Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Congress punishes
the Postal Service
If you walk into the lobby of
The object of the RG’s scorn was
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times, you will see a
Service. After years
cross section of the
of gaining ground,
The U.S. Postal the rate cut will
community doing
the USPS
business. They are
Service remains throw
picking up their
EDFNLQWRGH¿FLW
mail and sending
It is no way to
an essential cog
envelopes and
run a business.
in American
In fact, it is a
parcels.
stupid way to run
Despite the
commerce
ascension of Federal
a business. And
and culture.
Express and UPS
Congress professes
and the proliferation
that the Postal
of social media,
Service should be
the U.S. Postal Service remains an
run as a business.
essential cog in American commerce
There was a time when members
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and culture.
As The Register-Guard of Eugene took care of their constituents.
But these days when — as former
wrote Monday, “… (T)he Postal
Congressman Brian Baird famously
Service remains the only truly
pointed out — Afghanistan
universal delivery system in the
FRXQWU\)RUFHQWVRUFHQWVDV matters more than a schoolhouse
of today), it will deliver a letter from in Chinook,Washington, the
any address to any address, whether needs of common Americans rank
low. We also see it in the House
it’s in Marcola or Manhattan. The
and Senate’s inability to craft an
availability of such a service binds
infrastructure package — aimed at
the nation, lubricates the channels
the deterioration of highways, roads
of communication and creates a
and bridges.
democratic equality among urban
Congress has lost its way.
and rural areas.”
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.
OTHER VIEWS
End the ban on bikes
in wilderness areas
The (Bend) Bulletin
B
ring up the possibility of bicycles
in wilderness areas and some
people react as though vampires
are coming to suck the wilderness dry.
But bicycles don’t belong lumped
into the same category
as motorcycles and
ATVs. Horses can
do more damage to
trails than bikes or
hikers. And horses are
allowed in wilderness
areas.
We don’t want
bikes everywhere in
wilderness. There
should be, though,
an end to the ban
that says they can go
nowhere. They should be allowed in
some areas.
That’s the idea behind a proposal
from a group called the Sustainable
Trails Coalition. It may become a
bill in Congress. The idea deserves
consideration and debate.
Bicycles weren’t banned by name
from wilderness areas in the legislation
that created the areas. But they were
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of “mechanical transport.”
Many conservationists see bikes in
wilderness as a nonstarter. They argue
bikes are unnatural and shatter the feel
they want in wilderness.
You can’t dispute that. Allowing
bicycles on some trails in wilderness
areas would change the character of the
experience. Bikes coming down the trail
can be like being charged by Lycra-clad,
neon cavalry.
Mountain bikers
would help their
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thing that came to
everyone’s mind when
seeing them was: Oh,
it’s another group of
those polite people.
There’s a slugfest
over public lands:
Hikers versus
bikers versus ATVs
versus equestrians
versus skiers versus
snowmobilers versus mining versus
grazing versus whoever else we have
left out. Don’t expect detente. Expect
headaches.
They all must learn better to share
and how to play nice together. You
don’t start by banning bikes from all
wilderness areas. You start by letting
bikes in on some of the trails. If trails are
really so delicate, bikes don’t belong, but
neither do horses or hikers.
So end the bike ban in wilderness
areas. It will create more support for
wilderness areas if bicyclists know that
they aren’t completely locked out.
Bicycles don’t
belong lumped
into the same
category as
motorcycles
and ATVs.
OTHER VIEWS
I
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n the middle of this depressing
argues, help people become skilled
presidential campaign I sometimes
at deliberation. The guy sitting next
wonder, How could we make our
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politics better?
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It’s possible to imagine an elite
abhorrent, but you still have to get stuff
solution. The next president could
done with him, week after week.
Middle-ring relationships also
get together with the leaders of both
diversify the sources of identity.
parties in Congress and say: “We’re
You might be an O’Rourke, an Irish
going to change the way we do
David
and a professor, but you
business in Washington. We’re going
Brooks Catholic
are
also
a
citizen, importantly, of the
to deliberate and negotiate. We’ll
Comment
Montrose neighborhood in Houston.
disagree and wrangle, but we will not
With middle-ring memberships
treat this as good-versus-evil blood
deteriorating, Americans have become worse
sport.” That kind of leadership might trickle
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down.
to ignore inconvenient viewpoints and facts.
But it’s increasingly clear that the roots
Partisanship becomes a preconscious lens
of political dysfunction lie deep in society.
through which people see
If there’s truly going to be
the world.
improvement, there has
They report being
to be improvement in the
optimistic or pessimistic
social context politics is
depending on whether their
embedded in.
team is in power. They
In healthy societies,
become unrealistic. Trump
people live their lives
voters don’t seem to realize
within a galaxy of warm
how unelectable their man is
places. They are members
because they hang out with
of a family, neighborhood,
people like themselves.
school, civic organization,
We’re good at bonding
hobby group, company,
with people like ourselves
faith, regional culture,
but worse at bridging
nation, continent and world.
with people unlike ourselves. (Have you
Each layer of life is nestled in the others to
noticed that most people who call themselves
form a varied but coherent whole.
“connectors” are actually excluders because
But starting just after World War II,
they create groups restricted to people with
America’s community/membership mindset
similar status levels?)
gave way to an individualistic/autonomy
With fewer sources of ethnic and local
mindset. The idea was that individuals should
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be liberated to live as they chose, so long as
Being a Democrat or a Republican becomes
they didn’t interfere with the rights of others.
their ethnicity. People put politics at the center
By 1981, the pollster Daniel Yankelovich
of their psychological, emotional and even
noticed the effects: “Throughout most of this
spiritual life.
century Americans believed that self-denial
This is asking too much of politics.
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Once politics becomes your ethnic and
the rules made sense, subordinating oneself
moral identity, it becomes impossible to
to the institution made sense. But now doubts
compromise, because compromise becomes
have set in, and Americans now believe that
dishonor. If you put politics at the center of
the old giving/getting compact needlessly
identity, you end up asking the state to eclipse
restricts the individual while advancing the
every social authority but itself. Presidential
power of large institutions ... who use the
campaigns become these gargantuan two-year
power to enhance their own interests at the
national rituals that swallow everything else in
expense of the public.”
national life.
The individualist turn had great effects
If we’re going to salvage our politics, we
but also accumulating downsides. By 2005,
probably have to shrink politics, and nurture
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the thick local membership web that politics
knew none or just a few of their neighbors by
name. There’s been a sharp rise in the number rests within. We probably have to scale back
the culture of autonomy that was appropriate
of people who report that they have no close
for the 1960s but that has since gone too far.
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If we make this cultural shift, we may
Civic life has suffered. As Marc J.
even end up happier. For there is a paradox to
Dunkelman writes in his compelling book
“The Vanishing Neighbor,” people are good at ORQJLQJ,IHDFKRIXVIXO¿OODOORIRXUGLVFUHWH
individual desires, we end up with a society
tending their inner-ring relationships — their
that is not what we want at all.
family and friends. They’re pretty good at
The highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of
tending to outer-ring relationships — their
needs, self-actualization, is actually connected
hundreds of Facebook acquaintances, their
to the lowest level, group survival. People
fellow progressives, or their TED and Harley
experience their highest joy in helping their
fans.
neighbors make it through the day.
But Americans spend less time with
Ŷ
middle-ring township relationships — the
David Brooks became a New York
PTA, the neighborhood watch.
Times Op-Ed columnist in 2003.
Middle-ring relationships, Dunkelman
With fewer
sources of
ethnic and local
identity, people
ask politics to fill
the void.
YOUR VIEWS
Minimum wage hike
good for Oregonians
Concerning the current debate
centered on the new minimum
wage law, let me begin by stating
that I am an employment case
manager serving both businesses
and job seekers at the state
employment center here in
Pendleton.
I have been professionally
active in social services for some
time and I can assure you that a
single person, even without the
additional challenge of raising a
family, attempting to get by on a
full-time job paying even $10 an
hour (currently 75 cents more than
the state minimum wage of $9.25
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by.
This is the situation with many
of my clients: They are forced to
take multiple jobs to meet survival
expenses. At current costs of even
modest living (which are always
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impossible to get by with a full-
time job on the current minimum
wage if your livelihood depends
wholly on you. The problem is
complex and requires a wide range
of strategies, but punishing workers
by guaranteeing they remain poor,
impoverished and struggling is
immoral. Keeping wages down
while costs of living continue to
spiral upward over time is not the
answer.
Everyone that I know who
maintains the minimum wage is
high enough and cannot afford
to get higher has a job that pays
much more than that. If you’re
prone to complain about raising
the minimum wage, before you
do, take an honest inventory and
ask yourself if you could get by in
your current lifestyle costs on even
$11.50 an hour, let alone $9.25.
Otherwise, you come off sounding
like, “I’ve got mine and the rest
can go to hell.”
Many say the new minimum
wage law is “unrealistic.” What I
call unrealistic is any billionaire
presidential candidate who claims
he can relate to the economic
challenges of the lives of those
consigned to make minimum
wage. Rent, groceries and utilities
(not to even mention day care,
fuel and car maintenance and
medical expenses — forget any
entertainment and new clothes) eat
up even $12 an hour real fast.
Matt Henry
Pendleton
Lindsay the choice for
Morrow County
We are writing in support of
Melissa Lindsay for Morrow
County Judge. We feel that Melissa
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this leadership position in county
government.
Melissa has had a very
successful business career as head
of the mortgage loan department
for the Bank of Eastern Oregon. In
addition, she has served on several
community boards and committees
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in the schools, health care and
various other groups. She has
always been willing to donate her
time and energy where needed.
Melissa is a highly intelligent,
motivated individual who has
proven skills working with the
public and her co-workers.
Please join us in voting for
Melissa Lindsay for Morrow
County Judge.
Larry and Betty Mills
Heppner
Support Milton-
Freewater school bond
As a Walla Walla Valley resident
and a Milton-Freewater educator, I
am writing to express my support
for ballot measure 30-111.
It has been over three decades
since a capital bond measure passed
and almost a century since a new
school has been built in Milton-
Freewater. It’s time to commence a
new era.
Passage of 30-111 will
mean a $31 million jolt for the
Milton-Freewater community
and its schools. Almost half of
that amount, $15 million, would
come from a Wayne and Gladys
Valley Foundation grant. Another
$12 million would come from the
hard-working taxpayers of Milton-
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would be provided by matching
funds from the state of Oregon.
If 30-111 passes, a new
kindergarten-through-third-grade
facility that would house over 600
of our youngest learners and a
new sports complex at the current
Grove Elementary location would
be built. Infrastructure needs, such
as the replacement of deteriorating
roofs and outdated HVAC systems,
would be addressed at the Ferndale
Elementary, Central Middle
School, and McLoughlin High
School locations. And district-wide
technology capacity would increase.
On May 17, say yes to the
Milton-Freewater community, its
schools, and its students. Vote yes
on 30-111.
Roy Elia
Walla Walla
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. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters
to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.