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September 24, 2003
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C m n r t D i g g c r o g
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E D I T O g
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D is t k ib v t io n
O r n c i St a N a o g g
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St t S 4 C £ g
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R g g o g r g g
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Sense of Compassion
can be dealt with by spin doctors
and those who would trivialize its
meaning. The same might be said of
charity, a word all too often today
only used to mean aid given to
those in need. But once upon a time
A lew months ago I found my the word charity meant mercy and
self feeling the need to write about compassion. Whi le our nation’s aid
honesty and how it is all too often to the needy may not have de
seen as an outdated value which clined, it seems that our sense of
What has
happened to the
virtue o f charity?
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when you wear it for the first time will make it all worthwhile.
> > So if you're a high school graduate, between 18
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become part of an elite group of proud
professionals, call Rose City recruiting station at
503-284-4005 or stop by Rose City recruiting
station at 1317 NE Broadway Street. And check out
over 200 ways you can become AN ARMY OF ONE
goarmy.com 02001 end 1« ts 11» u s rem» ah nints rewrved
compassion hjis withered.
Take, for instance, what is hap
pening to the poorest o f the poor in
the African-American community.
A stu d y th is sp rin g by the
Children’s Defense Fund found
that although black child poverty
figures had reached their lowest
point in 2001 (before the spikes in
unem ploym ent o f the past 18
months), the number o f black chil
dren living in “extreme poverty,”
that is, in families with incomes
below half the poverty line - was
near a record high. Indeed, nearly
one million African American chil
dren were living in “extreme pov
erty” even before the upturn in
unemployment. In the wealthiest
nation in the world, what has hap
pened to the virtue o f charity?
Similarly, there is anecdotal in
formation from cities nationwide
that there is an across the board
increase o f families in homeless
shelters, struggling to survive in
them idstofthelossof3 millionjobs
over the past few years. Some o f
these homeless families are poor,
working families. They are dealing
with the fact that there is not one
rural or urban area o f our nation
today where full-time minimum
wage workers can afford to pay the
full market value for housing. They
are a product o f our national deci
sion to decrease federal funding for
low income housing for the past posed to increase the categories o f
generation and private industry’s workers exempt from this law. The
failure to build affordable housing Result may be even more poor, work
for the working poor. Yet, there is ing Americans. This radical pro
nooutcry from Americans, either in posal so far has been diverted by
Congress or in the general public. Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-lowa)
What has happened to the virtue o f hard work, but one wonders, what
has happened to the virtue o f char
charity?
On another front, the adm inis ity.
tration has tried to quietly make
Then there have been efforts to
changes in overtime law for Ameri radically change Head Start, an
can workers. Yet, this proposal by astoundingly successful federally-
the Labor Department, which re funded program for the nation’s
C Despite warnings that proposed
changes will negatively impact poor
children and their families, there are
still efforts in Congress to “reform ”
Head Start
\
ceived no publicity and has under
gone no public hearings, may im
pact as many as 10 million Ameri
can workers who would lose their
right to overtime pay for working
more than the mandated 40 hour
work week. This hard-won right for
w orkers’ compensation has gov
erned wages for 65 years because
o f Congressional legislation, yet
the administration has tried to end
this protection for workers without
changing the law. Instead, it pro-
poorest children and their parents.
Despite warnings that proposed
changes will negatively impact poor
chiIdren and their fami 1 ies, there are
still efforts in Congress to “reform"
Head Start. What has happened to
the virtue o f charity?
Likewise, m illionsof seniorciti-
zens struggle to pay for prescrip
tion medications. Nearly a third o f
all seniors have no prescription
drug plan and many find themselves
unable to pay for their medicine.
by
B ernice
P owell
J ackson
Yet Congress is mired in debate on
how to make affordable drug plans
a reality for our seniors. Similarly,
there are 9 million American chil
dren with no health care coverage
at all. Yet, we, in the nation with the
most advanced health care in the
world, seem unable to provide this
most basic need to our most vulner
able. What has happened to the
virtue o f charity?
As we have shredded the safety
net for the poor, for women, chil
dren and the elderly over the past
decade, as we refuse to acknowl
edge that our health care system is
in crisis and in danger o f imminent
collapse, as we have focused on
testing for our students instead o f
learning, as we leave more and more
workers and poor families to fend
for themselves, and require those
who receive public assistance to
work longer hours with no child
care, we seem to have lost our sense
o f compassion. A nation without
charity is a nation which is losing in
the struggle for its soul.
Bernice Powell Jackson is the
executive minister fo r justice and
witness ministries for the United
Church o f Christ.
AN ARMY OF ONE
Oregon Kicker is Bad Public Policy
Even a raging economy won’t save public services
by J ohn
L ewis
In the final days o f its longest-ever legisla
tive session, the Oregon Legislature chose not
to let the state slip further into the third world.
They bravely raised taxes. But this short-term
solution neglected to address two long-term
problems: revenues will remain inadequate and
the state has no revenue structure in place to
deal with economic downturns.
Instead we have the “kicker,” which can
exacerbate revenue shortfalls.
The Oregon Center for Publ ic Policy looked
at our state econom ist’s projections and the
future is not bright. Even after six years o f
projected steady growth from 2004 to 2009, the
state still w on’t have as much revenue for
public services as it did in 1999-01 (taking into
account population and inflation). Who can
say for certain we will have steady growth? It
might skyrocket. It might plummet.
Projecting the economy is like riding a roller
coaster in the dark.
Economies are fickle. They go up and down
and they take government revenues with them.
The state’s budget outlook can go from good
to bad in a matter o f months and Oregon w on’t
be prepared.
Oregon needs to be prepared. We need our
policy makers and the voters who elect them,
to recognize that budget and revenue deci
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sions are long-term decisions. Under-funding
any public service now will make it that much
harder to fund adequately in the future. We need
to raise enough revenue, over time, to fund
schools, roads, and other public services at an
adequate and sustainable level. Some coura
geous legislators have developed a solution for
the short term; w e need them to hold on to that
courage and recognize that O regon’s public
needs will require more revenue in the long term.
We need to acknowledge that the kicker is
bad public policy. Any time actual revenues
exceed a projection publ ished two years earl ier,
by just two percent, all o f the extra dollars get
kicked back to taxpayers. Imagine our economy,
in the mud right now, sprouts wings and flies in
2004. The Dept. o f Revenue collects 15 percent
more than state economists projected this sum
mer. Fifteen is greater than two. All o f it goes
back to taxpayers and there is no additional
money for schools, or roads, or to save for the
next rainy day.
Oregon needs to redirect the kicker to a rainy
day fund. Our Legislature will still be limited in its
ability to spend, but it will have a financial cushion
to help keep government running during an eco
nomic downturn. They won’t need to enact sud
den tax increases or draconian budget cuts.
John Lewis is administrator o f the Oregon
Center for Public Policy.
Please send you red to rial m aterial
to news'« portlandobserYcr.com
Personal Attack Hides Real Story
I have heard the political advice that if the
facts are against you, argue personality.
That is what the Portland Tribune has done
with its sensationalized attack on Rev. W.G.
Hardy Jr.
Whatever Rev. H ardy's sins, they did not
play a role in the death o f Kendra James nor did
they play a role in Officer M cCollister’s ill-
advised obstenance that pushed the incident
from frustrating to fatal; they did not play a role
in allowing the wounded James to lie dying on
the ground without medical treatment; they did
not play a role in the officers involved getting
together at a restaurant to get their stories
straight; nor did Rev. H ardy's sins play a role in
the three-day delay before M cCollister was
questioned.
Whatever Rev. H ardy’s sins, they do not
play a role in the com munity-wide knowledge
that a police officer can escape responsibility
for killing someone by simply claiming fear
without regard to the reasonableness o f that
fear; they do not play a role in the fact that you
are more likely to be shot by police in Portland
than in New York City; nor do his sins play a role
in the devastating critique o f the Portland Pol ice
D epartm ent's training and protocols.
W hatever his sins, or the sins o f any one o f
us who believe the police need reminding that
they are public servants and not public bullies,
and even the sins o f those who would never
criticize a police officer for anything, all those
sins are immaterial to the Kendra James shoot
ing.
However, the facts are not on the Police
Bureau’s side - despite the disgraceful non
indictment o f Officer M cCollister based on the
specious, but official, argument that fear alone
- reasonable or not - exonerates all police offic
ers.
No wonder, then, that their allies in the media
(Tribune) rush to change the subject from facts
to personalities. I wonder what role the police
played in bringing this to light. Should we now
expect police blotter detailson all police critics?
RuthAlice Anderson
«