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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, March 15, 2016 OTHER VIEWS Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Nuance can’t replace ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on national monument “People haven’t been actively in Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, responding to questions from my of¿ce asking about it,” Jewell said. Rep. Greg Walden during hearings Walden asked if there has been March 1, said she’s unaware of any any coordination between the White active plan in the administration to House and Department of Interior on designate an Owyhee Canyonlands the issue. national monument. “Not that I’m That’s good aware news, as far as it The fear is that replied. of,” Jewell goes. the White House You would think Backed by that she would the Oregon will play coy, know. But forgive Natural Desert then somewhere us for not taking this Association, the as the last word on proposed Owyhee between the the subject from an Canyonlands administration that wilderness and election and raised nuance to conservation area Jan. 20 the deal has an art form. would cover 40 With 10 months percent of Oregon’s will be done. and change left in Malheur County — President Obama’s about 2.5 million tenure, there’s plenty of time for the acres of what is now controlled by plan to move forward. the Bureau of Land Management. While the administration has Residents believe designation previously said it would work would be accompanied by collaboratively with Congress, local restrictions and regulations interests and elected of¿cials in that would prohibit or severely complicate grazing, mining, hunting making such designations, because the land in question is already and recreation. owned by the federal government While proponents say traditional the Antiquities Act of 1906 requires uses of the land will be allowed, only that Obama pick up his pen and a local group called Citizens proclaim it so. No fuss, no muss. in Opposition to the Owyhee In February he designated three Canyonlands Monument does not such monuments in the California believe them. desert covering almost 1.8 million There’s quite a bit of opposition acres. to the plan in Eastern Oregon. A lot The fear on the ground is that of people see it as another example the White House will play coy, of the federal government putting the desires of distant special interests carefully denying what is not true, not addressing what is true. Then, ahead of the local community. somewhere after the election and While supporters are well before Jan. 20 the deal will be done. organized, have money, have a Walden said the angst many rural website, have drawn up maps westerners feel over government and detailed proposals, Jewell downplayed it during her testimony. management of public lands and federal overreach would be made “It’s been kicking around, it’s worse by such a declaration. We one of the things people have agree. recommended to us,” Jewell said. The president and his But she said the Interior representatives should just say no. Department, which includes the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Absent that, they should honestly telegraph their intentions and engage Service, has held no community in an honest debate with the people meetings or discussions about the of Malheur County and the West. idea. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. Trump is no accident E stablishment Republicans who generally avoided saying in so many are horri¿ed by the rise of words that the president was a Kenyan Donald Trump might want to Islamic atheist socialist friend of take a minute to remember the glitch terrorists — although as the quote from heard round the world — the talking Rubio shows, they came pretty close — point Marco Rubio couldn’t stop but they tacitly encouraged those who repeating in a crucial debate, exposing did, and accepted their endorsements. him to devastating ridicule and sending And now they’re paying the price. his campaign into a death spiral. For the underlying assumption Paul It went like this: “Let’s dispel with Krugman behind the establishment strategy was this ¿ction that Barack Obama doesn’t that voters could be fooled again and Comment know what he’s doing. He knows again: persuaded to vote Republican exactly what he’s doing.” The clear, if out of rage against Those People, then ungrammatical, implication was that all the bad ignored after the election while the party things Republicans claim have happened under pursued its true, plutocrat-friendly priorities. President Obama — in particular, America’s Now comes Trump, turning the dog whistles allegedly reduced stature in the world — are into fully audible shouting, and telling the base the result of a deliberate effort to weaken the that it can have the bait without the switch. nation. And the establishment is being destroyed by In other words, the establishment favorite the monster it created. for the GOP nomination, the man Time Things are very different on the other side magazine once put on its cover with the of the aisle. headline “The Republican Savior,” was I still sometimes see people suggesting deliberately channeling the paranoid style in an equivalence between Trump and Bernie U.S. politics. He was suggesting, albeit coyly, Sanders. But while both men are challenging that a sitting president is a traitor. a party establishment, those establishments And now the establishment is shocked aren’t the same. The Democratic Party is, as to see a candidate who basically plays the some political scientists put it, a “coalition same game, but without the coyness, the of social groups,” ranging from Planned overwhelming front-runner for the Republican Parenthood to teachers’ unions, rather than presidential nomination. Why? an ideological monolith; there’s nothing The truth is that the road to Trumpism comparable to the array of institutions that began long ago, when movement conservatives enforces purity on the other side. — ideological warriors of the right — took Indeed, what the Sanders movement, over the GOP. And it really was a complete with its demands for purity and contempt takeover. Nobody seeking a career within for compromise and half-measures, most the party dares to question any aspect of the nearly resembles is not the Trump insurgency dominating ideology, for fear of facing not just but the ideologues who took over the GOP, primary challenges but excommunication. becoming the establishment Trump is You can see the continuing power of the challenging. And yes, we’re starting to see orthodoxy in the way all of the surviving hints from that movement of the ugliness that contenders for the Republican nomination, has long been standard operating procedure Trump included, have dutifully proposed on the right: bitter personal attacks on anyone huge tax cuts for the wealthy, even though who questions the campaign’s premises, an a large majority of voters, including many increasing amount of demagogy from the Republicans, want to see taxes on the rich campaign itself. Compare the Sanders and increased instead. Clinton Twitter feeds to see what I mean. But how does a party in thrall to a basically But back to the Republicans: Let’s dispel unpopular ideology — or at any rate an with this ¿ction that the Trump phenomenon ideology voters would dislike if they knew more represents some kind of unpredictable intrusion about it — win elections? Obfuscation helps. into the normal course of Republican politics. But demagogy and appeals to tribalism help On the contrary, the GOP has spent decades more. Racial dog whistles and suggestions that encouraging and exploiting the very rage that Democrats are un-American if not active traitors is now carrying Trump to the nomination. aren’t things that happen now and then, they’re That rage was bound to spin out of the an integral part of Republican political strategy. establishment’s control sooner or later. During the Obama years Republican Donald Trump is not an accident. His party leaders cranked the volume on that strategy had it coming. up to 11 (although it was pretty bad during the Ŷ Clinton years too). Establishment Republicans Paul Krugman is a NY Times columnist. YOUR VIEWS Bundy stands in tradition of civil disobedience In the last week of the session, a seemingly innocent bill was unanimously passed. HB 4009, designates March 28 in honor of Minoru Yasui, the day he violated a military curfew imposed against Japanese Americans during World War II – that led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans. He deliberately challenged that curfew by walking the streets of Portland, and then turned himself in to the Portland police so that he could test the constitutionality of such discriminatory regulations. As I listened to Ammon Bundy’s interview from prison on KATU held March 8, he explained how they went into the refuge, which was not in use, to make a point that government was not following the constitution, illegally taking land and putting people in grave danger. He is challenging the government with the Constitution and his hope is that history will record that they stood when they needed to stand. Stood peacefully in the right way, using their freedom to bring redress against what was wrong. Minoru chaired the JACL National Redress Committee, the very process that Bundy used to seek justice for the Hammonds. Bundy, and others, took legal action ¿ling a redress exposing illegal actions during the Hammonds’ trial. Without response from the Oregon governor, Harney County judge or Harney County sheriff, Ammon and fellow patriots did their version of “walked the streets of Portland … so that he could test the constitutionality of such discriminatory” actions, and occupied the Malheur County Refuge. He continued to reach out to the sheriff for response to his redress. Instead, the sheriff abrogated his powers to the FBI. Yasui led the movement seeking reparations for the injustices perpetrated against Japanese Americans during World War II. Bundy is leading the movement seeking reparation for 100,000 farmers and ranchers that have had their lands illegally taken by the federal government, and many are unjustly in prisons. Yasui lost his case in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, and spent the next nine months in solitary con¿nement awaiting his appeal to the United States Supreme Court only to have the Supreme Court rule against him in regard to the military curfew. When he was released from jail, he was incarcerated in the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. Bundy and others await their fate for challenging the actions of the federal government. Have the courts learned anything from history? Will they again ¿x their case against We the People who dare to expose their unconstitutional practices? So, as we honor Yasui on March 28, let us continue his ¿ght and ask legislators and candidates why they honor past actions and condone the same actions in the present. Yasui’s ¿ght did not end with him. We have patriots continuing the ¿ght for our freedoms and the future of our Republic. I’ll bet you folks out there didn’t realize that the modern-day trout cannot swim in moving water like they used to. No, the only way they can survive for a few days is in a pond 50 miles from town. And by the time you get there it’s ¿shed out. And here is something else you didn’t know: Salmon and steelhead are not allowed to swim in the same water in our rivers and streams. So I have been told by game of¿cials that they are trying to build up a wild trout habitat. If there is a trout in our local streams it came from a plant years ago. There is no such thing as a wild trout in our streams. Ignorance is no excuse for failure, so this old guy thinks more pressure should be put on our ¿sh and wildlife department to stop this nonsense. And for several years salmon and steelhead have to be trucked up part of the stream; they don’t know how to swim upstream any more. One other thing that has come to my attention is the free pioneer hunting and ¿shing license. It now costs $6 to get something that was free, but I suppose it will really improve our success rate. Our ¿shermen need to put more pressure on our ¿sh and wildlife department. Every one of you should complain about it and not just sit on your seat and say, “Oh well, I guess this is just the way it is.” It doesn’t have to be this way. I will be moving on in a short time, they say. I hope it works out for people that love to Ày ¿sh for trout, as I used to. Donna Bleiler Salem Gary M. Bonner Pendleton Anglers unite to put pressure on ODFW Kudos to great basketball hosts in Pendleton I am extending my gratitude on behalf of our school community and would like to take the opportunity to thank the city of Pendleton for hosting another fantastic state tourney. Our school has had the privilege and honor of attending the tourney for the past 11 straight years and I can’t tell you how impressed we are by your community, your volunteers, and the hospitality you all show each and every year. Pendleton Book Co., we so appreciate your recognition of our boys’ and girls’ teams the past couple of years and the other businesses who have done the same for us in the past. Thank you to the Oxford Suites staff for welcoming our community to move in and call it home for the entire weekend. We love it there! The East Oregonian for fantastic coverage of the teams and great articles we can take home as keepsakes for our children’s albums. All the restaurants and businesses who handle the inÀux of people so well. Thank you all! It is the volunteers, though, who prompted me to send this letter. We are so grateful for the time they give and the familiarity of those faces as they give up of their time year in and year out for that weekend. As I brieÀy stood in the door to enter the gym, the two gentleman who monitor the doors were engrossed in a conversation that I couldn’t help but overhear. One said to the other that this was going to be his last year because he was so tired of the rude and disgruntled fans who either muttered something under their breath or refused to keep moving, basically defying their authority. I inserted myself into their conversation and apologized on behalf of every fan there. I assured them how very much I appreciate what they do and the time they give and that they are such a huge part of what makes Pendleton the city we love! I apologize for the ones who do not realize how much your community gives of themselves, but please let me convey how much we appreciate all that you do. We never assume that we get to return every year, but when we do, we can be assured we will experience an amazing experience and we have your community to thank for it. Thank you for allowing me to share this with your community. Brenda Hull Salem LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of resi- dence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
