adminis- relentless personal brand promoters trator who reached out to Muslims and who chase a check over a cliff. Latinos, and he was rewarded with But the more I thought about it, the rock star status in the national Repub- more sense it began to make. Carson lican Party. Now he’s backing a can- and the real estate developer are not so didate who has insulted minorities, different from one another in this pre- shown a casual disregard for policy dilection for outrageous utterances, discussions and is reviled by the par- it’s just that one smiles and the other ty’s establishment.” scowls. And yet it is Carson’s endorse- This is the same Ben Carson who ment that I ¿nd more interesting, not called President Barack Obama a psy- because it will have a greater impact, chopath who is possibly guilty of trea- but because he and the front-runner son and was, oh my, “raised white.” are two sides of the same coin: they He has accused Obama of work- are both dangerous, but one is a narcis- ing to “destroy this nation” and com- sist who just might win the nomination pared Obama’s supporters to Nazi and the other is a near-narcoleptic who sympathizers. never had a chance. Shed more light on gambling addiction The Republican Party still decides W e live in an era when gambling in all its forms is more prevalent than our grandparents could have imagined. In the span of about a generation, the U.S. has gone from regarding betting as something slightly immoral to a major form of entertainment and source of public revenue. A story in Friday’s Daily Astorian focused on gambling addiction in Clatsop County, the low rate of treatment for it and the fact that it is an unac- knowledged problem that largely remains hidden. Based on statistical model- ing, there are about 800 prob- lem gamblers in the county, with only about a dozen in active treatment. Authorities de¿ne problem gambling as having “many dif¿culties in limiting money and/or time spent on gam- bling which leads to adverse consequences for the gam- bler, others, or for the commu- nity,” or “being unable to resist impulses to gamble, which can lead to severe personal or social consequences.” Local residents and their families are largely left to their own devices to decide whether they meet these standards. Buying a lottery ticket now and then pretty clearly isn’t a problem. Spending so much on gambling, that there isn’t enough money left to pay bills and save for emergencies or retirement is a problem. A portion of the state’s gam- bling income is allocated for a problem gambling hotline and counseling. If you believe you or a loved one has a problem, call 1-877-MY-LIMIT . Clatsop County Commissioner Sarah Nebeker, who serves on the county’s Human Services Advisory Council, raises excellent points about the underlying concept of funding government with an activity that takes advan- tage of a psychological Àaw. “I’m very concerned about it.” Nebeker said. “We have a whole generation of young people coming up that could be a whole new crop of addicts for gambling as these machines become more enticing and we depend on it for revenue.” We must talk about this problem, get it into the light and develop better ways to help vulnerable residents resist damaging levels of gambling. Beyond this, we should re-ex- amine our dependence on betting as a primary funding mechanism for government. Oregon state government has a gambling problem. State leaders are sponsoring an activity with adverse com- munity consequences. What’s wrong with this picture? By ROSS DOUTHAT New York Times News Service P olitical parties are mentioned nowhere in the Constitution, and the party nominating process offers few of the protections asso- ciated with the ideal of “one man one vote.” Voters in early states have far more inÀuence than voters in later ones. Votes in hard-to-attend caucuses effectively count more than votes in high-turnout primaries. Some primaries are open to party loyalists; others to all comers. The rules that assign conven- tion delegates are Byzantine, the dele- gate selection process is various, and a few states rely on conventions and cut the voters out entirely. As Donald Trump attempts to clam- ber to the Republican nomination over a still-divided opposition, there will be a lot of talk about how all these rules and quirks and complexities are just a way for insiders to steal the nomination away from him, in a kind of establish- ment coup against his otherwise inevi- table victory. We can expect to hear this case from Trump’s growing host of thralls and acolytes. (Ben Carson, come on down!) But we will also hear it from the of¿- cially neutral press, where there will be much brow-furrowed concern over the perils of party resistance to Trump’s progress, the “bad optics” of denying him the nomination if he arrives at the convention with the most delegates, the backlash sure to come if his uprising is somehow, well, trumped by the party apparatus. Americans speak and think in the language of democracy, and so these arguments will ¿nd an audience, including among party leaders and del- egates themselves. But they cut against the deeper wis- dom of the American political tradition. The less-than-democratic side of party nominations is a virtue of our system, not a Àaw, and it has often been a nec- essary check on the passions (Trum- pian or otherwise) that mass bid and a dif¿cult reckon- democracy constantly threat- ing thereafter. Trump would ens to unleash. be no exception: Denying That check has weakened him the nomination would with the decline of machines, indeed be an ugly exercise, bosses and smoke-¿lled one that would weaken or rooms. But in many ways it crush the party’s general remains very much in force election chances, and leave — confronting would-be the Republican Party with a demagogues with compli- long hard climb back up to cated ballot requirements, unity and health. Ross insisting that a potential Cori- But if that exercise is Douthat olanus or a Sulla count dele- painful, it’s also the correct gates in Guam and South Dakota, ask- path to choose. A man so transparently ing men who aspire to awesome power un¿t for of¿ce should not be placed to submit to the veto of state chairmen before the American people as a can- and local newspapers, the town meet- didate for president under any kind of ing and the caucus hall. imprimatur save his own. And there is The weird rigors of this process have no point in even having a party appara- not always protected the parties from tus, no point in all those chairmen and politically disastrous nominees, like state conventions and delegate rosters, Barry Goldwater or George McGov- if they cannot be mobilized to prevent ern. But Goldwater and McGovern 35 percent of the Republican primary were both men of principle and expe- electorate from imposing a Trump rience and civic virtue, leading factions nomination on the party. that had not yet come to full maturity. What Trump has demonstrated is This made them political losers; it did that in our present cultural environ- not make them demagogues. ment, and in the Republican Party’s present state of bankruptcy, the ¿rst lines of defense against a demagogue Denying Trump no longer hold. Because he’s loud rich and famous, because he’s run the nomination and his campaign like a reality TV show, because he’s horribly compelling and, would indeed yes, sometimes even right, Trump has come this far without many endorse- be an ugly ments or institutional support, without exercise. much in the way of a normal organiza- tion, clearing hurdle after hurdle where Trump, though, is cut from a very people expected him to fall. different cloth. He’s an authoritar- But the party’s convention rules, in ian, not an ideologue, and his anteced- all their anachronistic, undemocratic ents aren’t Goldwater or McGovern; and highly-negotiable intricacy, are also they’re ¿gures like George Wallace and a line of defense, also a hurdle, also a Huey Long, with a side of the ¿ctional place where a man un¿t for of¿ce can Buzz Windrip from Sinclair Lewis’ “It be turned aside. Can’t Happen Here.” No modern polit- So in Cleveland this summer, ical party has nominated a candidate the men and women of the Republi- like this; no serious political party ever can Party may face a straightforward should. choice: Betray the large minority of Because such ¿gures speak — as Republicans who cast their votes for Wallace did, and Long, and Ross Perot, Trump, or betray their obligations to and others — to real grievances, the pro- their country. cess of dealing with them is necessarily For a party proud of its patriotism, painful, and often involves a third-party the choice should not be hard.
