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OPINION
East Oregonian
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
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
The cost of war,
both at home
and abroad
On Monday we honored those
that fought in World War II, Korea
and Vietnam are passing away, we
who made the ultimate sacrifice
will be paying tribute to modern
— giving their life because their
American warriors for the next half
country sent them to war.
century or more.
Americans answer the call.
Generation after generation, the urge
President Ulysses S. Grant — as
to serve our nation draws excellent
good a general as the U.S. ever
people into military service. They
had — said, “There never was a
defend us from foreign threats,
time when, in my opinion, some
protect vital interests around the
way could not be found to prevent
world, and gain
the drawing of the
unique experiences
sword.” Our sad
and job skills that
What we honor drumbeat of wars
strengthen the U.S.
in the 20th and 21st
on Memorial
once they return to
centuries informs
civilian life.
that we are still
Day is selfless us
too far away from
Living here as
service to the
learning this lesson.
we do in small
But war is not
communities and
country.
the true subject
rural areas, we
for Memorial Day.
take special pride
We honor the personal sacrifices
in personally knowing servicemen
that men and women have made
and women. Spring high school
graduation ceremonies often include in the name of our nation and its
Constitution in many forms.
news about local kids making the
We were reminded of the ongoing
leap into becoming adult women and
men by joining the armed forces. We struggle Friday night, as complete
then follow their accomplishments
strangers came to the aid of two
and adventures on their parents’
Muslim women on the Portland
Facebook pages and in printed news MAX being harassed by an angry
items. It is among the signature
and misguided man, a self-described
experiences of small-town life
sociopath and white supremacist.
to encounter young people we
Two of the men who stepped
witnessed growing up — perhaps
forward — a 53-year-old Army
playing on the basketball court
veteran and a 23-year-old recent
— now returned on leave from a
college graduate — were stabbed to
death standing between the knife-
military assignment someplace far
wielding attacker and the women.
away.
They paid dearly, as did their
These relationships between
families, for standing without
civilians and active-service
hesitation for the American promise.
personnel are some of the strongest
What we honor on Memorial Day
glue holding the nation together. It is
fundamental to the essential national is selfless service to the country.
DNA of the U.S. that we respect and But if this day is to be anything but
an excuse for a day off from work,
appreciate our fellow citizens who
we must put meat on the bones of
man the guard posts of democracy.
otherwise empty promises.
There was a time when Congress
History teaches the danger faced
and the White House contained
many veterans. They had personally by powerful nations where the
majority of the citizenry no longer
witnessed the horrible cost of war,
remembers the hardship and realities
in the form of friends shot down
faced by its defenders. It becomes
before their eyes. Because there is
no draft, there are now few veterans far too easy to expend their lives for
meager pay to achieve too little, then
among our nation’s top leadership
bring them home and forget them.
— nor do many of their children
Repairing the disconnect
serve in the armed forces. War has
between decision-makers and these
become something they send other
sacrifices is essential to the long-
Americans’ children to do. And in
term survival of America’s great
all fairness, fewer U.S. citizens in
experiment in democracy. Honoring
general have close kinfolk in the
life is the best payment we can
line of fire. Most of us, though, in
every station of life share a deep and make to the dead.
Meanwhile, genuine respect
sincere appreciation for our honored
for America’s war dead is best
war dead.
translated into remembering living
Since the awful events of Sept.
veterans and tending to their needs.
11, 2001, it is generally reported
Memorial Day is only the start, not
that more than 5,000 U.S. service
the finish, of recognizing the debt
personnel have died. More than
we owe to veterans. Truly honoring
50,000 have been physically
them means embodying their values
wounded. Many more suffer from
and honor in our own lives every
combat-related stress disorders.
day of the year.
So even though the generations
OTHER VIEWS
I
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.
How not to fight Trump
t is understandable that many people
To some members of the Resistance
in U.S. government are unhappy that
this may sound like a brilliant approach.
Donald Trump is the president of the
It is not. First, as the dissenting opinion
United States. It is also understandable
rightly notes, it establishes a precedent
that many people would contemplate
that would further politicize an already-
constitutional mechanisms that might
partisan judiciary, by licensing judges
remove him from that office.
to constantly look beyond the law
But so long as Trump remains the
for excuses to rule against politicians
president — and even those of us who
(liberal or conservative) they dislike.
Ross
imagine 25th Amendment remedies
Second, it effectively tells populist
Douthat
would be wise to bet on at least three
politicians who flout norms on the
Comment
years and seven months more — then
campaign trail that they needn’t bother
ad hoc, partisan and extra-constitutional
moderating once in office, because the
attempts to strip him of normal presidential
system has already decided that they can’t.
powers are a very bad idea.
So it doesn’t matter that Trump has shifted
This is basically what we have in the
his tone on Islam; it doesn’t matter that he
4th Circuit Court’s ruling striking down the
spent the days before the ruling palling around
administration’s controversial travel ban, which with Saudis like a Bush Republican. Once a
seeks to temporarily restrict travel to the United deplorable, always a deplorable — a judgment
States from six majority-Muslim countries —
that’s likely to only confirm future populists in
Sudan, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Syria and Somalia
their antinomian and extralegal impulses.
— that are either ruled by terror-sponsoring
And not only future populists but this
governments or in the throes of civil war.
White House, which remains responsible for
There are reasons to think this ban
counterterrorism in an age when the most
overbroad, counterproductive, damaging
important terror threats are Islamist, and any
to U.S. interests. But it is not a “Muslim
move to safeguard Americans is likely to have
ban” under any reasonable legal definition
a disproportionate effect on Muslims.
of the term, and on its face it looks entirely
One of the things that Trump critics fear
constitutional. As the 4th Circuit concedes,
most is his possible response to a Manchester-
the president has broad powers to restrict
type terrorist attack (or something even
the entry of noncitizens, and an executive
worse). But rather than providing a check on
order restricting travel from a specified set of
future anti-terror overreach, the 4th Circuit’s
terror-affected countries would normally easily overreaching opinion is likely to encourage it.
pass muster.
After all, if you tell the White House that
But what is different in this case, the 4th
it cannot do things that normal presidents are
Circuit judges argue, is that Trump’s campaign- allowed to do because of Trump’s campaign-
trail rhetoric about Islam, his wild promise to
trail rhetoric, what incentive does the
keep all Muslims out “until we know what’s
White House have to work carefully within
going on,” proves that this executive order is
constitutional lines should ISIS or al-Qaida
really motivated by a religious animus that
strike?
conflicts with the First Amendment’s religious-
Instead, if the courts are automatically going
freedom guarantee.
to rule against Trump on any counterterrorism
Of course, constitutional guarantees do
issue that touches on Islam, the president may
not normally apply to foreign nationals. But
feel that he may as well prepare for war with
allowing an immigration restriction motivated the judiciary, since tailoring his policies to fit
by religious animus, the opinion argues,
existing precedents is clearly just a waste.
would create a strong likelihood that some
There was a lot of loose talk about a
“constitutional harm will redound to citizens” “constitutional crisis” in the wake of the
as well. And this is enough, it concludes,
firing of James Comey. But it’s easier to
to make an order that only directly affects
imagine the term applying, as it did in the
foreigners a violation of every American
days of Trump’s idol Andrew Jackson, to a
Muslim’s First Amendment rights.
direct clash between the White House and the
The second half of the argument is a
courts.
remarkable constitutional bankshot. But it’s
Trump’s flaws of temperament and
the first half that’s most troubling, because
character make such a clash dangerously
it effectively creates what David French of
likely. But so does a judicial activism that
National Review — no Trump admirer —
cuts down normal legal precedent in order to
describes as a kind of “Trumplaw,” a set of
go after him, and tries to pre-emptively strip
restrictions on presidential action that only
away his powers without any warrant save
apply to Donald Trump. This president cannot
self-righteousness.
do things that would be perfectly legal if any
■
other president did them, under this standard,
Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as
because the courts will rule against his past
an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. Previously,
demagogy rather than the policies themselves.
he was a senior editor at The Atlantic.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Leave Twitter to
meadowlarks
Let’s face it, if you wake up every
morning and hear Trump trumpeting like
a bull elephant, it shouldn’t surprise you.
About seven o’clock the twitter begins. We
have an angry president.
But we may now have help. The
Justice Department has appointed former
FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special
counsel to lead a federal investigation into
allegations that Donald Trump’s campaign
collaborated with Russia to sway the 2016
election that put him in the White House.
The appointment is another shock-a-day
event in Washington’s escalating saga. More
chaos began with the firing of FBI Director
James Comey, who was getting too close to
the truth about Trump’s involvement with
Russia, which Trump maintains is a hoax
and partisan witch hunt.
As special counsel, Mueller has the
authority to oversee a federal investigation
into Trump’s activities that will confirm
whether or not there was collusion between
Trump’s campaign and any foreign entity,
especially Russia, and this includes any
facts or information that may come from
the investigation. Mueller, a former federal
prosecutor at the Justice Department, was
appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod
Rosenstein, who was connected with the
firing of Comey.
There are so many “big names” in all
of this meddling of Russia’s influence, the
average American citizen gets lost in the
political shuffling. One point to keep in mind
is: What’s going on between Trump and
Putin? If Trump is found vulnerable (guilty)
it is an obstruction of justice. To betray one’s
nation and the American people is treason.
One thing is certain: Trump gets
mightily upset whenever the subject of his
campaign’s possible connection with Russia’s
interference in the election surfaces. We
certainly don’t envy Mr. Mueller’s role in this
important investigation which could damage
our nation’s credibility in world affairs.
I am a patriotic citizen and I support
Mueller. All of this meddling has interfered
with Congress and its duties. I like Senator
Lindsay Graham’s speculation that Trump
is probably glad to get out of town — and a
lot of them are, too. Furthermore, my stocks
are going down, and I, too, am a bit angry,
but I don’t get up every morning twittering.
I’m leaving that to Oregon’s state bird, the
meadowlark.
Dr. Dorys C. Grover
Pendleton
Federal financial support
makes local project possible
The recently approved omnibus bill
supported by Oregon’s members of Congress
— Senator Ron Wyden, Senator Jeff Merkley,
and Congressman Greg Walden — maintains
key community and economic funding
through September 2017. Knowing that
Congress is working to sustain these programs
for Fiscal Year 2017 is a good sign for these
programs’ continued funding in 2018, despite
the President’s proposal to eliminate financing
for these important programs.
Why is this important? Eastern Oregon’s
public infrastructure such as water, sewer
and wastewater systems are aging and are
in need of repair or replacement. The Water
Infrastructure and Innovation Act — strongly
supported by Senator Merkley — provides a
source of funding to meet the infrastructure
needs in Eastern Oregon. Other programs
in the omnibus bill that support Eastern
Oregon’s community and economic
development in a variety of ways include:
• Economic Development Administration
contribution through investment in the
Comprehensive Economic Development
Strategy. The CEDS process, led by
EDA-designated Economic Development
Districts such as the Greater Eastern Oregon
Development Corporation, brings together
local stakeholders to assess and plan for
regional growth. This funding has created or
retained 130 jobs annually within GEODC’s
seven-county district;
• The Community Development Block
Grant to support infrastructure and housing;
• FAA Contract Tower Program, which
is vital to sustaining the city of Pendleton’s
airport; and
• USDA Rural Development funding
that supports rural infrastructure,
entrepreneurship and job creation.
These programs, and many others, return
tax dollars to communities that need them.
GEODC will work hard to make sure they
remain available here in GEODC’s seven-
county Eastern Oregon District.
Susan Christensen, executive director
Greater Eastern Oregon Development