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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Saturday, October 1, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JANNA HEIMGARTNER TIM TRAINOR Business Ofice Manager Opinion Page Editor EO MEDIA GROUP East Oregonian • The Daily Astorian • Capital Press • Hermiston Herald Blue Mountain Eagle • Wallowa County Chieftain • Chinook Observer • Coast River Business Journal Oregon Coast Today • Coast Weekend • Seaside Signal • Cannon Beach Gazette Eastern Oregon Real Estate Guide • Eastern Oregon Marketplace • Coast Marketplace OnlyAg.com • FarmSeller.com • Seaside-Sun.com • NorthwestOpinions.com • DiscoverOurCoast.com OUR VIEW Similarities abound in governor and presidential races There are a lot of commonalities experience at every turn — noting between the race for Oregon that with decades to get things done, governor and the race for next and thousands of opportunities president of the United States. to make improvements, why are In both, a life-long politician — in Oregon’s graduation rates still so both cases a woman and a Democrat poor, our transportation system still — is facing off against a challenger in shambles, our tax structure still so who has never held out of whack? public ofice. It’s the most Hillary Clinton pressing point of his Two lifelong and Kate Brown campaign against politicians — have similar Brown. A vote for experiences, having he argued, is both Democrats Pierce, been involved a vote for someone and women in numerous who would at least try something new. levels of state and — are facing And he argues what national politics we’ve been trying for nearly three off against Oregon isn’t decades. Brown, a challengers who in working. Democratic super To an extent, delegate, came out have never held that is the same in support of Clinton public ofice. argument Trump is when the party’s making. Although nomination was still his argument is often up for grabs. drowned out by boatloads of racism The similarities do break down a bit when we compare the Republican and sexism and narcissism, he’s the outsider candidate to end all outsider candidates. candidates. And in a moment when Bud Pierce is a smart, honorable many Americans are nervous about man with solutions and ideas. the direction our country is headed, Donald Trump is not that, and he he gives voters the ability to imagine doesn’t have those. Pierce now says a different future. he does not support Trump, and We know politics is a dificult is clearly going out of his way to business, that change is glacial and distance himself from the divisive the best of intentions can quickly national embarrassment. be swallowed up by cynicism and Yet both men are trying to use survivalism. Thrown into that some of the same tactics to turn system, candidates like Pierce and their opponent’s experience against Trump would most likely be spit out them, forcing Brown and Clinton to answer for the problems that existed older and harder than they came in. But the optics now are interesting. when they irst stepped into public We’ve never had a female president life and remain ensconced today. of the United Sates, yet Clinton is Editorial board member Tim the insider. Oregon has only elected Trainor, who was a member of the one female governor, and never panel that peppered the candidates a bisexual one, yet Brown is the with questions at last Saturday’s insider. Meanwhile two white men debate, had an up-close-and- — the ruling class in the U.S. since personal look in Bend. During that its foundation — represent those debate, Brown routinely touted her wanting to upset the system. experience and expertise as reasons It’s strange to see those dynamics to vote for her: She knows the at work, as outsider candidates look problems. She understands them. to turn political experience into a She has worked to ix them. negative. Pierce attacked that same OTHER VIEWS The death of idealism T 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 Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. that ‘60s style of lofty, inspiring and his presidential election is a self-important idealism. contest between the oldest of “The challenge now is to practice the baby boomers. Yet Donald politics as the art of making what Trump, 70, and Hillary Clinton, 68, appears to be impossible possible,” represent two very different decades she said. “We’re not interested in in the formation of that generation. social reconstruction; it’s human Donald Trump became famous as a classic 1980s type, while Hillary reconstruction,” she continued. “We’re Clinton irst attained public notice as a searching for more immediate, ecstatic David classic 1960s type. Brooks and penetrating modes of living.” It’s interesting, and sad, to see how She dreamed of a society in which Comment the promise of those two decades has trust would be restored. “Where you aged. don’t manipulate people. Where Trump opened Trump Tower on Fifth you’re not interested in social engineering for Avenue in Manhattan in November 1983. people.” The words were grandiose, but at Go-go capitalism had a lot of élan back then. least there was a spiritual ambition to them. Capitalism had washed away the stagnation of That poetic, aspirational quality is the 1970s. It was defeating entirely absent from what the Soviet Union. During has become the Clinton the Reagan years, writers campaign. Clinton can celebrated capitalism not be a devastatingly good only as a wealth-generating counterpuncher, but she engine but also as a moral lacks the human touch when system, a way to arouse hard talking about the nation’s work, creativity and trust. problems, and fails to make Of course, Trump was an emotional connection. always a scuzzy version of When asked why she the capitalist type. Somehow wants to be president or I got on the guest list of a for any positive vision, few of the ‘80s-era parties she devolves into a list of he hosted in the lobby of his programs. And it is never skyscraper and would go for enough just to list three sociological entertainment. programs in an answer; They were illed with she has to pile in an arid the sort of B-grade celebrities and corrupt city hodgepodge of eight or nine. This is pure oficials who were desperate for any mention interest-group liberalism — buying votes with on the front and sixth pages of The New York federal money — not an inspiring image of Post. A friend of mine came up to me at one of the common good. those parties and summarized the atmosphere: The twin revolutions of the 1960s and the “Not indicted, not invited.” 1980s liberated the individual — irst socially As we saw Monday night, Trump now and then economically — and weakened the represents capitalism degraded to pure community. More surprising, this boomer- selishness. He treats other people like objects versus-boomer campaign has decimated and lies with abandon. Proud to be paying idealism. no taxes while others foot the bill, proud to There is no uplift in this race. There is have proited off the housing bust that caused an entire absence, in both campaigns, of so much suffering, he lacks even the barest any effort to appeal to the higher angels of conception of civic life and his responsibilities our nature. There is an assumption, in both to it. campaigns, that we are self-seeking creatures, His ethos is: Get what I can for myself, and rather than also loving, serving, hoping, everyone else can take care of themselves. dreaming, cooperating creatures. There is a As Alexi Sargeant pointed out in First presumption in both candidates that the lowest Things, “Trump’s policies, such as they are, motivations are the most real. usually come down to America breaking Ironically, one of the tasks for those its promises.” Trump would have America who succeed the baby boomers is to restore break its promises to its NATO allies, Japan, idealism. The great challenge of our moment its creditors, its trading partners and its own is the crisis of isolation and fragmentation, the Constitution. need to rebind the fabric of a society that has Trump reminds us — even those of us been torn by selishness, cynicism, distrust and who champion capitalism — how corrosive autonomy. capitalism can be when unaccompanied by a At some point there will have to be a new counterbalancing ethos of moral restraint. vocabulary and a restored anthropology, Rod Dreher of The American Conservative emphasizing love, friendship, faithfulness, points out that when a leader consistently solidarity and neighborliness that pushes breaks promises, communal life is impossible. people toward connection rather than distrust. “If you cannot count on people to honor their Millennials, I think, want to be active in this vows, you never know what is real,” Dreher rebinding. But inspiration certainly isn’t writes. Trump is the low, dishonest detritus of coming from the aging boomers now onstage. a once bright decade. ■ Clinton gave her Wellesley commencement David Brooks became a New York Times speech in the spring of 1969. It was illed with Op-Ed columnist in 2003. There is an entire absence, in both campaigns, of any effort to appeal to the higher angels of our nature. YOUR VIEWS Everyone has right to opinion on public lands County Commissioner George Murdock thinks U.S. Representative Blumenauer should mind his own business and not involve himself in American public land issues. Murdock thinks public lands belong only to him and his buddies. But they belong to us all. Blumenauer wants to protect outstanding publicly-owned natural areas from continuing degradation, degradation that’s been going on a long time. So do most Americans. He wants to protect animals from the detestable horror of being caught in body-gripping traps, a horror visited indiscriminately on animals whether they are targets or not. So do most Americans. Public lands should relect public values, and American public values today include conservation of our country’s most beautiful and environmentally precious lands. And they include a rightful disgust for cruel, unwarranted and unjustiiable treatment of animals, which is what commercial and most “management” trapping is. The Owyhee Canyonlands Monument proposal accords with American values, and would not, as Murdock says, destroy Malheur County economically. National monuments are not wilderness areas or national parks. They are designed to protect certain stated qualities. They can, have and do allow livestock grazing, OHV use, mining, logging, hunting, ishing and myriad other activities. The rules governing each national monument are different and unique to each monument. Once a monument is designated, a stakeholder group including local residents crafts the rules. The use of body-gripping traps has been banned in most civilized countries and several states in the U.S. including California and Washington. Rep. Blumenauer’s bill applies only to federal public land and would have exceptions allowing management trapping provided nonlethal measures failed. Recent science shows killing predators is often ineffective and can even lead to more livestock predation. The agency carrying out most of the management trapping, APHIS Wildlife Services, has been guilty of egregious cruelty to trapped animals, including dogs. Farmers and ranchers will still have the right to use traps on private land. Murdock pretends all eastern Oregonians share his bias, but demographics and attitudes have changed since the 1950s. The economy is adding other types of industry aside from ranching. Improved environmental conditions beneit us all. Elimination of brutal cruelties, claimed as beneits by a shrinking minority of the population, are now favored by American citizens, and are a moral gain. Commissioner Murdock, a member of the conservative elite, should refrain from so sourly and mendaciously injecting his prejudices into a matter of national policy affecting all Americans. Wally Sykes Joseph County should sell its stake in burgeoning EOTEC disaster Since its inception, EOTEC has been a bad idea, and so far the plan and its execution have been a disaster. It’s time to separate the county and the city of Hermiston’s interests in the project. Since the whole purpose of the project was to relocate the county fairgrounds, there has been very little progress on the new county fair facilities and rodeo grounds, yet the city of Hermiston has their new event center. So much for a 50-50 partnership. It’s a little late now for county commissioners to inally demand that the fairgrounds portion of the project be completed by next year’s fair when the driving force in the county for the whole EOTEC project has been commissioners Larry Givens and Bill Elfering, with Commissioner Givens also being on the EOTEC board. Though appointed to that board as a watchdog for the county’s best interests, he has instead been a cheerleader for the project and should be held accountable for placing the entire county into a bad situation. If the event center is the centerpiece of the fair, why is it not used for storage of county fair equipment rather than sticking the taxpayers for another $30,000 for storage containers? The being a 50-50 partnership with the city of Hermiston, why is it that county is stuck with the bill? It just looks like, in the end, the entire county is going to get stuck holding the bag for a project inanced with a lot of county money for the city of Hermiston. I say let them buy back our interest. After all, the Umatilla County Fair is only one week each year. Rick Rohde Pendleton
