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Page 4A East Oregonian Tuesday, July 31, 2018 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OTHER VIEWS On Ryan Bounds, the Senate took the wrong stand By VERONICA VARGAS STIDVENT O n July 19, Ryan Bounds’ nomination to the 9th Circuit of Court of Appeals was withdrawn. The main issue raised was the nominee’s stance against multicultural divisions at Stanford University in the 1990s. In tarring Bounds as a racist, Oregon’s senators — and others — showed just how wrong they can be. On college campuses in the 1990s, debate raged about the use of affirmative action and how best to create inclusive, accessible campuses for all. Lines were often drawn between those who believed in “color-blindness” as the best way to get past racial and ethnic divisions and those who championed multicultural or race- conscious methods to achieve diversity. Although multiculturalism eventually won the day, this was a legitimate debate among well-intentioned people trying to achieve the same goals. As a right-of-center Latina student, I heard the epithet “coconut” more than a few times. In his college writings, Bounds lamented the use of such terms to disparage students of color who did not think according to preconceived notions. He also criticized pigeonholing minority students and separating students by race or ethnicity. I recall visiting the Stanford campus as a prospective freshman and feeling uncomfortable being assigned to “Casa Zapata,” the “theme house” for Hispanic students. Later, as a prospective law student, I was once again disappointed AP Photo/Paul Sakuma An artist drawing about illegal immigration is shown in the Center of Chicano of- fices on Stanford University campus as students study in background in Stanford, Calif. in 2012. Ryan Bounds, who as a student at Stanford wrote several op-eds for the student paper, recently lost his nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because of those writings. when the university offered to pay for me to visit — as long as I visited during minority student weekend. So I understood when Bounds apologized for his rhetoric, but not for his argument that universities should strive for inclusion rather than separation of students by color. Taken in context, Mr. Bounds’ college writings were appropriate for the time period and his age. My former classmate David Lat has written about the dangers — including the chilling effect on students — of considering a nominee’s writings from their college years. Bounds’ writings advanced an ongoing debate in the style of a student writer aiming to invite challenge from the opposing side. (Indeed, my own nomination was almost derailed by a college op-ed mocking a speech by President Clinton.) As lawyers, we learn that an inflammatory style so often used in opinion pieces is not the most persuasive or effective in court. A more accurate measure of Bounds would be a review of his professional record. I have known Bounds for more than 20 years. Like most of our exuberant classmates, we learned from each other, and our ideas have matured with age and experience. In his personal and professional life, Bounds has worked to extend opportunities to students and lawyers from underrepresented communities. He is a serious lawyer and a person with genuine intellectual curiosity. He is by no means a racist. In a time when there is so much to decry, it is a tragedy for the Senate to choose instead to wrongly label this man. In the aftermath of his failed nomination, my phone lit up with texts from Bounds’ shocked friends. The irony was not lost on me as a Jewish Democrat, a gay Asian, a Hispanic woman, and a black Republican wondered what to do next. Our friendship and deep concern overrode any differences one might note among us. It exemplified the very ideal Ryan Bounds had espoused. ■ Veronica Vargas Stidvent served as assis- tant secretary for policy at the U.S. Depart- ment of Labor. She is the principal of Stid- vent Partners based in Austin, Texas. OTHER VIEWS How Trump lost re-election in 2020 Last week, my colleague Bret Stephens imagined a news article on the morning after President Donald Trump’s re-election. Today, I imagine a different outcome. four years ago and lost this year, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. In a sign of the country’s changing political map, he held on to Ohio and Iowa, two relatively old and white states — n the end, it was a lot simpler but became the first Republican than it often seemed. since 1992 to lose Georgia. David Donald Trump, who spent Huge margins among women Leonhardt were much of the past four years as a central to the victory of Comment historically unpopular president, Warren, who will become the lost his bid for re-election Tuesday. country’s first female president. His approval rating hasn’t approached 50 “I’m just tired of him,” said Jennifer Diaz, a 47-year-old from Cobb County, Georgia, percent since he took office, and neither outside Atlanta. did his share of the vote this year. Heading into the campaign, Trump’s In an era of deep national anxiety advisers believed they had two major — with stagnant wages, rickety health advantages: the economic growth of insurance and aggressive challenges from the past four years and the undeniable China and Russia — voters punished an liberalism of Warren and her running mate, incumbent president who failed on his former Attorney General Eric Holder. central promise: “I alone can fix it.” Neither panned out as the Trump campaign Since he rode down the Trump Tower had hoped. escalator to announce his candidacy five For one thing, solid GDP growth — years ago, Trump has frequently looked similar to the rate during Obama’s second like a man for whom the normal rules of term — has not translated into middle- politics did not apply. He won a shocking class income gains. Average income upset in 2016, which lent him an aura of invincibility. Pundits started to doubt much growth, post-inflation, has hovered near zero since early 2018. of what they had previously believed. (In August, Trump became the first But as Trump seethed — and tweeted president since Richard Nixon to force out — in defeat late Tuesday and President- the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor elect Elizabeth Warren celebrated, the Statistics, accusing the agency of releasing arc of the Trump story is starting to make “fake news” on wages. Outside economists more sense than it has for much of his said the charge was false.) chaotic presidency: Warren’s liberalism, meanwhile, did The normal rules of politics do apply to make some voters anxious, exit polls Donald Trump, after all. showed. But most swing voters do not Four years ago, he became the fifth man to win the presidency while losing the follow the minutiae of policy debates, and many simply decided that she understood popular vote. Now he becomes the fourth their problems better than Trump. of those five — along with John Quincy She and Holder consciously borrowed Adams, Rutherford Hayes and Benjamin from the populist strategy of Obama’s Harrison — to serve only a single term, 2012 campaign against Mitt Romney. and to be unpopular during most of it. Rather than emphasize Trump’s personal The exception is George W. Bush, who behavior, as the 2016 Clinton campaign benefited from being a wartime president. did, they cast him as a greedy billionaire In hindsight, the extraordinary nature of who corruptly used the presidency to the circumstances that propelled Trump in 2016 have become obvious: the unpopularity enrich himself further. The Democrats paired their message of his opponent, Hillary Clinton; the help with broadly popular economic proposals: from Russia; the late involvement of James Comey, the then-FBI director who now hosts tax increases on the rich, expanded Medicare and child care, free community an ABC talk show; and Trump’s razor-thin college and — highlighting an unfulfilled victories in several states. Trump promise — an infrastructure Without that good fortune this year, program. Budget watchdogs said the Trump still won roughly 90 percent of self- Warren agenda would increase the deficit. identified Republicans and Republican- leaning voters. Yet it was not nearly enough. Many voters, evidently, did not care. A final vote tally will not be available “Trump said he was going to fix things, and he didn’t,” said Kevin O’Reilly, 54, of for weeks, but The New York Times’ “election needle” projects Trump to win Manchester, New Hampshire, who voted 46.1 percent of the popular vote. If that for Barack Obama in 2012, Trump in holds, it would be nearly identical to his 2016 and Warren this year. “I don’t think share in 2016. This year, however, third- he really cares about the middle class. He party candidates won fewer votes, and cares about himself.” Warren is on pace to clear 50 percent. Exit polls showed disillusionment — David Leonhardt, New York Times. across the swing states that Trump won I YOUR VIEWS Sterilizations won’t make dent in wild horse population It is unfortunate that people like Joanna Grossman offer up false hope to people concerned about wild horses. No amount of birth control is going to alter the fact that there are too many wild horses. The Appropriate Management Level has been determined by range scientists to be 26,690 horses and burros. On March 1, 2018, it was estimated there were 81,951. This is an increase of 13 percent over the March 1, 2017 estimate. Even if all the animals were sterilized, that would still result in 55,260 animals exceeding the AML. The environment would be compromised. Because horses have no predators, it is conceivable that those 55,260 could still be around in ten years. But, a lot of the other members of the flora and fauna of the high desert biome might not. I have said it before and I shall repeat it now: Cattle, sheep, and pigs were also living symbols of the west and many peoples lives and livelihoods depended upon them. What makes the horse so sacred that its flesh cannot be offered to the poor children in our community. If there is anyone more in need of protein in their diet, it is the children of the poor. Further more, why can it not be offered to people who would desire a source of lean protein superior to beef without any chemical additives. If the population were to be reduced to the AML, then the various birth control methods might have a chance to become effective. As for the author’s concern that sterilization could result in a nonviable population is laughable. All that would 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. be required to meet the government’s definition of free-roaming would be for the government to go to horse sales and buy up non-branded horses and turn them loose. Carlisle Harrison Hermiston Arlington adopts ‘Rule of Law’ resolution There are doubtless a number of readers of this paper who, while traveling on Interstate 84, have stopped in the city of Arlington to gas up, get a snack, and maybe have even spent some time at the marina swimming or boarding off the wide span of the Columbia north of town. Sadly, I wish to bring to the attention of the readership the fact that the Arlington City Council, in their May 9 meeting, unanimously passed a resolution, number 685, to declare Arlington (quotes are from the text of the resolution) “not a sanctuary city” but rather “a Rule of Law City in regards to upholding immigration laws.” The pretext for this resolution, which runs contrary to the laws of the state of Oregon, is that Arlington supposedly has suffered a number of burdens due to so-called illegal immigrants, including “decreased job opportunities” as well as fiscal hardships in the areas of “education, law enforcement, healthcare, and other social services.” While no action has been taken yet by the city council to make the spirit of this resolution an enforceable ordinance, travelers may want to keep this information in mind when deciding whether or not to stop in and patronize the city of Arlington. Nathan Welp Arlington 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.
