OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
JIM VAN NOSTRAND, Managing Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
Water
under
the bridge
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago this week — 2007
Commercial fishermen on the North Coast say they can’t afford to
have the government close any more near-shore ocean fishing grounds,
but a marine reserve plan backed by conservation groups and Gov. Ted
Kulongoski aims to do just that.
Plans to close sections of the 3-mile stretch of state waters off the Ore-
gon Coast to extractive uses such as fishing have been the works for years
through a group of stakeholders appointed by the governor to the Oregon
Ocean Policy Advisory Council. With the recent advancement of wave
energy projects — an alternative energy form that could further reduce
open fishing grounds — the council is now at the heart of a controversial
question that has coastal communities on edge: How should Oregon man-
age its ocean waters?
Stephen Hildreth, the Clatsop County Animal Control
supervisor, said he has a big wish list for the animal shelter.
And Christmas is coming early this year.
The estate of Grace Larson of Astoria — who died last
November — is presenting the shelter with a check for $200,949
at 5 p.m. today before the Clatsop County Board of Commis-
sioners meeting.
Larson and her husband, Carl, who died in 2002, loved dogs
and cats. They always had at least one cat. Carl was a longtime
logger and Grace, who worked at Bumble Bee Seafoods for 40
years, retired in 1980.
The only stipulation put on her gift was that it be used to
benefit cats and dogs.
50 years ago — 1967
SEASIDE — Testimony submitted to the Oregon legislative interim
committee on highways here Monday morning indicated concern of
coastal communities over control of traffic, vandalism, litter and moral
conduct on the beaches.
The committee also heard criticism of the new Beach Bill by a Tilla-
mook attorney representing a Neskowin engineering firm.
The Beach Bill critic was C. Ray Johnson, Tillamook, who called for
test of constitutionality of the Beach Bill, which he described as a poor
law, hastily enacted under hysteria.
Johnson challenged the theory of public ownership acquired through
use, which is basic to the Beach Bill.
The Daily Astorian/File Photo
Astoria junior high school will rise on this site in the James Street
area. Site has been cleared and road in foreground constructed.
Pile driving was scheduled to start this week.
Site work for the new Astoria junior high school is sub-
stantially complete, Superintendent Roy Seeborg reported
Wednesday. Paving of Klaskanine Avenue from Ninth to 11th,
a new street opened up to provide access to the school site, was
in progress this week.
Driving of foundation piling was progressing well, Seeborg
said. It will be finished in two weeks, when placing of forms for
the concrete building foundations will start.
75 years ago — 1942
A four-star scrap metal drive, built around a campaign to “sell” the old
cannon on the courthouse lawn for thousands of dollars in war bonds, is
taking shape here this week.
Groundwork for the scrap collection effort is being laid by Neil
Morfitt, chairman of the salvage committee working with Floyd Foster,
city chief, and Afton Zundel, head of the work in the county. Tentative
plans call for participation of every school child in the county, banded
together as “Scouts” and flying squadrons of muscle men to both find and
bunch the scrap metals for pickup by a fleet of trucks.
The idea of “selling” the old German artillery piece was born in the red
head of Rusty Coleman, George Amato’s master of ceremonies, who sold
more than $5,000 worth of war bonds and stamps almost single handedly
at a recent victory rally in downtown Astoria.
“If you haven’t used it during the last six months, and you’re
not going to use it in the next six months — then it’s scrap.”
Neil Morfitt, chairman of the scrap salvage committee here,
said today that if “you find by this test that something you own
is scrap, then its place is on the firing line … and the firing line
begins in Astoria’s scrap salvage depots.”
A special midnight showing of Abbott and Costello’s “Pardon My
Sarong” and Lt. Com. John Ford’s technicolor pictures of the “Battle of
Midway” will be held Friday at the Liberty Theater, with admission being
a $25 war bond or larger, A.M. Dunlop, theater manager said today.
The showing will be the Liberty Theater’s contribution in the nation-
wide “Salute to Heroes” drive, under sponsorship of the motion pic-
ture industry to sell $1,000,000,000 in war bonds and stamps during
September.
The Midway battle pictures were taken by Ford, who although
wounded severely, stayed with his camera to shoot the remarkable pic-
tures which are described as among the most dramatic ever exhibited.
The Abbie Hoffman of the right
By DAVID BROOKS
New York Times News Service
I
t has to be admitted that Donald
Trump is doing exactly what he
was elected to do.
He was not
elected to be a leg-
islative president.
He never showed
any real interest
in policy during
the campaign. He
was elected to be a
cultural president. He was elected to
shred the dominant American culture
and to give voice to those who felt
voiceless in that culture. He’s doing
that every day.
What’s troubling to me is that
those who are the targets of his
assaults seem to have no clue about
what is going on. When they feel the
most righteous, like this past week-
end, they are actually losing and in
the most peril.
Let me try to explain what I think
is happening:
After World War II the Protestant
establishment dominated the high
ground of American culture and pol-
itics. That establishment eventually
failed. It tolerated segregation and
sexism, led the nation into war in
Vietnam and became stultifying.
So in the late 1960s along came
a group of provocateurs like Abbie
Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and the rest
of the counterculture to upend the
Protestant establishment. People like
Hoffman were buffoons, but also
masters of political theater.
They never attracted majority
support for their antics, but they
didn’t have to. All they had to do
was provoke, offend the crew-cut
crowd, generate outrage and set off
a cycle that ripped apart the cultural
consensus.
The late 1960s were a time of
intense cultural conflict, which left
a lot of wreckage in its wake. But
eventually a new establishment came
into being, which we will call the
meritocratic establishment.
These were the tame heirs to
Hoffman and Rubin. They were
well-educated. They cut their moral
teeth on the civil rights and femi-
nist movements. They embraced
economic, social and moral individ-
ualism. They came to dominate the
institutions of American society on
both left and right.
Hillary Clinton is part of this
more-educated cohort. So are parts
of the conservative establishment. If
you’re reading this newspaper, you
probably are, too, as am I.
This establishment, too, has had
its failures. It created an economy
that benefits itself and leaves every-
body else out. It led America into
war in Iraq and sent the working
class off to fight it. It has developed
its own brand of cultural snobbery.
Its media, film and music industries
make members of the working class
feel invisible and disrespected.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with members of
the House Ways and Means committee in the Roosevelt Room of the
White House Tuesday.
Because of him (Trump),
a new culture will have
to be built, new values
promulgated and a new social
fabric will have to be woven.
So in 2016, members of the
outraged working class elected their
own Abbie Hoffman as president.
Trump is not good at much, but he is
wickedly good at sticking his thumb
in the eye of the educated elites. He
doesn’t have to build a new culture,
or even attract a majority. He just has
to tear down the old one.
That’s exactly what he’s doing.
Donald Trump came into a segment-
ing culture and he is further tearing
apart every fissure. He has a nose
for every wound in the body politic
and day after day he sticks a red-hot
poker in one wound or another and
rips it open.
Day by day Trump is turning us
into a nation of different planets.
Each planet feels more righteous
about itself and is more isolated from
and offended by the other planets.
The members of the educated
class saw the weekend’s NFL
fracas as a fight over racism. They
felt mobilized and unified in that
fight and full of righteous energy.
Members of the working class saw
the fracas as a fight about American
identity. They saw Pittsburgh
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin try to
dissuade Alejandro Villanueva, a
three-time combat veteran, from
celebrating the flag he risked his
life for. Members of this class also
felt mobilized, unified and full of
righteous energy.
I don’t know which planet is
bigger, or which would win an
election, but that frankly doesn’t
matter. All that matters is that Trump
is shredding the culture and ending
the dominance of the meritocratic
establishment.
He continually goes after racial
matters in part because he’s a bigot
but also in part because multicultur-
alism is the theology of the educated
class and it’s the leverage point he
can most effectively use to isolate the
educated class from everyone else.
He is so destructive because his
enemies help him. He ramps up the
aggression. His enemies ramp it up
more, to preserve their own dignity.
But the ensuing cultural violence only
serves Trump’s long-term destructive
purpose. America is seeing nearly
as much cultural conflict as it did in
the late 1960s. It’s quite possible that
after four years of this Trump will
have effectively destroyed the pre-
vailing culture. The reign of the mer-
itocratic establishment will be just
as over as the reign of the Protestant
establishment now is.
Of course Donald Trump is a
buffoon. Buffoonery is his most
effective weapon. Because of him,
a new culture will have to be built,
new values promulgated and a new
social fabric will have to be woven,
one that brings the different planets
back into relation with one another.
That’s the work of the next 20
years.
WHERE TO WRITE
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D): 439 Cannon House Office
Building, Washington, D.C., 20515.
Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225-
9497. District office: 12725 SW Mil-
likan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR
97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax
503-326-5066. Web: bonamici.house.
gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313
Hart Senate Office Building, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-
3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D):
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone:
202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State
Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/
Email: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone (D):
900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem,
OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432.
Email: rep.deborah boone@state.
or.us District office: P.O. Box 928,
Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone:
503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.
or.us/ boone/
• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E.,
S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone:
503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy john-
son@state.or.us Web: www.betsy-
johnson.com District Office: P.O.
Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone:
503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296.
Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280.
• Port of Astoria: Executive
Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Asto-
ria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300.
Email: admin@portofastoria.com
• Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners: c/o County Manager, 800
Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR
97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.