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
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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