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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Presidential politics run against TPP )RXURIWKH¿YHUHPDLQLQJ Republican candidate, favors candidates for the Republican the deal. He calls it “critical” to and Democratic nominations for creating economic and strategic SUHVLGHQWRSSRVHWKH7UDQV3DFL¿F alliances. Partnership, the big 12-nation Seven years in the making, the trade pact awaiting Congressional TTP is important for farmers in the approval. 3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVW That doesn’t bode well for U.S. agriculture is trade- agriculture dependent, in the especially Northwest. in the West. Donald Oregon, Trump says Washington, the TPP is Idaho and “insanity,” California a “horrible H[SRUWDERXW deal $30 billion designed a year in for China to agricultural come in, as goods they always overseas, Sanders do, through Trump mainly to the back 3DFL¿F5LP door and nations. totally take Included advantage of in the TPP everyone.” are nearly Ted Cruz all of those opposes the QDWLRQV pact, and Canada, always has. 0H[LFR Hillary Japan, Clinton was Australia, for it, when Clinton Malaysia, Cruz she was Peru, secretary Vietnam, of state, and then was against it Chile, Brunei, Singapore and New when she became a candidate for Zealand. president. She says the deal doesn’t No trade deal is perfect, and there meet her standard for providing are many things about this one that Americans good-paying jobs. give even proponents pause. But Bernie Sanders has called it “a walking away from the deal would disastrous trade agreement designed be a disaster for agriculture because to protect the interests of the largest U.S. goods would have impossible multi-national corporations at the barriers not imposed on signatories H[SHQVHRIZRUNHUVFRQVXPHUVWKH who are also our competitors. environment and the foundations of We hope Congress will approve American democracy.” the deal before it gets too caught up Only John Kasich, the long-shot in election year politicking. 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. YOUR VIEWS Third party voters should get in the game Although the Independent Party of Oregon will not have a candidate in the presidential primary, IPO members or those who request IPO ballots will be able to write in a candidate and will be able to vote in any other contested primaries that may be on the IPO ballot. Oregon law allows major parties to decide whether to hold “open” or “closed” primaries. In this year’s May primary, both the Democratic and Republican parties will hold “closed” primaries — meaning that a voter must be registered with that party by April 26 to participate in its primary election. This May, the Independent Party of 2UHJRQZLOOKROGLWV¿UVWSULPDU\DV a major party. Their primary will be ³RSHQ´WRDOOQRQDI¿OLDWHGYRWHUVLQ the state, as well those voters registered as members of the Independent Party of Oregon. Voters who want to participate in the Independent Party of Oregon primary while maintaining WKHLUVWDWXVDVDQRQDI¿OLDWHGYRWHU should contact their county clerk’s RI¿FHE\SPRQ$SULO Being that Democrats make up only 37.8 percent of registered voters and Republicans only 29.9 percent of registered voters in Oregon, this is the year that Independent and ³QRQDI¿OLDWHG´YRWHUVFDQH[HUFLVH the true power of democracy. I urge WKDWDOOQRQDI¿OLDWHGDQGPLQRUSDUW\ members (Green, Libertarian, etc.) FRQWDFWWKHLUFRXQW\FOHUN¶VRI¿FH before April 26 to be able to vote during the primary contest on May 17. The time has come for the “other”’ people of Oregon to stop the two major parties from dictating the far-left and IDUULJKWH[WUHPHSROLFLHVVKRZQRQWKH national media outlets. Joseph Turner Columbia City, Ore. Nice to see city crews at work It was good to see city equipment and staff working on South Main Street uphill from Isaac this week. They DSSHDUHGWREH¿[LQJZDWHURUVHZHU infrastructure and then preparing to repave the street that had been dug up. This is what we need from city government — not committees, studies, plans and reports; not new roads or housing, not new fees DQGWD[HVMXVWVLPSOH:25.WR ¿[SUREOHPVDVWKH\DSSHDUDQGWR PDLQWDLQWKHH[LVWLQJEDVLFXWLOLWLHVDQG VHUYLFHVWKDWDUHFLW\UHVSRQVLELOLWLHV water and sewer, roads and public safety. OTHER VIEWS Who is Ted Cruz? E nough, for one week at least, many fronts — Edward Snowden, about the strange victories trade policy, immigration, the fate of of Donald Trump. Let’s talk Middle Eastern Christians — Cruz about the mysteries of his last real KDVSURFHHGHGZLWKVHYHUDO¿QJHUVLQ competitor, Ted Cruz. the wind; every time the conservative On the surface, Cruz is a mood has shifted even a little, he’s VWUDLJKWIRUZDUG¿JXUH7KHLGHRORJLFDO shifted quickly too. zealot, the politician-as-activist, The same pattern has prevailed the unbending embodiment of True in the presidential campaign, in his Ross Conservatism. He’s the scourge of Douthat complicated relationship to Trump — Obamacare, the bane of the GOP REVHTXLRXVDW¿UVWF\QLFDOO\LPLWDWLYH Comment establishment, the evangelical on issues where Trump’s demagogy PRUDOLVWZLWKDÀDWWD[SODQDQGD KDVZRUNHGDQG¿QDOO\VHOIULJKWHRXV Reagan quote for every occasion. If Trump DQGGXGJHRQ¿OOHGQRZWKDWWKHQDPHFDOOLQJ KDVG\QDPLWHG5HSXEOLFDQRUWKRGR[\DQG and scandal-mongering have been turned tapped out nasty tweets from the rubble, Cruz against his reputation and his family. has kept pace by promising to rebuild that Throughout this rise, Cruz has often VDPHRUWKRGR[\VWURQJHUWKDQEHIRUH seemed less like Goldwater than like In this framing, Cruz is basically Barry American conservatism’s own Kenneth Goldwater come again, an ideological Widmerpool, the most memorable character crusader who might still grab his party’s in the English novelist Anthony Powell’s nomination, but whose general election series, “A Dance to the Music of Time.” SURVSHFWVDUHOLPLWHGE\KLVRZQH[WUHPLVP A dogged, charmless, unembarrassed I’ve used this framing myself, and it striver, Widmerpool begins Powell’s novels might be the best way to approach a Hillary- DVD¿JXUHRIPRFNHU\IRUKLVXSSHUFODVV Cruz race. But it also seems inadequate to schoolmates. But over the course of the books understanding Cruz’s strange ascent. KHDVFHQGVSDVWWKHP²WRSRZHULQÀXHQFH Start at the intuitive level. Despite what DSHHUDJH²WKURXJKDPL[RIUXWKOHVV you may have heard, true belief is pretty HIIRUWLGHRORJLFDOÀH[LELOLW\DQGFDOFXODWHG common among politicians. Listen to Rand kissing-up. Paul talk about liberty or Marco Rubio Enduring all manner of humiliations, dilate on the promise of America; watch bouncing back from every setback, tacking Bernie Sanders rail against inequality or right and left with the times, he embodies President Barack Obama defend technocratic the triumph of raw ambition over aristocratic liberalism. They all radiate sincerity. Watch rules of order. “Widmerpool,” the narrator D*ROGZDWHUVSHHFK\RXFDQWHOOWKHPDQ UHDOL]HVDWODVWVRXQGLQJOLNHDEDIÀHG&UX] believed it. hating Republican senator today, “once so With Cruz, though, even the most fervent derided by all of us, had in some mysterious peroration always feels like a debater’s patter, manner become a person of authority.” an advocate’s brief — compelling enough 7KLVLVQRWH[DFWO\DÀDWWHULQJFRPSDULVRQ on the merits, but more of a command But the American reader, less enamored of performance than a window into deep DIDWHGDULVWRFUDWLFRUGHUPD\¿QGDVSHFWV conviction. of Widmerpool’s character curiously This doesn’t mean that Cruz’s sympathetic. And some of that strange conservatism isn’t sincere. But the fact that he V\PSDWK\FRXOGEHH[WHQGHGWR&UX] seems so much like an actor hitting his marks Unloved, unattractive, a Simpsons-quoting ¿WVZLWKWKHVWRU\RIKRZKHEHFDPH0U nerd still chasing the teenage dream of world 7UXH&RQVHUYDWLYH2XWVLGHULQWKH¿UVWSODFH GRPLQDWLRQWKH7H[DVVHQDWRUKDVRXWZRUNHG Basically, he spent years trying to make it in out-organized and outlasted the candidates Washington on the insider’s track, and hit a who were supposed to beat him, from the wall because too many of the insiders didn’t blueblood to the jock. like him — because his ambition was too His cynicism can be repellent, his message naked, his climber’s zeal too palpable. So GLVFLSOLQHH[KDXVWLQJDQGKLV5HDJDQYLQWDJH policy proposals induce a mild despair. But he deliberately switched factions, turning in the drama of this insane campaign, he the establishment’s personal disdain into a has actually earned his position, and if his political asset, and taking his Ivy League doggedness wins the Republican nomination talents to the Tea Party instead. on the second ballot it will be one of the Then once installed as a leader of the most fascinating triumphs in recent political counterestablishment, he walked a line that history. looks, again, far more calculated than most Though it will also probably be short- conviction politicians. While his fellow Tea lived. But if you think a little thing like losing Party senators, from Paul to Rubio to Utah’s Mike Lee, built detailed policy portfolios that a general election will dispose of Ted Cruz’s ¿WWKHLULQWHUHVWVDQGLQFOLQDWLRQV&UX]QHYHU ambitions, you don’t know Ted Cruz. Ŷ seemed to take a step on any contentious Ross Douthat joined The New York Times issue without gaming it out 17 moves ahead. His push for the Obamacare shutdown, as an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. His and the bill of goods he sold the party’s column appears every Sunday. Previously, EDVHZDVDSDUWLFXODUO\UHPDUNDEO\H[HUFLVH he was a senior editor at The Atlantic and a in self-serving political cynicism. But on blogger for theatlantic.com. Betty Brunette Pendleton Hospital smokers pollute and litter Good Shepherd Medical Center elected to go campus-wide smoke/ tobacco free for the second time in my H[SHULHQFH :KDW,¿QGLVDQHYHULQFUHDVLQJ number of cigarette butts and recently a whole empty package tossed into the grass. Lo and behold, a smoker’s oasis appeared. I wonder if there is any concern by the smokers of how they pollute the air and hinder the care of the breathless patients. I wonder if this time will fall as did WKH¿UVW Tom Farney Hermiston 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 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 Rural recreation good for Oregon The (Medford) Mail-Tribune, March 27 T he case of the misguided occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge will drag on for some time as the charges against the occupiers work their way through the federal courts, not to mention the additional charges stemming from a 2014 standoff over cattle grazing in Nevada. Just cleaning up the mess the Malheur occupiers left behind will take until early summer, RI¿FLDOVVD\DWDFRVWRIPLOOLRQ Meanwhile, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has proposed changes in recreation permitting on federal land that could go a long way toward reminding the public that these lands really do belong to them. The occupiers — Ammon and Ryan Bundy and their supporters — espouse a twisted interpretation of the Constitution that they believe makes government control of vast stretches of land illegal. They are mistaken in that belief, but it is undeniable that federal bureaucracy contributes to frustration among many in the West. Anything that makes navigating that bureaucracy easier will go a long way toward reinforcing the notion that public land belongs to the public, and the government merely manages it on our behalf. Wyden’s proposal has to do with recreational uses such as permits for river guides who lead raft trips on the Rogue and other rivers, but it goes much farther than that. The legislation, co-sponsored by Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, requires the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make recreation a priority when making land-use and regulatory decisions, and directs federal land PDQDJHPHQWDJHQFLHVWRH[WHQGUHFUHDWLRQ seasons over more of the year wherever possible. The bill also would simplify the process of seeking permits for commercial guides as well as the general public who want access to public lands. The legislation grew out of a tour Wyden and Blumenauer undertook last year to visit Oregon’s “Seven Wonders” and what they heard in listening sessions they conducted along the way. The resulting proposals have the support of many outdoor recreation and tourism groups. 0DNLQJLWHDVLHUIRUJXLGHVDQGRXW¿WWHUV to serve those visitors as well as encouraging tourists to use public lands on their own will help the outdoor industry thrive and grow, and that’s good for everyone.
