KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TuESDAy, APRIL 19, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Vote, our
democracy
needs it
A
s the next election draws
closer it is important to
remember the best way to
participate in our democracy is to
vote.
While we’ve spent some space and
ink already on this issue, it is crucial
we remind voters there is an elec-
tion coming up and it is important to
vote.
Oregon’s made voting pretty easy.
The ballot is delivered to your mail-
box. The voter fills it out, puts it back
into the mailbox and the job is done.
Still, off-year elections, such as the
one coming up in May, typically do
not draw the kind of voter numbers
seen during a presidential election.
Yet off-year — and any — election
remain important.
There is a lot wrong with our
system of government right now.
From the White House all the way
down to the lowest run of the democ-
racy ladder, we have a lot of items
that need to be fixed.
That’s why it is so important that
when you receive that ballot in the
mail you take a good, hard look at
the candidates. If you are unaware of
who they are or what they stand for,
do your research.
Independent research is probably
the most potent weapon against the
fake news and outright lies spon-
sored by those who are not invested
in democracy.
Yes, research — finding out about
the stance of a particular candidate
— takes work. It means slicing out a
section of time to discover whether a
candidate is a person worthy of your
vote but it is essential to making an
informed choice.
Informed choices are not exactly
legion nowadays, as dogmatic battle
lines are drawn between political
parities. So that means the more you
know, the more you can research, the
better decision you can make.
Our democracy depends upon
the involvement of the voter. This
upcoming election is as important
as any other. So, when you get your
ballot, don’t disregard it. Take the
time. Get involved in democracy.
Beavers and streams
ALEX
HOBBS
PASTURES OF PLENT Y
O
n a cool morning in early April,
I stood in a circle of local volun-
teers waiting to embark upon a
habitat enhancement project along the
Crooked River. The work was spear-
headed by BeaverWorks, an organiza-
tion whose purpose is to educate and
foster the coexistence of humans and
Castor canadensis — beaver.
We went out armed with shov-
els and rakes and hammers and, most
importantly, beaver food: Cottonwood,
willow, sumac, golden currant, wood
rose. We worked methodically, inten-
tionally, until the sun began to slip
behind the Cascades.
Our collective definition of a stream
might entail swift-moving water, steep
banked sides, white water churning
around boulders and rocks. What is
really happening, however, is a cycle
of degradation and erosion. Scar tissue
left behind by human intervention and
the absence of beavers. These incised
streams mean a reduced water table,
reduced vegetation, reduced sediment–
a cycle that will continue in perpetuity
without restoration attempts.
What I can’t stop thinking about in
the days following the planting is the
dichotomy of the incised, unhealthy
stream versus the meandering gentle-
ness of a healthy one. With our post-set-
tler goggles, we see a stream’s intended
state as stagnant and sluggish.
It is easy to understand why we
mistakenly think of these rapid, unnat-
ural streams as better. The water is
flowing from point A to point B faster,
without hindrance. This misconcep-
tion offers us a glimpse inside our
own shared beliefs. Chronically over
productive, terminally logged on, tuned
in.
The lure of falling into the swifter
stream is so strong, and wading through
the murky waters of a beaver meadow
seems so unpleasant. It is tempting
to make rash decisions when what
lies ahead us is anything but certain.
Entrusting the wandering over the
linear takes time, courage.
So we go to sleep, and in the morn-
ing, we plant willow and hope Castor
canadensis returns.
I have often joked that it’s time to
overturn Marbury v Madison, the
landmark 1803 case in which Justice
John Marshall cunningly legitimized
judicial review. Rippling out from that
little pebble, over 200 years of volleying
between originalism, pragmatism and
all the philosophical iterations between.
This is the same institution, after all,
which handed down the grotesque
opinions on Dred Scott, Plessy and
Korematsu — blights upon the Amer-
ican experiment. Cutting a swath in
the opposite direction, the Warren
Court established Brown, Miranda and
Loving in an attempt to right historical
wrongs. Political whiplash is unavoid-
able when there are lifetime appoint-
ments, shadow organizations and dark
money circling the institution like
vultures over carrion.
The entropy with which the Supreme
Court is seemingly ordered natu-
rally produced the cynical confirma-
tion hearings of Justice Ketanji Brown
Jackson. Political Kabuki theater
co-produced by the Federalist Society,
4Chan forums and Donald Trump Jr.’s
Instagram account. At the head of the
charge, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham
— The Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
of the Senate Judiciary Committee —
watch as they tilt their lances at wind-
mills.
The modern Republican Party
makes no effort to hide the fact that
it maintains its grip over its constitu-
ents primarily based on culture war
crusades. Critical race theory, religious
purity tests, allegations of being soft on
child predators. All bad faith excuses
to deny a confirmation vote to a woman
with a near-perfect pedigree. Disturb-
ingly enough, these arguments are all
laundered versions of QAnon ideology.
We watched as it went mainstream on
Jan. 6, 2021. We saw how the majority
of Republicans remained skeptical over
the results of the presidential election
despite evidence to the contrary, and
just how many were willing to commit
violence to keep Trump in power. It
was only a matter of time until the same
strategy was wielded in a Supreme
Court confirmation hearing. But it is
especially nauseating to see it happen
to Justice Brown Jackson. Her treat-
ment by the Republican senators and
subsequent conservative media outlets
has been shameful at best, malevolent
at worst.
One can’t help but wonder if Clar-
ence Thomas and his activist wife will
be held to the same standard of inquisi-
tion. After all, the Supreme Court still
broadcasts itself as apolitical. Surely
Sens. Cruz, Grassley, Cotton, Hawley,
Graham and Blackburn will avail them-
selves to look into the pair’s role on
Jan. 6. Surely.
———
Alex Hobbs is a former educator
turned full-time homeschooling mom.
She has a degree in political science from
the blessings of liberty.” These are
secular goals, and the Founding Fathers
knew it was up to us to provide them, not
God.
The letter writer quoted from John
F. Kennedy’s inaugural address. I’ll
counter with his remarks to the Greater
Houston Ministerial Association while
campaigning in 1960. Addressing critics
fearful his Catholic faith would dictate
his decisions as president, Kennedy said:
“I believe in an America where the sepa-
ration of church and state is absolute —
where no Catholic prelate would tell the
president how to act, and no Protestant
minister would tell his parishioners for
whom to vote.”
As for the writer’s diatribe on the
evils of godless Democrats, I suggest
judging the parties by their actions, not
their words.
That Grand Olde Party (GOP)
inflamed the COVID-19 pandemic by
spreading lies, refused the results of a
fair election and resorted to an attempted
insurrection, pushed through extreme
voting lows to disadvantage minorities
and the poor, passed a tax cut that made
the richest even richer and insists on
controlling women’s bodies. They also
denigrate anyone who has a different
sexual or gender identity than they see
as acceptable, held ukrainian military
support hostage … oh, and they want to
end Social Security and Medicare (see
Sen. Rick Scott’s proposed GOP plat-
form).
The Democrats’ positions are the
opposite and show much more so-called
Christian charity.
Hal McCune
Pendleton
Culture war boiling points
YOUR VIEWS
EDITORIALS
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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.
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or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
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God is mentioned
zero times in the
U.S. Constitution
It’s odd the writer of “Wake up,
America” (East Oregonian, April 7)
chose faith in God as the litmus test for
which political party to support. Guess
how many times God is mentioned in the
u.S. Constitution?
Zero.
The Constitution purposely takes
no position on theological issues and
insists governments should derive
“their powers from the consent of the
governed.” The Constitution seeks
to “form a more perfect union, estab-
lish justice, ensure domestic tranquil-
ity, provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare and secure