Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, June 9, 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
Remember Ali
by celebrating
paciism
In this year of deaths of cultural
dangerous thing to do and he paid
icons — David Bowie, Harper
dearly for it. While never jailed,
Lee, Merle Haggard and Prince —
he was stripped of his title, banned
perhaps no one was as universally
from ighting in the United States
admired as Muhammad Ali.
and forbidden from leaving the
Certainly Ali had the bigger impact. country. Ali’s famous quote “I ain’t
He is arguably the most famous
got no quarrel with the Vietcong,”
human being of the last half century. helped galvanize the anti-war
Ali is an American hero in the
movement behind a simple truth.
truest sense of the word, not only
Ali was a unique paciist and
for his athletic achievements but his conscientious objector. Surely no
contributions to civil rights, religious one could call him a coward. He
understanding, modern culture and
tested himself physically, mentally
human dignity.
and morally as much as anyone
He “invented” the
on the planet. He
modern black athlete
took more punches
The United
and the modern
— literally and
black entertainer —
iguratively — than
States should
he was both 60 years
anyone else. Though
celebrate the
ago. His wordplay
he was proud
was as rhythmic
of never having
people
who
and charged as
punched anyone
saved lives by outside the ring.
any modern poet.
He challenged
Perhaps we
trying to avoid should
and changed
remember
and end war, and memorialize
sportswriting and
the larger media.
and men and
and sometimes Ali
He reinvented
women like him.
one of the basic
succeeded at it. Dylan Matthews of
tenants of pugilism.
Vox wrote a column
He showed that
last week titled “It’s
a person could live and die with
time we have a holiday to honor
dignity, even when suffering from
those who try to stop wars, too.”
a debilitating disease. He was a UN
This country celebrates Memorial
ambassador of peace.
Day and Veterans Day, as we should.
Ali was no saint, of course. His
The sacriice those men and women
militant wing of the civil rights
gave cannot be understated and
movement pushed as hard for
cannot be forgotten.
segregation as the Ku Klux Klan.
But should we also celebrate, in
His racially-tinged insults of Sonny
some way, the people who saved
Liston were terribly cruel. Yet he
just as many lives by trying to avoid
took so many great risks with his
and end wars — and sometimes
health and his legacy, it’s amazing
succeeded at it. We could celebrate
that he lived most of his life with
American paciists such as Albert
even one of them intact.
Einstein, Pete Seeger, Martin Luther
Perhaps Ali’s greatest
King Jr., Helen Keller, Eugene Debs,
contributions to a better world was
Jeannette Rankin and Wendell Berry.
his refusal to ight in Vietnam.
We’d be introduced to others that
In 1967, Ali was at the height of
aren’t household names. Open it up
his physical powers and cultural
the world and you include Mahatma
inluence — he was the heavyweight Ghandi, John Lennon and Leo
champion of the world, he had
Tolstoy.
changed his name and his religion,
No one is more beloved today
he routinely graced the cover of
than Muhammad Ali. As a country,
magazines while inlaming and
we should remember his remarkable
enraging White America.
heart, and the thing he kept closest to
His refusal to enlist was a
it: his deep desire for peace.
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.
The #NeverTrump party
desperate scenarios
below the magic 270 — and the third
he #NeverTrump conservatives
party at 6. The election would then go
who hope to recruit a third-party
to the House of Representatives.
candidate to challenge Donald
It’s far-fetched, to say the least —
Trump and Hillary Clinton have so
no Republican has won Florida, Ohio,
far had no luck. A number of potential
and Pennsylvania since George H.W.
candidates, well known and not, have
Bush drafted on Ronald Reagan’s
turned down the chance to run. But no
popularity in 1988. But even if Trump
matter who eventually takes the job,
pulls it off, and also wins every other
the new party will operate on a set of
Byron
state Romney took in 2012, what
wishful-thinking scenarios in which
York
are the chances a relatively obscure
victory depends on one improbable
Comment
event after another.
candidate could accomplish what Perot
One such scenario is the hope of
could not — winning a state? Not very
winning the election outright. Organizers
high.
insist that a third-party candidacy would not
And even if all that happened and the
be a frivolous exercise, and that the purpose of election went to the House of Representatives,
a run would be to win. But
there are more
the fact is there is no chance
insurmountable problems.
a third-party candidate could
The Constitution speciies
reach the 270 electoral votes
that the vote be taken by
required to win the White
state, with each state given
House.
one vote for president. So
It’s a commonplace that
a state with a Democratic
the states that have voted
majority in its House
Democratic in the last six
delegation would cast one
presidential elections total
vote for Clinton. And a state
242 electoral votes — just
with a Republican majority
28 short of a Democratic
would cast one vote for ...
victory. Republicans have
who?
more than 100 electoral
The Constitution says the
votes in states that have
House must vote for one of
voted for the GOP in the last
the top three candidates in
six elections. At this point
number of electoral votes.
in the race, it is simply not
That means no Paul Ryan
possible that 2012 nominee
or other outsider scenario.
Mitt Romney, who won 206
So the president would
electoral votes, or Nebraska
be Clinton, Trump, or the
Sen. Ben Sasse, who has never run for
third-party candidate. Assuming the House is
national ofice, or any lesser-known candidate still in Republican hands — remember, this
would win 270 votes. It just won’t happen.
would be next January, when the House that
Indeed, third-party advocates concede there is elected this November takes ofice — does
was never a chance. “The way this would
anyone believe that Republican politicians,
happen would never be to win 270,” one such
acting in concert within their state delegations,
advocate said in a recent conversation. “That
would select the candidate with six electoral
was never a plausible scenario.”
votes over the candidate with 267?
Knowing they would never hit the winning
Some third-party advocates embrace other
number, the third-party planners instead
scenarios. In one, an independent candidate
hoped to create a situation in which neither
would draw just a point or two from Trump
the Republican nor the Democratic candidate
in a few closely contested states — enough
would reach 270, which would send the
for Trump to lose. But that, of course, would
election to the House of Representatives.
lead not to third-party victory but to a Hillary
To call such an outcome implausible would Clinton win, which is an outcome some
be generous. To keep both Hillary Clinton
longtime Republican #NeverTrumpers cannot
and Donald Trump below 270, a third-party
publicly support.
candidate would have to win at least a few
Other scenarios rely on the hope that
electoral votes, which means he would have to something crazy will happen. Perhaps Trump
win a state. That is hard to do. Ross Perot won will implode, or a third-party candidate will
19 percent of the popular vote in 1992 and
emerge on the left. After all, it’s been an
zero electoral votes, because he did not win a
unpredictable year.
single state.
Finally, some third-party advocates
One hopeful scenario envisions a third-
concede they have little chance of winning but
party candidate winning Utah, where Trump
just want a candidate for whom a conservative
was trounced in the Republican primary.
who can’t accept Clinton or Trump can vote in
Start with the 2012 electoral map,
good conscience.
advocates say, in which Obama won 332
It’s still not clear whether the third-party
electoral votes and Romney 206. Assume
run will actually happen. Organizers have
Trump wins every state Romney won. Then
promised a strong organization and plenty of
assume Trump wins Florida, Ohio, and
money. But with only pie-in-the-sky scenarios,
Pennsylvania. That would put him at 273 —
and so far no candidate, hope — and
victory — and Clinton at 265. But then take
enthusiasm — are dwindling.
away Utah, with its six electoral votes, and
■
give it to the third party candidate. That leaves
Byron York is chief political correspondent
Trump at 267 and Clinton at 265 — both
for The Washington Examiner.
T
One hopeful
scenario
envisions a
third-party
candidate
winning Utah,
where Trump
was trounced in
the Republican
primary.
YOUR VIEWS
Instead of secession, have
equal rural representation
In the December 31, 2015, edition of
the East Oregonian there was a review of
signiicant news events. The number one local
news story viewed online was: “La Grande
man pushing for secession to Idaho” (Sept. 24,
2015, by Jade McDowell).
The East Oregonian article related to the
growing discontent of those who live on the
dry side due to our limited number of votes in
determining the direction of our state.
The problem is mathematics. We live in
a state where our state representatives and
senators are proportioned by population. Thus
the western side of the state has the population
and therefore the most number of elected
representatives and senators.
Our founding fathers realized the need to
keep the power balanced. The Connecticut
Compromise stipulated that representatives
would represent a speciied number of
citizens. However, the number of senators
was ixed at two per state regardless of size
or population of the state. This concept
equalizes the large number of representatives
from populous states with a ixed number of
senators.
My simple proposal would be to follow
the federal approach. Maintain the election
format for state representatives. Senators
would be distributed by landmass. Oregon
has a landmass of about 98,000 square miles.
We presently have 30 state senators, 26 from
west of the Cascades and four on the east
side. In the new equation, each senator would
represent about 3,000 square miles of Oregon.
This proposal would just be endorsing the
concept that our Founding Fathers established:
to allow small populations areas to have a
strong voice.
This solution would be far simpler than
seceding.
Kristopher B. Peterson
Hermiston
LETTERS POLICY
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