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OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
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MIKE FORRESTER
STEVE FORRESTER
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Pendleton
Chairman of the Board
Astoria
President
Pendleton
Secretary/Treasurer
CORY BOLLINGER
JEFF ROGERS
Aberdeen, S.D.
Director
Indianapolis, Ind.
Director
OUR VIEW
Your vote can
change the world
We can learn something from
England and Wales a decidedly minor
player on the world scene. That’s to
Britain, which this week shocked
the detriment of the United States,
the world by voting to leave the
Europe and defenders of democracy
European Union.
It’s a reminder that our votes mean everywhere.
The European Union is a
a lot, and in a democracy it is the
bureaucratic tangle,
public that has the
but you cannot argue
power. It’s always
Europe has ever
good to remind the
When we wield that
been richer or more
government and the
our votes as
peaceful during the
elites of that fact —
50 years.
but it’s also good to
punishment or last Yet
this country,
remind ourselves.
protest, we must the good old
When we
made our
wield our votes
be careful who U.S.A.,
Brexit a long time
as punishment or
protest, we must
we aim at. We ago — way back in
1776 — when we
be careful who we
often punish
eschewed rule from
aim at. When we
afar for local control.
try to punish the
ourselves as
It worked out
government and its
well.
well for the United
institutions, we often
States. The future of
punish ourselves as
the “United States of
well.
Europe” is in doubt.
Perhaps leaving the European
For now, we must let the
Union will be a good thing for
machinations of the global political
Britain. More likely, it will cause
and economic systems play out,
years of protracted disentangling
and let John Maynard Keynes and
that will leave it isolated and the
Winston Churchill roll in their graves.
European Union weakened.
But looking toward November,
It’s no wonder the Donald Trumps
we can learn a lesson. A vote is a
and Vladimir Putins of the world
cheered the vote. When powerful but powerful thing that can change the
clearly lawed democratic institutions course of nations and the world.
As German-American journalist
weaken, authoritarians look to ill in
H.L. Mencken put it in the last
the vacuum.
century, “Democracy is the theory
It seems clear that Scotland will
that the common people know what
soon leave the United Kingdom
they want, and deserve to get it good
(and join the EU) and ever more
and hard.”
likely that Ireland will unify, leaving
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
Legislature continues to
add business regulations
The Oregonian/OregonLive
S
tate lawmakers have thrown a lot at
Oregon businesses lately. Last year,
they required all but the smallest
businesses to provide paid sick leave
to employees. Earlier this year, they
hiked the state’s minimum wage, which
already was among the nation’s highest.
Looming on the horizon, meanwhile,
is a public vote on a tax hike that
would cost big businesses — and small
businesses and consumers, too —
billions of dollars every year.
Having been forced to swallow so
much so quickly — and in anticipation
of a potential megatax — you can
understand the fear with which
businesses look forward to the 2017
legislative session and the possible
consideration of additional mandates. Of
particular concern to many is something
called predictive scheduling. Never
heard of it? You will.
Generally speaking, predictive
scheduling refers to regulations
that compel businesses to provide
greater certainty about the hours their
employees are expected to work. The
movement springs from a desire to
help people for whom last-minute shift
adjustments present big problems:
parents struggling with child care,
students with rigid class schedules,
people with second jobs, and so on.
But good intentions don’t necessarily
lead to good policy, as numerous
business groups explained to lawmakers
considering predictive-scheduling
legislation last year.
One of last year’s proposals, House
Bill 3377, received a public hearing and
work session before dying in committee.
Among other things, it would have
penalized employers for adjusting
schedules less than three weeks in
advance. For each shift changed, a
business would have had to pay an
employee for one additional hour in
addition to the compensation for time
worked. And for each shift changed with
less than 24 hours’ notice, a business
would have had to pay an employee
for four extra hours in addition to the
compensation for time worked.
Certain kinds of businesses are more
prone to such uncertainty than others,
and the consequences for employees,
as unpleasant as they may be, aren’t
necessarily the result of insensitive
management.
HB3377 did go belly up, fortunately,
but the push for predictive scheduling
did not. Rather, lawmakers hit “pause.”
A work group on “schedules that
work,” led by Sen. Michael Dembrow,
D-Portland, and Rep. Paul Holvey,
D-Eugene, met for the irst time late
last month. Business groups quickly
dropped out. They also alluded to the
recent piling on of mandates, including
the minimum wage, paid sick leave
and an employee retirement program.
Saying they simply couldn’t take any
more, the industry groups said they’d
ask lawmakers to extend the 2015
pre-emption of local work-schedule
requirements. Lawmakers should do so.
The Legislature has not been
particularly sympathetic to businesses
in recent years, to be sure. But that’s
exactly why it should be now. Pushing
any discussion of predictive scheduling
to 2019, or later, will give businesses a
chance to adjust both to recent mandates
and to whatever response November’s
vote on Initiative Petition 28 requires.
To press on in 2017, on the other hand,
will do more harm to employers — and,
inevitably, to their employees.
OTHER VIEWS
At the edge of inside
I
just inside the edge of his own
n any organization there are some
discipline and making it better.
people who serve at the core. These
The person on the edge of inside
insiders are in the rooms when the
is involved in constant change. The
decisions are made. Hillary Clinton,
true insiders are so deep inside they
for example, is now at the core of the
Democratic Party.
often get confused by trivia and locked
Then there are outsiders. They
into the status quo. The outsider is
throw missiles from beyond the
throwing bombs and dreaming of
walls. They are untouched by
far-off transformational revolution. But
David
internal loyalties and try to take over
Brooks the person at the doorway is seeing
from without. Donald Trump is a
constant comings and goings. As Rohr
Comment
Republican outsider.
says, she is involved in a process
But there’s also a third position in
of perpetual transformation, not a
any organization: those who are at the edge
belonging system. She is more interested in
of the inside. These people are within the
being a searcher than a settler.
organization, but they’re not subsumed by the
Insiders and outsiders are threatened by
group think. They work at
those on the other side of
the boundaries, bridges and
the barrier. But a person
entranceways. Sen. Lindsey
on the edge of inside
Graham, for example, is
neither idolizes the Us nor
sometimes on the edge of
demonizes the Them. Such a
the inside of the GOP.
person sees different groups
I borrow this concept
as partners in a reality that is
from Richard Rohr, a
paradoxical, complementary
Franciscan priest who lives
and unfolding.
in Albuquerque. His point
There are downsides to
is that people who live at
being at the edge of inside.
the edge of the inside have
You never lose yourself in a
crucial roles to play. As he
full commitment. You may
writes in his pamphlet “The
be respected and befriended,
Eight Core Principles,”
but you are not loved as
when you live on the edge
completely as the people
of any group, “you are free
at the core, the band of
from its central seductions, but also free to
brothers. You enjoy neither the purity of the
hear its core message in very new and creative outsider nor that of the true believer.
ways.”
But the person on the edge of inside
A person at the edge of inside can see
can see reality clearly. The insiders and the
what’s good about the group and what’s
outsiders tend to think in dualistic ways: us
good about rival groups. Rohr writes, “A
versus them; this or that. But, as Rohr would
doorkeeper must love both the inside and the
say, the beginning of wisdom is to ight the
outside of his or her group, and know how to
natural tendency to be dualistic; it is to ight
move between these two loves.”
the natural ego of the group. The person on
A person at the edge of inside can be the
the edge of inside is more likely to see the
strongest reformer. This person has the loyalty wholeness of any situation. To see how us and
of a faithful insider but the judgment of the
them, which seem supericially opposed, are
critical outsider. Martin Luther King Jr. had
actually in complementary relationship within
an authentic inner experience of what it meant some larger process.
to be American. This love allowed him to
Lincoln could see the divisions between
critique America from the values he learned
North and South, but in his second inaugural
from America. He could be utterly relentless
he transcended these divisions and saw both
in bringing America back closer to herself
North and South as actors and partners in a
precisely because his devotion to American
larger human drama.
ideals was so fervent.
When people are afraid or defensive, they
A person on the edge of the inside knows
have no tolerance for the person at the edge
how to take advantage of the standards
of inside. They want purity, rigid loyalty and
and practices of an organization but not be
lock-step unity. But now more than ever we
imprisoned by them. Rohr writes, “You have
need people who have the courage to live on
learned the rules well enough to know how
the edge of inside, who love their parties and
to ‘break the rules properly,’ which is not
organizations so much that they can critique
really to break them at all, but to ind their
them as a brother, operate on them from the
true purpose: ‘not to abolish the law but to
inside as a friend and dauntlessly insist that
complete it.’”
they live up to their truest selves.
When the behavioral economist Richard
■
Thaler uses the lessons of psychology to
David Brooks became a New York Times
improve economic modeling, he is operating
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
A person at the
edge of inside
can see what’s
good about
the group and
what’s good
about rival
groups.
YOUR VIEWS
Don’t let tragedy make you
numb —take positive action
There is so much tragedy in our world
today. We constantly see it in the news,
and cannot escape it. Worldwide, innocent
people are killed on a daily basis. The events
in Orlando are truly devastating. Locally, a
woman was recently killed by her husband,
another was stabbed when she stopped at
the rest area, and the list goes on. At times I
want to throw my hands in the air and give up
because I feel like there is nothing I can do to
stop the madness.
It is tempting to tune out all of this tragedy.
Then some bad news hit me right between
the eyes, so close to home. The death of an
innocent baby belonging to a girl my kids had
gone to school with. The young father arrested,
with charges of murder. Could anything have
been done to prevent it? As a society, what are
we doing to counteract such tragedies?
There are local programs in place to
offer support to struggling families. One
such program is Pregnancy Care Services
with locations in Pendleton and Hermiston.
The help goes way beyond a one-time
visit and a free pregnancy test. Education,
encouragement, and emotional support are
offered to each client.
People have the opportunity to earn
maternity clothes, diapers, car seats and other
baby necessities while learning parenting
skills, and getting the encouragement they
need to succeed in parenting (all at no cost to
them). It is possible that the death of the baby
could have been prevented had the young
family been involved in a care program like
the one Pregnancy Care Services offers.
When you hear bad news, don’t let it make
you numb. Instead, may you be kicked into
action. Find the local programs in your town
and get involved. If there is no program, help
get one started.
Sara Taylor, Pendleton PCS Director
Athena
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.
Correction
The June 23 “Tips and kicks” editorial had the incorrect date of a Union Paciic diesel train leak near Troutdale. The 300-gallon leak was Tuesday and it is not known that any diesel leaked
into the water table. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818.