Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Friday, April 15, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Tip of the hat;
kick in the pants
Tip of the hat to Altrusa’s challenging Hermiston water challenge,
where residents are challenged to drink
only tap water for two weeks and donate
the money they save to help build a well in
Africa.
Did we mention it’s challenging?
The goal is to drink nothing but fresh-out-
of-the-tap water as a way to realize what a
remarkable luxury that water is. And it’s also
a way to remember how much we take that
clean, fresh H2O for granted by substituting
unnecessary bottled beverages (sometimes
even water from someone else’s tap).
That means skipping that morning stop at
Starbucks for a cuppa joe. And that frosty after-work six pack on your way
to a barbecue. Even the glass of iced tea that goes great with lunch. It’s a
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The goal is to keep that money you would have spent on those liquids,
and donate it to a good cause at the end of the fortnight.
If you’re not sure you can do it, we encourage you to swing by McKenzie
Park from between noon and 2 p.m. Saturday for the kickoff event where
you can learn more. Or if you want to pony up some dough without the pain,
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project.
Wouldn’t it be great to see Hermiston raise the $5,000 needed to bring
clean water to a village in Africa?
A kick in the pants to the Pendleton City Council, which is discussing
ways to restrict who can talk with the public.
Although it was not agreed upon at a recent meeting, councilors debated
updating language in the city’s communications plan, which would
prohibit councilors and city employees from
responding to public criticism, in a letter to
the editor for instance, without prior approval
from the council.
“I don’t understand how any company can
just allow the media, a citizen, whatever, to
pick up the phone, call a manager and say
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Tom Young, who is clearly not interested in
city government being helpful to the public.
The council is considering hiring a
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cash-strapped city.
Other local governments don’t have this kind of position. In fact,
Umatilla County has recently moved the opposite direction, empowering
their department heads to speak to the press and the public and removing
a long-entrenched information bottleneck. It has helped improve customer
service, morale of management, and has allowed good information to faster
reach the media and the general populace.
Certainly, the city of Pendleton has every right to promote its good
work. And it has every right to respond to criticism, both called for and
unconscionable. But we’re not sure a public relations professional is
required to do so. There are plenty of smart, insightful communicators on
city staff right now.
At the very least, we hope the council holds off on adding a PR position
until new councilors are elected in May and take their seats next year.
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to be able to make some of the changes they hope to institute.
And when they make those changes, and deal with the assured pushback,
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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 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 211 S.E. Byers
Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
The death of liberalism
L
iberalism is dead. Or at least it
and martyrdom and heroic feats.”
is on the ropes. Triumphant a
No, but as the framers of the U.S.
quarter-century ago, when liberal
Constitution knew, machinery of such
democracy appeared to have prevailed
liberal inspiration is the best hope to
GH¿QLWLYHO\RYHUWKHWRWDOLWDULDQXWRSLDV
afford citizens a lasting defense against
that exacted such a toll in blood, it is
tyranny.
now under siege from without and
Liberty, however, requires certain
within.
things. Liberalism demands acceptance
Nationalism and authoritarianism,
of our human differences and the ability
Roger
reinforced by technology, have come
to mediate them through democratic
Cohen
together to exercise new forms of
institutions. It demands acceptance of
Comment
control and manipulation over human
multiple, perhaps incompatible truths.
beings whose susceptibility to greed,
In an age of declamation and shouting,
prejudice, ignorance, domination, subservience
RISRODUL]DWLRQDQGYLOL¿FDWLRQRISROLWLFVIRU
and fear was not, after all, swept away by the
sale and the insidious submersion of politics in
fall of the Berlin Wall.
fact-lite entertainment, the emergence of Trump
As communism fell, and closed societies
is as unsurprising as it is menacing.
were forced open, and an age of rapid
No wonder Putin admires him. Russian
globalization dawned, and the United States
authoritarianism is all about the muscular
earned the moniker of “hyper-power,” it seemed trappings of power and popular adulation
reasonable to believe, as Francis Fukuyama
cultivated through fawning media for a czar-like
argued in 1989, that, “The triumph of the West,
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RIWKH:HVWHUQLGHDLVHYLGHQW¿UVWRIDOOLQWKH
conservative writer Joseph de Maistre’s view
total exhaustion of viable systematic
that “the desire to immolate oneself,
alternatives to Western liberalism.”
to suffer, to prostrate oneself before
Therefore, per Fukuyama, the end
authority, indeed before superior
point of history had been reached
power, no matter whence it comes,
with “the universalization of Western
and the desire to dominate, to exert
OLEHUDOGHPRFUDF\DVWKH¿QDOIRUPRI
authority, to pursue power for its own
human government.”
sake” are forces that are “historically
This was a rational argument. It
at least as strong as desire for peace,
made sense. Hundreds of millions
prosperity, liberty, justice, happiness,
of people enslaved within the Soviet
equality.”
imperium had just been freed. They
And so history does not end. It
knew — everyone knew — which
eddies back and forth.
system worked better. The problem is that
The broad failure of the Arab Awakening
the hold of reason in human affairs is always
— the greatest liberation movement since
tenuous.
1989, an attempt by Arab peoples to empower
Looking back at human history, the
themselves — had many causes, but a central
liberal democratic experiment — with its
one was the absence of any liberal constituency
Enlightenment-derived belief in the capacity
in societies from Egypt to Libya. Even a
of individuals possessed of certain inalienable
country with a large middle class like Egypt
rights to shape their destinies in liberty through
was not ready to accept the mediation of
the exercise of their will — is but a brief
multiple truths through democratic institutions.
interlude. Far more lasting have been the
So power went back to the generals, and the
eras of infallible sovereignty, absolute power
Islamists — even the moderates among them
derived from God, domination and serfdom,
— were condemned to prison or worse.
and subjection to what Isaiah Berlin called “the
In Russia, and now in countries from
forces of anti-rational mystical bigotry.”
Hungary to Poland, and in China, forms of
Such anti-rational forces are everywhere
authoritarianism are ascendant and liberalism
these days — in Donald Trump’s America, in
(or even modest liberalization) are in retreat. In
Marine Le Pen’s France, in Vladimir Putin’s
the Middle East, the Islamic State casts its long,
Russia, throughout much of the Middle East, in digitized shadow. In Western societies beset
North Korea. Representative government under by growing inequality (neo-liberal economics
the rule of law has proved to be insipid fare for
has also sapped the credentials of liberalism),
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political discourse, debate on college campuses
and violence through solipsistic social media
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and online games.
new impatience with multiple truths, a new
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intolerance and unwillingness to make the
a potential weakness of liberalism. In “The
compromises that permit liberal democracy to
Crooked Timber of Humanity,” he wrote: “A
work.
liberal sermon which recommends machinery
The threat for liberal Western societies is
designed to prevent people from doing each
within and without. Liberalism may be feeble
other too much harm, giving each human group as a battle cry, but nothing is more important for
VXI¿FLHQWURRPWRUHDOL]HLWVRZQLGLRV\QFUDWLF human dignity and decency.
unique particular ends without too much
Ŷ
interference with the ends of others, is not a
Roger Cohen joined The New York Times in
SDVVLRQDWHEDWWOHFU\WRLQVSLUHPHQWRVDFUL¿FH 1990.
No
wonder
Putin
admires
Trump.
YOUR VIEWS
Socialist supporters
misinformed
Think you want a socialist
society where everybody is equal,
and there is social justice for all?
Think again! You have no idea
what that means until you have
lived in a true socialist country, and
I mean spend time living like the
locals, not in some tourist resort.
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and the doctor both make the same
wage, the doctor might have a nicer
apartment, but neither of them
cares whether they go to work or
not, although the waitress probably
has more incentive as she may get
some tips. The only thing you’ll
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and voicing an opinion that could
be construed as against the ruling
party, or collective, would not be
tolerated.
Socialist/communist rhetoric
has been with us for years,
only today it’s called by the
euphemism of “Progressive” or
“Social Democrat.” History tells
us that Lenin coined the term
“Social Democrat” so that people
would not be scared by the term
communist.
Candidates from both sides
of the aisle are promising free
schooling, free health care, free
housing, etc. As wonderful as that
sounds, in the end your freedom
is replaced by your ever-vigilant
commitment to the collective. This
country was founded on very sound
principles, and has thrived under
them. Our progressives rely heavily
on emotion to advance their cause,
because emotion overrides reason
leading us into a delusional path to
a utopia that doesn’t exit.
We need to get back to basics,
and the Constitution, clean up all
the corruption in government and
let the people get back to running
their own lives.
Robert Moore
Pendleton
Cimiyotti should be
supported for council
When I read in the East
Oregonian that Cody Cimmiyotti
was a candidate for a position on
the Pendleton City Council, I knew
,ZDQWHGWRFRQ¿UPKLVFDQGLGDF\
to those that do not know him
personally.
Cody works for Seaport Airlines
as a customer service agent and
has a part-time job at Red Lion
as a server/bartender. He is a very
reliable worker and has already, at
an early age, been able to purchase
his own home.
He is very appreciative of the
opportunities Pendleton offers
its residents, young and old, and
is ready to give back by being
on the city council. He will give
thoughtful and unbiased study
to each issue, ready to share
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community.
I urge you to consider voting for
Cody Cimmiyotti in May.
Pat Edmundson
Heppner
Whitman College
will soon become PCU
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dropped Missionary, the cause
and vocation of their namesake
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman.
The campus newspaper, The
Pioneer, will change its name
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of settlers who warred with local
tribes and took their ancestral
lands.” The mascot working group
study report found the Missionary
name to be “divisive and doesn’t
represent Whitman’s commitment
to inclusion.”
I suggest Whitman College
RI¿FLDOVGURSWKHQDPHRI
the Whitman, the Protestant
missionaries they are so ashamed
of. Since the purpose of modern
higher education is “inclusion”
instead of historical integrity and
truth, I suggest Politically Correct
University.
The pioneer settlers that
Whitman College now deems
“racist” won the West. These
courageous pioneers took no
land that belonged to the Indians.
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Northwest were semi-nomadic
and proclaimed no ownership of
land only the “Creator” could own.
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman
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Indians, including their lives, to
VHFXUHWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWWRWKH
American Republic.
Does Whitman College no
longer teach history? Does
Whitman College have any history
classes that teach the “Treaty of
Joint Occupancy” between Great
Britain and the United States? Had
the Whitmans and the pioneers that
Whitman brought to “Old Oregon”
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Northwest our precious land would
belong to Great Britain, not the
American Republic.
Stuart Dick
Irrigon
Primmer a capable
addition to city council
Although I do not live in
Pendleton and cannot vote for him,
I am writing to express my support
for Dale Primmer in his run for
election to the Pendleton City
Council.
I have come to know Dale
very well in the past three years in
my Umatilla County government
work. In fact, I am the county
commissioner with oversight
responsibility for the Community
Justice Department for which Dale
so capably serves as departmental
manager. So, I know his
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Dale is a pleasant, well-educated
man who takes his responsibilities
very seriously. Sometimes, in his
position, directives arrive that are
not always clear for intent and
purpose. He pursues them until he
is clear on their value and intent
then charts the best possible course
to effectively apply them to his
department. He is not afraid to ask
questions and confront issues. His
reasoning ability is excellent and
he is effective in his actions.
Working with offenders in
his Community Justice function,
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confrontation. He handles both very
well and has always been able to
resolve such situations to a fruitful
outcome in a professional manner.
Dale Primmer will be a very
capable addition to the Pendleton
City Council.
Bill Elfering
Hermiston