THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
5A
Speaker beware
n response to the letter published Nov. 11
stating the witch is dead (“Ding dong,”
The Daily Astorian), let me offer the follow-
ing: Be careful of the words you say, keep
them soft and sweet; you never know from
day to day, which ones you will have to eat.
BARBARA OIEN
Svensen
I
Heal the divide
fter giving some thought to the election
of Donald Trump, I would like to voice
my support for greater efforts to create jobs
in the local economy. Too many Americans
voted for Trump out of frustration over wit-
nessing the decline of their own lives.
Too many are out of work, or have only
part-time work with few benefits. I have read
recently that nationwide, many have to retire
early due to lay-offs and poor health. While
the economy has improved, many just don’t
feel it. The improvements just haven’t been
noticeable, and for many, will never get to
them, or their small town, in time.
I read an excellent article recently (but
am unable to find it again online) that sug-
gested local government should target exist-
ing small, locally owned small manufactur-
ers and machine shops for assistance. This
would be in addition to encouraging new
small manufacturing startups.
These types of businesses are noted for
offering modest, but living, wages, greater
job stability and employment for low-skilled
workers in comparison to tourist-sector
retail jobs. We should be proactive in asking
local manufacturers what they need to grow,
and how the city or county can help. This is
something we could do locally to help heal
the current divide between people that we
are seeing.
JACK OSTERBERG
Astoria
A
Not so dim
n her assessment of the “nightmare” of
Donald Trump’s election, The New York
Times columnist Gail Collins refers to the
president-elect as “dimwitted,” and as a
man who has “the attention span of a gnat.”
(“Ten-step program for Trump trauma,” The
Daily Astorian, Nov. 11)
Trump began his implausible campaign
as a 150-1 outsider to get the Republican
Party nomination. He bested a field of 16
other stalwart Republicans, including the 2-3
favorite, Jeb Bush, who barely got out of the
starting gate.
In doing so, dimwittedly understanding
the value of free publicity, he played the lib-
eral press like a drum, not a day going by
during the primary season without a liberal
columnist, including Collins, writing about
him. Trump even got on the front pages, pic-
tured alongside the Pope.
After securing the nomination, Trump
went into the general election a 4-1 underdog
to Hillary Clinton, a former senator from our
fourth most populous state, secretary of state
and first
lady, heavily favored in a nation in which
registered Democrats outnumber
Republicans, 3-2.
The “dimwitted” Trump proceeded to pull
off the greatest upset in American political
history, easily surpassing Truman’s upset of
Dewey, Truman being the incumbent presi-
dent. Add to that the fact that Clinton’s cam-
paign outspent Trump’s by double, unsur-
prisingly not mentioned by Collins.
Collins, a well-paid and well-known col-
umnist for the august New York Times, one
of the world’s most prestigious newspapers,
begins her column with the juvenile ejac-
ulation, “Well, wow,” a phrase sure to be
red-penciled by even the most latitudinarian
of high school English teachers. Her entire
column is sprinkled with anti-Trump clichés
that we have heard ad nauseum over the past
several months, and sophomoric phrases like
“yeah, I know” and “a cheesy reality show.”
If one of these two people is to be desig-
nated “dimwitted,” I have no doubt of my
selection, and leave it to the impartial reader
to select his or hers.
LOUIS SARGENT
Gearhart
I
Wanting change
n response to Thomas Friedman’s “Home-
less in America” (The Daily Astorian,
Nov. 10) editorial, there is so much to say.
He said “As much as I knew that it was a
possibility, the stark fact that a majority of
Americans wanted radical, disruptive change
so badly and simply did not care who the
change agent was...” That’s exactly the point
of this election.
The messenger was flawed (in fact, both
messengers were extremely flawed), but we
are desperately looking for a change. I’m not
a Trump supporter, but our country cannot
continue with extreme debt. We are about to
be over $20 trillion in debt.
What would happen to your home or busi-
ness if it was overwhelmed with debt? We
love our kids and grandkids, and do not want
the American economy to be overwhelmed
and decimated in debt. We want our kids to
experience the American financial stability
dream.
We’re concerned. We want and desire
lower taxes both personally and corporately.
We want companies to flourish so that jobs
are abundant. Government only creates jobs
by taking more of our money. We want busi-
nesses to create jobs. We don’t want small,
medium and large businesses to be disabled
and shackled by over-regulation. Let us
breathe.
We are frightened by governing with fiat
and executive order that circumvents the will
of the people and causes extreme changes to
I
culture, such as forcing our public schools
and institutions to allow men in our wives’
and daughters’ restrooms and young men in
our daughters’ restrooms and showers. Such
a dramatic and unsettling change should be
brought about by the will of the people, not
the will of a few.
We love immigration in this country. We
are a country of immigrants, but we want
legal immigration and secure borders. If you
invite someone into your home, they are a
guest. If they sneak in or break in, they are a
trespasser. We want change.
STEVE KING
Seaside
Shocking letter
have been a member of the First Credit
Union for many years now, and do so
because I like to think my membership helps
to support other local members in our great
community. However, I’m beginning to won-
der just how much the credit union really
does support our members.
My family just received a letter in the
mail from Wauna Investment Services. The
letter came in an envelope with a return
address of 101 Truhaak, P.O. Box 67, Clats-
kanie, OR 97016.
The letter, signed by Burt White, chief
investment officer, managing director, LPL
Research, goes on to say: “While the out-
come is certainly a shock to many, it is
important to remember that the result isn’t
a surprise to the plurality of the American
voters that spoke their collective will at the
ballot boxes yesterday. The strength of a
democracy is not in whether we like the out-
come, but rather in how we accept the results
as the voice and will of our republic.”
I would like to remind the republic that
Hillary won the popular vote, not Trump,
and by hundreds of thousands of votes. To
suggest we get behind a plurality and ignore
the popular is un-American.
This letter, that was sent out to many
other members, goes on to say, and I quote:
“Whether this election result was your
favored outcome or not, what we have
learned over the years is that although presi-
dents can set an overall tone for the markets,
over the long term, it is the underlying fun-
damentals of the economy and the strength
I
of corporate profits that matter more.”
So, am I to understand that the members
mean nothing to Burt White, and that more
profits for the corporations matter more?
Nothing in his letter to the members give
hope to our outcome, only his and the profits
he and his affiliates can pull from the mem-
bership. My family members took this letter
as an insult.
WILLIAM LOGAN
Astoria
No wizard
hat a world … what a world. If he only
had a brain, if he only had a heart. No
wizard, no wizard here.
MARK ILLIAS
CONNIS CROSSLEY
Astoria
W
‘Hissy fit’
ever in the history of this great nation
have defeated voters pitched such a
hissy fit because their champion did not
win. Not only is this type of behavior unac-
ceptable in a democratic society. It is totally
counterproductive to the growth and prosper-
ity of the country.
It simply demonstrates how individually
selfish and entitled we have become; a nation
of entitled whiners, if you will. If things
don’t go your way, it has become acceptable
to simply not acknowledge them, and refuse
to obey the majority mandate, continuing to
do what you please, regardless of the man-
date of the people.
I am embarrassed, for all Oregonians,
by the actions of the opposition in Port-
land, rioting and protesting. Ignorant people
are demanding reforms and changes in pol-
icy from a president-elect who will not have
the power to make any changes or decisions
in government until after his inauguration in
January.
These idiots are blaming the man for
doing things that he has yet to do. It is just
way too much to blame or ostracize someone
for actions that they have yet to take, just on
the off chance they might. The curious thing
is that these people do not think that their
disruptive activity, disregard for law and
destruction of property is in any way wrong
N
or should be punished.
Where do we get such people? Perhaps
they are the gift of a new society, where
there are no winners or losers and every-
one is entitled to act in any way that suits
them, regardless of the consequences to oth-
ers. After all, we would not want to lower
their self-esteem by telling them that they
had to abide by the decision of the voters and
the laws of this country, because that might
cause them irreparable trauma, and scar them
for life.
That is what I think; I could be wrong.
DAVID GRAVES
Astoria
The ugly truth
hen I was 19, I was kidnapped, raped
and almost murdered. I survived
because I made a Faustian deal with my
knife-wielding psychopathic rapist; I told
him I loved the experience, wanted to do it
again, but just needed to go home and get
some rest so he could ravage me again. A
true narcissist, he believed me and let me go
against his better instincts. I then fled for my
life.
Now I am 64, the grandmother of two
beautiful girls, and here to tell you my story.
I didn’t go to the authorities. I was too afraid
and ashamed. I only confided in my closest
friends. I took a shower to cleanse my shame
away and then buried my very deep wounds.
Until today.
Donald Trump is now our president-elect.
Twelve women came forward before this
election to speak their truth, that Trump had
sexually assaulted them. We even had video
of him bragging and confessing to grabbing
women by their p-words. He called them
liars.
In true Trump form, he said they just
wanted their 12 minutes of fame. It’s actually
15 minutes of fame they wanted, after they
exposed and shamed themselves on national
TV, with no legal recourse to avenge his
crimes. Then you still voted him into office.
I am stunned. America, my heart is aching
for your daughters and the message you have
delivered to them. Will a shower wash your
shame away?
KATHLEEN STRATTON ZUNKEL
Warrenton
W