KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Living
up to our
rights in a
democracy
W
e as a nation spend a lot of time
— as we should — focusing on
the rights of the individual but
we just as often forget that while each of
us as Americans are endowed with certain
rights under the Constitution we also have
a responsibility to live up to the themes of
those privileges.
We expect a lot from our nation, from
our elected leaders and when they fail we
are quick — again, as we should — to
point out those failures and demand that
they be fixed.
Our responsibilities as citizens, as resi-
dents of our great piece of Oregon, are
varied and legion.
We all have a responsibility to ourselves
and to our families but we also share an
obligation to our neighborhood, our town,
our county, our state and finally our nation.
Our responsibilities center on a very
simple theme of what can we do, as indi-
viduals, to help enhance our nation and
demonstrate the rights we hold dear are
ones we deserve.
In short, every citizen carries an obliga-
tion to, in some way, to serve the greater
public good. Perhaps that service is related
in volunteering. Or maybe it is service as
an elected leader.
Today, in a partisan environment where
even the best intentions can be skewed and
criticized it is easy for many well-meaning
residents to shun the political spectrum to
hide from the obligation because it is such
an ordeal.
There is no doubt our political arena is
rife with negative connotations and the
full-scale twisting of facts. We seemingly
face an array of terrible choices politically
and our neighbors and friends are divided
on specific issues.
Yet our system is built — to some extent
— upon political friction. It is only when
self-made demagogues gain momentum
and spew misleading and self-serving rhet-
oric that our system bends from one end of
the political spectrum to the other.
We have a responsibility as voters,
as citizens, to be educated enough to be
able to look past the white noise of polit-
ical rhetoric and get to the heart of any
matter. Then we must gauge and evaluate
our conclusion — not as Republicans or
Democrats or liberals or conservatives —
but as American citizens.
We must, as citizens, live up to the
rights given to us by being active partici-
pants in our democracy and not spectators.
That means getting involved, using
wise reflection rather than pure hot
emotion and reviewing each issue with a
value-free perspective.
EDITORIALS
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.
LETTERS
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:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801
Walter Cronkite, we need you
ANDREW
CUTLER
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
A
s the U.S. House of Represen-
tatives opens its investigation
into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on
the Capitol, I can’t help but remember
a similar series of hearings during the
past 50 years over other such high-pro-
file issues such as Watergate and the
Iran-Contra arms sale controversy.
As I reflect on these similar-in-
scope controversies I am reminded
of how much has changed in our
lives and why that impacts how we
as a nation absorb such episodes.
The Watergate scandal pretty much
needs no introduction or explanatory
analysis. The scandal brought down
President Richard M. Nixon and sent
the nation off on a different trajectory
we are, in some ways, still on today.
The Iran-Contra affair was a big, big
deal in the mid-1980s. It was, in essence,
another political scandal where, between
1981 and 1986, senior Reagan adminis-
tration officials secretly cleared the way
for the sale of weapons to Iran to hope-
fully use the profits to fund the Contras
in Nicaragua. At the time the Contras
were a guerrilla group supported by
the U.S. who were trying to over-
throw the Nicaraguan government.
Both scandals rocked the nation
and created a tremendous amount of
controversy. Now, as the House begins
its live hearings, the item that reso-
nates the most with me is how much our
media landscape has changed and how
these new hearings will be presented.
Now, more than ever, the hear-
ings are inside a new level of contro-
versy and partisan bickering. Many
Republicans don’t think the hear-
ings will even be fair. Fox Network
won’t carry the hearings live.
The entire episode will, it appears,
evolve into yet another politi-
cal quagmire with no real results
except for more partisanship.
In short, there will be no single “honest
broker” to come forward and present a
factual, nonbiased view for the Ameri-
can public. Instead, our news media will
be — as it has been now for almost a
generation — in its own particular silos.
Fox will cater to a certain group.
CNN will, too. Other networks
will pander to who they believe
are the most important. The
truth? Well, forget about it.
That, I think, is the real shame.
We no longer have a Walter Cronkite
who can come on the screen and give
us a simple just-the-facts report that
lets each of us make our own deci-
sion. That type of reporting is some-
thing I push very hard for in my
position with the EO Media Group. I
want that type of just-the-facts report-
ing to be our hallmark. As long as I
am able, I will continue to do so.
Yet, as I look across the broad
media landscape and I review the
hearings that began June 9, I have to
admit I feel a bit disappointed. I wish
we could, as a nation, do better.
I am, in the end, left with only a
single sentiment: Walter Cronkite,
where are you now when we need you?
———
Andrew Cutler is the publisher/editor
of the East Oregonian and the regional
editorial director for the EO Media Group,
overseeing the East Oregonian and five
more newspapers in Eastern Oregon.
The children killed in Uvalde,
Columbine, Sandy Hook and so many
other schools were not made safe or
free. The people killed in churches,
grocery stores and shopping malls
lost their freedom. In fact, because of
our worship of the Second Amend-
ment, no American is as free as the
citizens of other developed coun-
tries that limit access to firearms.
I am someone who reveres the U.S.
Constitution, and I accept the Second
Amendment as a part of our history. I
do not accept the need for so many to be
armed to the teeth with military weap-
ons intended to kill fellow humans.
Evelyn Swart
Joseph
complete and unlimited confidence
in every one of them. He immedi-
ately sent submarines into Japanese
waters and conducted carrier opera-
tions disrupting Japanese initiatives.
The discovery through code break-
ing of enemy intentions for Midway
provided a unique opportunity to fight
their main carrier fleet, but against long
odds. Preparing Midway Island for
invasion and assembling the carrier task
forces for battle required the combined
achievements of thousands in logis-
tics, ship repair and naval intelligence.
Yet on June 4, 1942, the final
margin for victory resided with the
fearful sacrifice of a few brave men.
About 550 airmen lost more than half
their number when killed flying into
the concentrated anti-aircraft fire
and fighter attacks to destroy four
heavy carriers and defend Midway.
This splendid victory permanently
seized the initiative from the Japanese.
One could easily paraphrase Winston
Churchill to say never have so many,
who fought in the Pacific, owed so much
to so few. Walter Lord and Gordon W.
Prange considered this accomplish-
ment incredible and miraculous. For
Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya,
it was the battle that doomed Japan.
Nolan Nelson
Redmond
YOUR VIEWS
The Second Amendment
made sense — in 1787
I don’t think the Second Amend-
ment to the Constitution provides me
any safety. The way a lot of people
interpret the Second Amendment
creates fear. Living in fear is not free-
dom. It does not give freedom to the
thousands of men, women and chil-
dren who were killed in 233 mass
murder incidents (four or more people
killed) in this country during the past
year (as of the writing of this letter).
I can understand that in 1787,
when the Constitution, was written,
it made sense. There was no Army,
Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard
or organized policing of any kind.
The conscripted soldiers during the
Revolutionary War used muskets with
homemade ammunition against the
British. No one during that time could
have imagined that 250 years later
so many citizens of the United States
would have the sophisticated weap-
ons of war that are available now.
In 2022 the United States has more
guns than people, and the guns that
are most in demand seem to be those
designed specifically to kill people
— people in large numbers. Do these
armaments make us safe? Do they make
us less fearful? Do they make us free?
Admiral Chester Nimitz
takes command
Christmas Day 1941, Admiral Ches-
ter Nimitz arrived alone by Catalina
flying boat to command the Pacific
Fleet. He saw the Pearl Harbor attack
had missed dry-docks, repair shops
and the tank farm. Therefore, the
carriers, their escorts and submarines
stood ready to take the offensive.
Nimitz determined some good men
had taken a terrible beating. When
he officially took command Dec. 31,
he told the assembled staffs he had