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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Thursday, July 26, 2018 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW No debating the need for debate W hen Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, he wasn’t thinking that the most iconic recordings of the next century — say Woody Guthrie, The Beatles and Miles Davis — would use his technology to bring art to a worldwide audience. He thought no one would be interested in listening to recorded music when they could hear and see it live and in person. And he wasn’t alone. John Philip Sousa warned decades later, when it became clear that the phonograph was a fine medium for music, that its popularity would erode the finer instincts of the ear and put professional musicians out of work. “The nightingale’s song is delightful because the nightingale herself gives it forth,” he wrote. Edison thought the phonograph was, however, a wonderful tool for recording, memorializing and distributing the great speeches and debates of the time. Of all times. He thought homes all over the world could use their phonograph to listen to experts talk about the important issues of the day, and that through teaching and critical thinking, the world would become a less ignorant place if the best arguments and arguers had widespread release. Fortunately or unfortunately, it was music that took over the records and airwaves. And that pushed debate over public issues out of the home and into the universities and statehouses and think tanks of America. Fast forward a hundred-some years and you get today’s sorry state of debate. What was once an important part of the educational process is Wikimedia Commons Lincoln at a debate with Stephen Douglas. This is a photo of the original work, part of a private collection temporarily on display at the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial. disappearing. Partisan gridlock, which of course has always been a problem in our nation, has become more corrosive. And political disagreements, never easy in polite company, have regressed to anonymous trolling and cursing in online forums. Even congressional testimony has become a vehicle for grandstanding from all sides, rather than sussing out important information or even getting the opposition to reveal errors in their thinking. It’s far too easy for an American citizen to firmly hold an opinion that they will never hear challenged in any meaningful way, much less have to factually and steadfastly defend themselves. The inability to debate, and to witness good debate, has affected our political process and our personal decision-making skills. It has hindered media literacy — left us more vulnerable to scams and actual fake news. Television didn’t help as the prior generation’s technological leap — it elevated vanity and aesthetic over fact and supporting detail. Sam Leith, author of “You Talkin’ to Me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama,” told The Guardian in 2016 that “it’s tempting to look at modern- day political debates and think what a long way we’ve come from the days of Cicero and Pericles. But it’s worth remembering that the whole game is knowing your audience, and knowing the medium. Nowadays, the main audience for a debate won’t be the people in earshot: the exchange is intended to be, as it were, overheard by hundreds of thousands of people on television and social media. So, of course, people don’t make three- hour-long, perfectly turned speeches intended to be taken in whole: they semaphore emotion, repeat key words, pepper it with catchphrases and soundbites. And that’s what works.” But many of us are starving for something more substantive. And our politicians, those who should be at the forefront of putting ideas to the test, are not providing it. Let’s just take a few examples: In the governor’s primary race Knute Buehler refused to debate his fellow GOP candidates. Now that he has earned the right to square off with Kate Brown, it is Brown who is turning down some debate requests. Nothing is yet scheduled between current U.S. Rep. Greg Walden and his challenger, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, but we hope to see many joint debates between the two in their spread-out constituency. We all remember the anarchy of the 2016 debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which devolved into playground taunts. We need, more than ever, good debate and to hone our fact-finding abilities. We can use those skills to hold politicians, the news media and the loudmouth at the end of the bar to account. Those skills can help anyone pull their way through a thicket of facts, lies and slogans that have been set in their path by political parties, advertisers and enemies. Globalization, technology and the steady creep of government power have made many issues more complicated and interconnected. Our real and digital worlds are blurring. Our First Amendment rights of free expression are under attack. Our government — and foreign governments — are getting better at manipulation and meddling. To fight it, we must commit ourselves to the ancient tradition of debate, of talking and listening, of working to illuminate the truth rather than score political points, of moving toward justice rather than distraction. OTHER VIEWS Democratic Party loses plot here’s a lot of discussion need a fighter who will go out and battle concentrated economic power. about how far left the The second is the multicultural Democratic Party should story: U.S. history has been marked go these days. Is it destroying its by systems of oppression. Those electoral chances when its members who have been oppressed — call for a single-payer health plan or women, African-Americans, Latinos abolishing ICE? — need to stand together and fight That’s an important question, David for justice. but the most important question is Brooks Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has what story is the Democratic Party Comment risen to prominence blending these telling? As Alasdair MacIntyre two languages into one: racial argued many years ago, you can’t justice socialism. “I can’t name a single know what to do unless you know what issue with roots in race that doesn’t have story you are a part of. Story is more economic implications,” she declares, “and important than policies. I cannot think of a single economic issue We post-Cold War Americans haven’t that doesn’t have racial implications. The really settled on what story we are a part of. We’ll flock to anybody who can tell us a idea that we have to separate them is a con.” Racial justice socialism seems to be the story that feels true. story of the contemporary left. This story The story President Donald Trump tells effectively paints Trump as the villain on all is that we good-hearted, decent people of fronts, and Democrats do face the distinct Middle America have been betrayed by problem of how to run against a bully like stupid elites who screw us and have been Trump. But is it good politics for the entire threatened by foreigners who are out to get Democratic Party to embrace it? us. That story resonated with many people. Well, we should humbly admit we’re You can get a lot of facts wrong if you get in virgin territory at a time when all the your story right. tectonic plates are shifting. Back in the 1980s, the Democrats But we do know that no national told two different stories. One was the Democrat has ever fully embraced this compassion story associated with Mario story successfully. In fact, Democrats like Cuomo and Ted Kennedy: Too many Bill Clinton and Barack Obama went to Americans are poor, marginalized and left great lengths to assure people they were not behind. We must care for our brothers and embracing this story. sisters because we are all one family. They did because Americans trust The other was the brainpower/ meritocracy story associated with Gary Hart business more than the state, so socialism has never played well. They did it because and later the New Democrats: Americans if you throw race into your economic are masters at innovation. We must use arguments you end up turning off potential our best minds to come up with innovative plans to solve our problems and head into a allies in swing states like Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania. They did it because new technological century. if you throw economics into your race I don’t hear those two stories much arguments you end up dividing your anymore. The Democrats are emphasizing coalitions on those issues. fighting grit these days, not compassion or In brief, Democrats have stayed away technocratic expertise. Today’s Democrats tell two other stories. from this narrative because the long hoped- for alliance between oppressed racial The first is the traditional socialist story associated with Bernie Sanders: The United minorities and the oppressed white working States is rived by class conflict. Bankers and class has never materialized, and it looks very far from materializing now. oligarchs are exploiting the middles. We T YOUR VIEWS Defeat of Bounds was partisan, not principled I spit my coffee Tuesday reading the editorial “Out of Bounds,” regarding the purely partisan blackballing of judicial nominee Ryan Bounds. The editor speaks of time-honored norms regarding blue slips. May I remind anyone who cares that Democrats, when they were in the majority in 2013, eliminated the filibuster for all but Supreme Court nominees? Unlike the blue slip, which is a courtesy, they changed a basic Senate rule through procedural sleight of hand. Some called it the nuclear option and I agree. I challenge anyone to tell me with a straight face Bounds and Eastern Oregon were denied representation based on anything but a repudiation of the president for political gain. “Can’t we all just be civil and work together” is something the minority says, and that went out the door when the Dems nuked the Senate. This partisan attack on democracy and representation by the left side of this state is nothing new. We on the east side have little to no influence in Salem. It’s sad even our newspaper sides with the west. Bruce Staley Pendleton CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES U.S. PRESIDENT Donald Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. GOVERNOR Kate Brown 160 State Capitol 900 Court Street Salem, OR 97301-4047 503-378-4582 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. 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.
