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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2019)
A4 East Oregonian Wednesday, January 16, 2019 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor WYATT HAUPT JR. News Editor Founded October 16, 1875 YOUR VIEWS OUR VIEWS Walden back on tour Trump’s behavior a cause for concern I can no longer avoid at least stating my thoughts and opinions regarding the existing chaos in our government due to Trump. The latest audacious, intolera- ble act by Trump left me in total disbelief — again — and still. It has become a chronic problem for me the past two years, won- dering what actions or behavior Trump will use to further fuel his ego and harm our nation. Now, Trump holds our nation of 325-plus million citizens hos- tage and in jeopardy by shutting down our national financial sys- tem until his demands are met. He is acting like a spoiled brat, a child that is having a tantrum because he is not getting his way. Ridiculous! He is using and abusing our nation. He is pow- er-mad. His actions are not befit- ting a president of the U.S.A. Our democracy has three branches of government. Trump ignores that fact and attempts to go around it, when it suits him. He is not a president. He is a dictator. A president leads. A dictator or despot rules. I don’t believe Trump has the ability to lead. He is only able to domi- nate, have his way and serve his self-interests and those of his inner circle. What is Trump’s present approval rating? His concerns and actions have never been for the welfare of all the citi- zens of America. Instead, maybe 25 to 35 percent. It’s even less for important issues like pub- lic safety, the environment, wel- fare of children, including immi- grant children, our veterans, education, tax dollars, fair taxa- tion, etc. Trump’s wall is the focus of his concern. Its importance is very questionable in regards to our nation’s welfare. It certainly should not rank high in prior- ity. Trump has created a finan- cial disaster for our country. He is harming America. I believe that is an act of treason. I cannot see why or how he can do such a treacherous act. I have much difficulty reduc- ing my fears and concerns about what has been developing in our country for the past two and a half years into a few words. There are far too many, coming far too fast. I’ve often backed off because it appears impossible to turn the tide back to an accept- able status. Darlene Abney Pendleton Malheur symphony will promote healing Central Oregon is to have its own symphony, Kathy Aney tells us in her story about Jay Bow- erman and Chris Thomas. The two men have joined together to produce music about the Mal- heur National Wildlife Refuge, with Thomas writing the score, including the songs and sounds of birds. For me, it will provide a heal- ing process that has disturbed me since the occupation of the refuge, one of Oregon’s most beautiful places. Besides the many varieties of birds that nest there and rest there, I hope it will provide a healing process for the communities affected: the wild horses, bears, coyotes, and the land itself, even the rattlesnakes. This is a special place. The late Bill Hanley and his Bell A Ranch and Peter French and his Blitzen River lands make up a large portion of this refuge. I think they would be pleased. I hope the symphony comes to Pendleton after it premieres in Burns in May. Dr. Dorys C. Grover Pendleton 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. T he world has changed since U.S. Rep. Greg Walden last held a public town hall in Oregon’s 2nd District. His world in particular. It was the spring of 2017 and Pres- ident Donald Trump’s inauguration was still sinking in. Walden, a sea- soned representative who had faced no real pressure in his recent 10th cam- paign for the seat, was a high-ranking member of the Republican-led federal government, poised to fulfill campaign promises and policy goals as never before. Town halls had been commonplace for Walden, who would knock out six or more in a stretch as he regularly checked in at each of the 20 counties in the expansive district. He would stand in front of school auditoriums and community centers, updating con- stituents on D.C. legislation and mach- inations, promising the good fight and taking questions from a generally con- genial audience. But as he returned to the district in 2017, he found a new tone among those audiences — open hostility, spe- cifically regarding his support of the ill-fated American Health Care Act. In solidly conservative rural Oregon, opponents became vocal, pushing back loudly and persistently against attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Rightfully, they were con- cerned it would do serious damage to health coverage without offering a real solution. Walden says his staff was verbally mistreated by protesters who were fol- lowing an online playbook for disrupt- ing the public gatherings. In response, with more than year before he was EO File Photo U.S. Rep. Greg Walden talks with attendees after a town hall meeting on May 8, 2017, in Baker City. up for re-election, he stopped hosting them. The AHCA failed to reach the pres- ident’s desk despite a majority in both chambers, but Walden’s support of it helped spark a vigorous campaign against him. Democrats began lining up for the right to challenge him, and voters selected Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the primary. As she toured the dis- trict, talking to whomever would lis- ten, Walden did most of his campaign- ing on billboards and advertisements while meeting constituents behind closed doors. He won in November with 56 per- cent of the vote — 16 points better than McLeod-Skinner, his narrowest win to date — but Republicans lost the House. Now a new Democrat-controlled Congress has sworn in, the govern- ment has been shut down since before Christmas, and Walden has slated a series of town halls. Initially it included 16 counties, including Uma- tilla and Morrow, but he cut down the number of stops to make it back to to D.C. for House votes. He said in a release those town halls will be rescheduled. As the federal shutdown has become the longest in history, with lit- tle prospect of resolution before his visit, Walden has said he intends to talk about his work on the opioid cri- sis, forest management and VA access. While important, he should be pre- pared for other topics to rank higher in his constituents’ minds, specifi- cally around the southern border. On Tuesday he voted against a short-term funding bill because he said it had no chance of passing the Republican-con- trolled Senate or getting the signa- ture of Trump. Earlier in the month he voted in favor of a bill to reopen parts of the government — citing closed offices and furloughed employees in his district — while voting against a separate bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security without money for a wall along the southern U.S. border. The distinction may be important on the House floor, but it matters lit- tle among the federal workers unsure when they’ll return to work or constit- uents asking — for decades now — for meaningful immigration reform. It’s a new world, and it’s uncertain how the balance of power will teeter in D.C. We’ve consistently re-elected Walden to represent our interests in this diverse district, and it’s about time he hands the microphone back to the voters and listens. We’re hopeful the audience will make the most of the opportunity in meaningful dialogue. OTHER VIEWS Democrats’ ‘technological wall’ won’t keep anybody out H ouse Speaker Nancy process. During that time, many sim- ply disappear into the country. Pelosi says a wall on The point, for those illegal immi- the U.S.-Mexico bor- der would be “immoral.” Instead, grants, is not to enter the United she favors something she calls a States without being detected. It is to enter, be caught, and begin the asy- “technological wall.” Another top lum process that will allow them to House Democrat, Rep. James Cly- burn, calls it a “smart wall.” stay, one way or the other. Instead of building an actual A smart wall is no obstacle to such B ryon y ork physical barrier of steel, concrete crossers. On the other hand, a phys- COMMENT ical barrier would be a big obstacle or some other material, Pelosi, and, if placed in key areas of the bor- Clyburn and other Democrats der, would likely reduce illegal cross- advocate employing an array of ings significantly. That is precisely the kind high-tech devices — drones, infrared sen- sors, surveillance cameras and more — to of barrier that Pelosi, Clyburn and other keep track of activity at the border without Democrats oppose. physical impediments to discourage illegal “The virtual fence does not actually crossings. block the entry of anyone like a real wall “We cannot protect the border with con- or fence does,” said Jessica Vaughan, pol- icy director at the Center for Immigration crete,” Clyburn said recently. “We can pro- tect the border using the technology that is Studies, which favors tighter controls on available to us to wall off intrusions.” immigration. “The virtual fence only works The problem is, a smart wall would if there are enough Border Patrol agents not actually wall off intrusions. Indeed, around to arrest the illegal crossers who are the main feature of a smart wall — in past detected. debates it was often referred to as a virtual “Most importantly, this technology fence — is that it will not stop anyone from would not help in the case of caravan crossing the border into the United States. It migrants pushing through the obsolete and can detect illegal crossers and alert authori- aging barriers we have in many places,” ties to their presence. But it does nothing to Vaughan added. “And it does not help at all keep them from entering the country. if the people who cross are detected only to That is especially important given the be released after they state a fear of return, nature of the migrants crossing the bor- or because they brought a minor with them, der illegally today. In the past, many were or if they are unaccompanied minors led single adult men who could be caught across by smugglers.” and quickly returned to Mexico. But now, Given the nature of the illegal flow according to the Department of Homeland across the border, a virtual wall would be Security, about two-thirds of the crossers are even less effective than it might have been families and unaccompanied children, who in the past. by U.S. law cannot be quickly returned. Still, Democrats insist it is what is Once in the United States, their asylum needed. Rep. Scott Peters, who delivered claims — the vast majority are ultimately the recent Democratic weekly address, dis- cussed his home city of San Diego and judged without merit — take a long time to called for “sensors and radar ... cameras mounted on drones ... (and) state-of-the-art technologies to detect tunnels.” “That is what real border security looks like, and I can tell you that San Diegans want that border security,” Peters said. “But we do not want a wall.” Under Peters’ plan, the Department of Homeland Security would have to rely on technology at the border; if it wanted to build a physical barrier, it would have to get special congressional permission. Peters briefly acknowledged that San Diego has a border fence. What he did not tell listeners was that building that physi- cal barrier saved the city from a crisis in the 1980s by dramatically reducing the flow of illegal immigrants. In 1986, with no bar- rier to speak of, an astonishing 600,000-plus people were caught trying to enter illegally. Only after fencing went up in 1989, and was lengthened and strengthened a few years later, did the flow subside. People seeking to enter the U.S. illegally moved eastward, to points where there was no fence. The border barrier was a key factor in solving San Diego’s problem. Now, a con- gressman from San Diego is dead set against building a physical barrier to stop illegal crossings in other parts of the coun- try the way it did in San Diego. Peters reflects his party’s leadership and their determination to stop the construc- tion of any more barriers on the border. But Democrats from Pelosi down still want to appear strong on border security. Now, they are advocating sensors and drones and cam- eras that would watch an un-fenced border — while doing nothing to stop the flow of illegal immigrants. Byron York is chief political correspon- dent for The Washington Examiner. 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 9780, or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
