Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Publisher
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
MARISSA WILLIAMS
Regional Advertising Director
MARCY ROSENBERG
Circulation Manager
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
Business Office Manager
MIKE JENSEN
Production Manager
OUR VIEW
Harnessing rivers’
power gives
Northwest life
A federal judge in Portland
the economic impacts of the
Columbia and Snake rivers are
has asked residents of the Pacific
almost beyond numbers. Where
Northwest to comment on the
impact of the Columbia and Snake once were only dryland farms
or swaths of prairie grass are
rivers.
now thriving farms, orchards
We’re glad he asked.
All he has to do is turn on a light and vineyards that grow billions
in his office, have lunch and take a of dollars of crops — crops that
walk around Portland to understand wouldn’t exist without irrigation
water from the Columbia and
the rivers’ direct contributions to
Snake and their
him and millions of
other residents of the
Where once were tributaries.
Beyond the
Pacific Northwest.
economic impact,
Most of the
only dryland
are the many
electrical power he
farms or swaths though,
social impacts. A
uses is generated
by the dams
of prairie grass steady agricultural
provides
on the rivers.
are now thriving economy
jobs and allows
About two-thirds
of the region’s
farms, orchards families to put down
Whether
electricity comes
and vineyards that roots.
it’s a larger city
from hydropower,
grow billions of such as Portland or
according to the
cities such as
Northwest Power
dollars of crops. smaller
Hermiston, Umatilla
and Conservation
and Boardman, the
Council.
rivers are a large part of the reason
Much of the food he eats was
they even exist.
irrigated with water from the
Columbia and Snake rivers and
Some people want to measure
their tributaries. And those barges
the value of the Columbia and
the judge sees plying the Columbia Snake rivers in fish. They believe
and Snake rivers bring bulk grains
there needs to be more fish and
such as wheat to downriver export
fewer dams. At least that’s what
terminals. From there much of the
their fund-raising materials say.
grain and other commodities are
Ironically, there are plenty of
loaded onto oceangoing vessels
fish that spawn in the Columbia
for the trip to Japan, South Korea
Basin, and there always will be.
or elsewhere. About $1 billion of
The dams on the rivers have been
grain is shipped overseas each year. modified and managed in a way
Flood control on one of the
that allows for fish passage.
But the impact of the Columbia
world’s mightiest river systems
and Snake rivers on the Pacific
is a factor that is too often lost
Northwest — and the rest of the
on critics. Just ask the people of
nation — isn’t about numbers, or
Vanport — oh, wait, that city in
North Portland no longer exists. Its about fish. It’s about the people
who live and work in the region, all
40,000 people were left homeless
— 15 were killed — during a flood of whom rely on the rivers for their
of the Columbia River in 1948.
livelihoods. Without the dams the
A large portion of Portland and
region would be a faint shadow of
most other riverside cities and
what it is today.
towns wouldn’t exist if it were
The Columbia and Snake rivers
not for the dams that control the
and their tributaries are in every
surging waters of the rivers.
sense the rivers of Northwestern
Beyond the judge’s backyard,
life.
OTHER VIEWS
Crisis for liberalism
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.
he 2016 campaign was a crisis
assimilate.
for conservatism; its aftermath is
Each of these foundations often
a crisis for liberalism. The right,
manifested illiberalism’s evils:
delivered unexpectedly to power, is
religious intolerance, racism and
taking a breather from introspection
chauvinism, the oppressions of private
as it waits to see what Trumpism
and domestic power. But they also
means in practice. The left, delivered
provided the moral, cultural and
unexpectedly to impotence, has no
metaphysical common ground that
choice but to start arguing about how it
political reformers — abolitionists,
Ross
lost its way.
Douthat Social Gospellers, New Dealers, civil
A lot of that argument already
rights marchers — relied upon to
Comment
revolves around the concept of
expand liberalism’s promise.
“identity politics,” used as shorthand
Much of post-1960s liberal
for a vision of political liberalism as a coalition politics, by contrast, has been an experiment
of diverse groups — gay and black and
in cutting Western societies loose from those
Asian and Hispanic and female and Jewish
foundations, set to the tune of John Lennon’s
and Muslim and so on — bound together
“Imagine.” No heaven or religion, no countries
by a common struggle against the creaking
or borders or parochial loyalties of any kind
hegemony of white Christian America.
— these are often the values of the center-left
This vision had an intuitive appeal in the
and the far left alike, of neoliberals hoping to
Obama era, when it won the White House
manage global capitalism and neo-Marxists
twice and seemed to promise permanent
hoping to transcend it.
political majorities in the future. And the
Unfortunately the values of “Imagine” are
2016 campaign was supposed to cement that
simply not sufficient to the needs of human
promise, since it pitted liberalism’s coalition of life. People have a desire for solidarity that
the diverse against Donald Trump’s explicitly
cosmopolitanism does not satisfy, immaterial
reactive vision.
interests that redistribution cannot meet, a
But instead 2016 exposed liberalism’s
yearning for the sacred that secularism cannot
twofold vulnerability: to white voters
answer.
embracing an identity politics of their own,
So where religion atrophies, family
and to women and minorities fearing Trump
weakens and patriotism ebbs, other forms of
less than most liberals expected, and not
group identity inevitably assert themselves. It
voting monolithically for Hillary.
is not a coincidence that identity politics are
So now identitarian liberalism is taking fire particularly potent on elite college campuses,
from two directions. From the center-left, it’s
the most self-consciously post-religious and
critiqued as an illiberal and balkanizing force,
post-nationalist of institutions; nor is it a
which drives whit-cis-het people of good
coincidence that recent outpourings of campus
will rightward and prevents liberalism from
protest and activism and speech policing and
speaking a language of the common good.
sexual moralizing so often resemble religious
From the left, it’s critiqued as an expression of revivalism. The contemporary college student
class privilege, which cares little for economic lives most fully in the Lennonist utopia that
justice so long as black lesbian Sufis are
post-’60s liberalism sought to build, and often
represented in the latest Netflix superhero
finds it unconsoling: She wants a sense of
show.
belonging, a ground for personal morality,
Both of these critiques make reasonable
and a higher horizon of justice than either a
points. But I’m not sure they fully grasp the
purely procedural or a strictly material politics
pull of an identitarian politics, the energy
supplies.
that has elevated it above class-based and
Thus it may not be enough for
procedural visions of liberalism.
today’s liberalism, confronting a right-
It’s true that identity politics is often
wing nationalism and its own internal
illiberal, both in its emphasis on group
contradictions, to deal with identity politics’
experience over individualism and, in the web political weaknesses by becoming more
of moral absolutes — taboo words, sacred
populist and less politically correct. Both of
speakers, forbidden arguments — that it seeks
these would be desirable changes, but they
to weave around left-liberal discourse. It’s also would leave many human needs unmet. For
true that it privileges the metaphysical over the those, a deeper vision than mere liberalism
material, recognition over redistribution.
is still required — something like “for God
But liberal societies have always depended
and home and country,” as reactionary as that
on an illiberal or pre-liberal substructure to
phrase may sound.
answer the varied human needs — meaning,
It is reactionary, but then it is precisely
belonging, a vertical dimension to human
older, foundational things that today’s
life, a hope against mortality — that neither
liberalism has lost. Until it finds them again,
John Stuart Mill nor Karl Marx adequately
it will face tribalism within its coalition and
addressed.
Trumpism from without, and it will struggle to
In U.S. history, that substructure took
tame either.
various forms: The bonds of family life,
■
the power of (usually Protestant) religion, a
Ross Douthat joined The New York Times
flag-waving patriotism, and an Anglo-Saxon
as an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009 and
culture to which immigrants were expected to
previously was a senior editor at The Atlantic.
YOUR VIEWS
East Oregonian needs more
conservative voices
For the best part of 2016 this newspaper
and the national media, liberal press and enter-
tainment industry have ridiculed, mocked,
chastised and eviscerated Donald Trump. You
have wasted multiple thousands of dollars on
pundits (David Brooks, Gail Collins, Ross
Douthat, Nicholas Kristof, Thomas Friedman,
Maureen Doud, Alisha Sultan) assaulting
Trump’s character and exalting Hillary
Clinton’s virtues. How has that worked out?
Here are the results of the EO’s assault against
Donald Trump: Morrow County - Trump 67
percent, Clinton 25 percent; Umatilla Co. -
Trump 64.5 percent, Clinton 28.6 percent.
Here is the grand question, EO owners: Are
you going to continue this biased deceptive
journalism and waste your seemingly unlim-
ited financial resources with biased Demo-
cratic liberal pundit operatives? Understand
this: You have very little credibility with
your constituency (around 25 percent). If you
continue your assault on the president-elect
you are not only undermining your credibility,
you are undermining our republic. The only
pundit that got it right was George Murdock.
The liberal left can not withstand scrutiny, so
expect George Murdock to receive the same
condemnation as Donald Trump.
The definition of insanity is to continue
the same failed yellow journalism and expect
a different result. The House, the Senate, the
Supreme Court (very soon), the majority of
state governorships and legislatures are now
controlled by Republicans. The Democrats,
Republican establishment, liberal press and
globalism are in disarray, yet they continue
their same failed globalist agenda and
duplicitous collusion with the liberal press.
I have a suggestion which I know your
liberal owners will never allow: Balance your
news and pundits. Put George Murdock on
weekly. We need his voice in Eastern Oregon.
Find pundits that represent your constituency.
That would be a novel idea. Otherwise this
is what will happen: Even dyed-in-the-wool
liberal left coast Oregon will ultimately grow
tired of violent extremist protesters destroying
property and our way of life under the cover of
the liberal press and Obama government. Our
pansy liberally indoctrinated college students
will be reduced to “cry in” sessions and Play
Dough so they can cope with the reality of a
conservative government. This is where the
EO and their liberal cohorts are taking us.
God has heard our prayers. Donald Trump
has woken up America. Armor up, men and
women of God.
Stuart Dick
Irrigon
Different isn’t always wrong
The cartoon on Page 4A of the East
Oregonian on Saturday, Nov 12 asked a
really good question: Since Measure 97 was
voted down, what now? An article by Gordon
Friedman of the Statesman-Journal on
Wednesday, Nov. 16 gave a likely answer: a
probable budget gap of about $1.4 billion.
Of course, the failure of Measure 97
prevented the inevitable spending spree —
of securely funding education and helping
to provide health care for the most needy
Oregonians, most of whom are children and
seniors. But that would be bad for business!
Similarly, the decision to raise the minimum
wage was branded “bad for business.”
Some 18 months ago it was in this paper
that the Umatilla County commissioners
were to be given a parity increase in salary
of 7.5 percent. I assume that happened. Also,
and if it was applied immediately, rather than
incrementally as the minimum wage raise
was designed to be implemented, that would
have meant for each an annual salary increase
of $7,500 or more.
On Page 5A of the Nov. 12 edition, a
comment by commissioner George Murdock
labeled the state of Oregon a political
backwater, out of step with the rest of the
country. Well, yes! Oregon does bear the
stigma of wanting to raise the minimum
wage, to bring it closer to a living wage, and
in other ways trying to make life better for its
least fortunate citizens. That is what Oregon
does; or, rather, that’s what Oregonians do!
Oregonians are indeed out of step with
part of the rest of the country. Some of
our neighbors to the east, along the Rocky
Mountain chain and beyond, have pretty
well decided what constitutes a fair wage,
having passed “right to work” laws that are
specifically aimed at curbing unions and
unionism in general. Is that an example of
superior political acumen? Though unions
have had some bad apples over the years, an
unscrupulous opportunist can be found under
many a rock.
Unionism is workers, through unity and
also through compromise, striving to achieve
and preserve an equitable relationship with
their employers. Should this be bad for
business?
Harvey Foreman
Pendleton
Conservative viewpoint
the majority
Before writing this I read the East
Oregonian Letters policy, which says, “No
personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not
the person.” I question whether some of the
letters are held to that standard.
At the risk of being labeled “less
educated,” I have to say that George
Murdock’s opinion piece gave me a feeling
of validation in my political beliefs. This
doesn’t happen very often when I read the
liberally-biased editorials, opinions and
political cartoons that appear regularly
in this paper. This morning’s EO told us
how Umatilla County voted and it appears
that I am not in the minority here, but in
a significant majority. I agree that there
wouldn’t be the loud outcry for unity and
healing had the election gone the other way.
And, are we hearing anything from our
governor about the destructive rioting going
on in the state?
Charlotte Smith
Pendleton