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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 16, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, March 16, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW A plurality primary Glove award despite being a terrible Americans are nervously ¿elder. But James made it clear the contemplating the rise of a vicious fundamental problem transferred to racist to the top of the GOP, not politics. to mention the popularity of a “A voting structure like this is 74-year-old Socialist who isn’t even an open invitation to an eccentric a member of the Democratic Party. outcome. If the United States were It’s a strange time for American to use a system like this to elect the politics, and worth remarking about President, the absolutely certain how we got here. Yet before we result would be that, within a few stress too much, maybe we can elections, someone like David all take a deep breath and see that Duke, Donald Trump, or Warren things aren’t so strange in America — and that the country is not pulling Beatty would be elected President. apart in a mad dash to the extremes. If you can win an election with 15 percent of the vote, Think for a sooner or later moment about A plurality somebody will. how scienti¿cally unsound the primary primary is a bad An unconstrained plurality vote system is. It’s a bad way to choose a way to choose a gives an opening someone or party nominee — party nominee to something who has it’s a bad way to a strong appeal to a choose anything, —it’s a bad number of really. way to choose limited people.” The winner of Yes, 15 years ago each state contest anything, really. James predicted is declared by plurality. That Donald Trump as a means a candidate only needs to viable presidential hopeful. receive a greater number of votes And such crazy candidates have than any opponent in order to win. won primaries before, including Donald Trump has won more states avowed segregationist George than all his opponents combined, but Wallace on the Democratic side, he won more than 40 percent of the or Strom Thurmond for the votes only once — in Alabama. Republicans. Then think about how poor The only thing that separates turnout is in the primary system, Trump from those two is celebrity. where outdated remnants of a Wallace and Thurmond won over bygone day, like a caucus, are voters in their home state and region, still used to choose a candidate. but could not gain traction on a Republicans are in the midst of a national stage. Trump — with his year of record turnout, yet in states billions and his television persona — that have already voted only 17 can and has. percent of all registered Republicans Maybe one way to look at 2016 cast a ballot. For Democrats, only is that it is just a down year. The about 13 percent have done the supposedly stacked Republican same. stable of candidates has whittled That means a minority of a down and few seem happy with minority is having an outsized the current choices. The Democrats inÀuence, choosing candidates now seem locked into a long battle that may very well be outside the of their own. Division is currently mainstream and would never appeal beating unity — which creates to a majority of voters. the kind of environment where The great statistician Bill James pluralism can really wreck havoc. summed up the problem with Right now, a majority of plurality voting way back in 2001. Americans have an unfavorable He said that in a voting system opinion of the candidate in each with lots of choices, unique and party who has garnered the extreme candidates will do better most delegates. And when the than candidates with overlap and environment is that abnormal, similarities. But to James, there was competitions can have abnormal an existential problem with that type results. of system declaring a winner. Perhaps this is year is when “The larger point, it seems to James’ prediction comes true — “a me, is that a badly designed voting badly designed voting system will system will fail sometimes, no fail sometimes.” matter who votes,” said James. So perhaps it is time to worry He was talking about baseball — not that a majority of Americans then, the game he helped wants to vote for a lunatic — but revolutionize with mathematics, and that a lunatic might win despite the speci¿cally about how designated fact that a majority of Americans hitter Rafael Palmeiro won the Gold oppose them. 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. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on pub- lic 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 residence 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. OTHER VIEWS The shame culture I Third, people are extremely anxious n 1987, Allan Bloom wrote a book called “The Closing that their group might be condemned of the American Mind.” The or denigrated. They demand instant core argument was that American respect and recognition for their group. campuses were awash in moral They feel some moral wrong has been relativism. Subjective personal perpetrated when their group has been values had replaced universal moral disrespected, and react with the most principles. Nothing was either right violent intensity. or wrong. Amid a wave of rampant Crouch describes how video David nonjudgmentalism, life was Àatter and Brooks gamers viciously went after journalists, emptier. mostly women, who had criticized Comment Bloom’s thesis was accurate at the the misogyny of their games. Campus time, but it’s not accurate anymore. controversies get so hot so fast because College campuses are today awash in moral even a minor slight to a group is perceived as judgment. a basic identity threat. Many people carefully guard their words, The ultimate sin, Crouch argues, is to afraid they might transgress one of the norms criticize a group, especially on moral grounds. that have come into Talk of good and bad existence. Those accused has to defer to talk about of incorrect thought face respect and recognition. ruinous consequences. Crouch writes, “Talk When a moral crusade of right and wrong is spreads across campus, troubling when it is many students feel accompanied by seeming compelled to post in indifference to the support of it on Facebook experience of shame that within minutes. If they accompanies judgments do not post, they will be of ‘immorality.’” noticed and condemned. He notes that this Some sort of moral shame culture is different system is coming into from the traditional place. Some new criteria shame cultures, the ones now exist, which people in Asia, for example. In use to de¿ne correct and traditional shame cultures incorrect action. The big the opposite of shame was question is: What is the honor or “face” — being nature of this new moral known as a digni¿ed and system? upstanding citizen. In Last year, Andy the new shame culture, Crouch published an essay in Christianity the opposite of shame is celebrity — to be Today that takes us toward an answer. attention-grabbing and aggressively unique on Crouch starts with the distinction the some media platform. anthropologist Ruth Benedict popularized, On the positive side, this new shame between a guilt culture and a shame culture. culture might rebind the social and In a guilt culture you know you are good or communal fabric. It might reverse, a bit, the bad by what your conscience feels. In a shame individualistic, atomizing thrust of the past 50 culture you know you are good or bad by what years. your community says about you, by whether On the other hand, everybody is perpetually it honors or excludes you. In a guilt culture insecure in a moral system based on inclusion people sometimes feel they do bad things; in a and exclusion. There are no permanent shame culture social exclusion makes people standards, just the shifting judgment of the feel they are bad. crowd. It is a culture of oversensitivity, Crouch argues that the omnipresence of overreaction and frequent moral panics, during social media has created a new sort of shame which everybody feels compelled to go along. culture. The world of Facebook, Instagram If we’re going to avoid a constant state of and the rest is a world of constant display and anxiety, people’s identities have to be based observation. The desire to be embraced and on standards of justice and virtue that are praised by the community is intense. People deeper and more permanent than the shifting dread being exiled and condemned. Moral fancy of the crowd. In an era of omnipresent life is not built on the continuum of right and social media, it’s probably doubly important wrong; it’s built on the continuum of inclusion to discover and name your own personal and exclusion. True North, vision of an ultimate good, This creates a set of common behavior which is worth defending even at the cost of patterns. First, members of a group lavish one unpopularity and exclusion. another with praise so that they themselves The guilt culture could be harsh, but at least might be accepted and praised in turn. you could hate the sin and still love the sinner. Second, there are nonetheless enforcers The modern shame culture allegedly values within the group who build their personal inclusion and tolerance, but it can be strangely power and reputation by policing the group unmerciful to those who disagree and to those and condemning those who break the group who don’t ¿t in. code. Social media can be vicious to those Ŷ who don’t ¿t in. Twitter can erupt in instant David Brooks became a New York Times ridicule for anyone who stumbles. Op-Ed columnist in September 2003. To avoid a constant state of anxiety, people’s identities have to be based on standards of justice and virtue that are deeper and more permanent than the shifting fancy of the crowd. YOUR VIEWS Give thanks to America’s farmers on National Ag Day Kasich has the experience, temperament to be nominee Most Americans are disconnected from the hard work on the farm. March was National Agriculture Day, so there’s no better day to thank America’s hard-working farmers and ranchers for a fridge full of food. Although farmers make up only 2 percent of the U.S. population, they still manage to raise about 262 percent more food than they did back in 1950 — that means each farmer feeds about 155 people. And farmers are not only producing, but more and more are taking the time to do so humanely. Every year, increasing numbers of farmers are turning to independent certi¿cation programs such as the American +umane &erti¿ed program, which ensures the welfare of farm animals with more than 200 scienti¿cally based standards — covering everything from adequate space to air quality, food and water, and warmth — letting animals be animals. On National Agriculture Day, let’s give thanks to America’s farmers who not only give us the most abundant, safe, and affordable food supply in the world, but who do so humanely, too. I would like to recommend presidential candidate Governor John Kasich of Ohio, who is moderate, ¿scally responsible, knowledgeable about the Defense Department, and compassionate. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives before he was elected governor, Kasich served as chairperson of the House Budget Committee and succeeded in balancing the federal budget. He has vowed that, as president, balancing the federal budget will be his priority. As governor in Ohio he has reduced taxes by $5 billion and erased the state’s de¿cit. A resident of Ohio describes him as a “doer” more than a talker. When he was in the nation’s Congress, Kasich was a member of the House Armed Services Committee, so he is knowledgeable about the working of the Pentagon. Perhaps most importantly, in temperament, Kasich seems sensible, balanced,and patient. He is also compassionate. I was very moved by his passion in describing the reduction in the recidivism rate in his state’s prisons, so that the persons affected may embark on productive lives. Finally, Kasich is pro-life, vital to generations of children. Robin Ganzert, Ph.D., president and CEO American Humane Association Washington, D.C. Gregory Voss Belleville, Ill.
