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About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 2020)
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 Baker City, Oregon 4A Write a letter news@bakercityherald.com EDITORIAL Draconian deadlines The scenario sounds farcical, more like a skit on “Sat- urday Night Live” than reality. The Oregon Republican Party compiled a statement to be printed in the voters pamphlet that will be distributed prior to the Nov. 3 general election. The deadline to file the statement with the Secretary of State’s office was 5 p.m. on Aug. 25. Precisely 5 p.m. Last week the Secretary of State’s office announced that it had rejected the GOP’s statement, meaning it might not be printed in the voters pamphlet, because the statement, submitted by computer, arrived 29 seconds late. That’s 29 seconds, not 29 minutes. Just a shade less than half a minute. Deadlines are necessary, to be sure. But determining that something filed online, when the gap between the click of the mouse and the arrival of the data can potentially be, let’s say, 29 seconds, is pedantic at best. Moreover, there is uncertainty about whether the Republicans in fact failed to meet the deadline under any measure. The GOP has filed a legal challenge in Marion County seeking to overturn the decision by state officials and require the state to include the Republican statement in the voters pamphlet when it’s printed later this month. Kevin Hoar, a spokesman for the Republican Party, said party officials did file the statement several minutes before 5 p.m., but didn’t receive a receipt for the payment until 29 seconds after 5 p.m. GOP officials also say that they would have filed the statement earlier that day but they were not able to access their account due to a problem with the state’s online filing system. A spokes- man for the Secretary of State’s office said there was no such problem. Considering that computers diligently record times, the GOP claim should be easy to prove or disprove. It’s difficult to imagine why party officials would go to court if they knew they couldn’t show that they actually beat the deadline. Oregon GOP Chairman Bill Currier said officials waited until the last day to ensure the statement reflects the most current events. The Democratic Party submit- ted its statement one day earlier, on Aug. 24. — Jayson Jacoby, Baker City Herald editor Remembering prisoners of war When was the last time you thought of those who were prisoners of war or those who are still missing in action? Can you imagine what it was like be- ing a prisoner? Have you contemplated the lack of closure the families of the missing experience? Years ago, hundreds of thousands wore POW/MIA bracelets with the name and capture date of our impris- oned military members. Today, we rarely talk about our soldiers who were prison- ers of war and those who are missing in action. We need more memorials and remembrances so our citizens do not forget the sacrifi ces of our heroes and their families. These memorials and remembrances cause our children and grandchildren to ask questions and develop an understanding. Our future generations need to understand the cost of the wars that have been fought. Most of us are unaware that more than 700 Oregonians were prisoners of war during World War I and World War II. Of that number, 112 were civilians. Almost 200 Oregonians died in captivity since World War I, with 18 of those dy- ing in Korea and three in Vietnam. Nearly 1,000 Oregonians are still missing in action from World War I through the Vietnam War. There are 21 World War I MIAs from Oregon, 886 from World War II, 56 from the Korean War, two during the Cold War and 34 STEVE BATES from the Vietnam War. Almost 1,000 Or- egon families have been unable to give their loved one an appropriate burial. In 1979, to honor and remember the missing and prisoners of war, Congress and the president proclaimed the third Friday of every September as POW- MIA Recognition Day with the fol- lowing statement: “The point of POW/ MIA Recognition Day is to ensure that America remembers and shows that it stands behind those who serve, and to make sure the nation does everything it can to account for those who have never returned.” Currently, to remind us of the sac- rifi ces of these American heroes and their families, most public facilities are now fl ying the POW-MIA fl ag under the Stars and Stripes. In 2019, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill declaring Highway 26 the POW-MIA Memorial Highway from border to border. The governor signed the legislation into law on Sept. 16, 2019, and the law became effective Jan 1. On Friday, Sept. 18, this year’s POW-MIA Recognition Day, POW- MIA Memorial Highway signs will be dedicated and installed on Highway 26 near the communities of Seaside, Boring, Madras, Prineville, John Day and Vale. These signs on Highway 26 will help us all remember and cause our children to ask questions. A group of dedicated Oregonians is working to make sure that our Vietnam War vet- erans are remembered with a Vietnam War Memorial on the Oregon State Capitol Grounds. The proposed design of the Vietnam War Memorial on the Oregon State Capitol Grounds also includes a tribute to our prisoners of war and those who are still missing in action. You can honor and remember our he- roes with a contribution to the Vietnam War Memorial on the Oregon State Capitol Grounds. Contributions by check can be mailed to: Vietnam War Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 1448, Boring, OR 97009. Credit card donations can be made at www.vietnamwarmemorial fund.org. Join us in remembering our Prisoners of War and Missing In Action, especially on Sept. 18, POW-MIA Recognition Day. Steve Bates lives in Boring and is an honorary life member of the Vietnam Veterans of America and is a life member of the Associates of Vietnam Veterans of America. He serves as chairman of the Committee on Memorials and Remembrance and President of the Vietnam War Memorial Fund. America needs a refresher course on socialism A frightening 70% of millenni- als say they would back a socialist candidate for offi ce. And today, we are seeing many socialist ideas gaining traction, such as “free” college tuition for all, government- run health care and a guaranteed income even for able-bodied people who don’t work. While we can blame some of the attraction to socialism on its false promises of fi xing every social ill, the nearly inescapable indoctrina- tion present in our schools and universities, and the members of the media who carry its water, some of the blame lies with us, the older generation. Too often, we have failed to edu- cate newer generations about the myths and realities of socialism, instead leaving it up to others who have a different agenda. In partial reparation, then, here are six of the more persistent myths debunked. Myth No. 1: Socialism has never failed because it has never really been tried. In truth, socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried for over a century, from the former Soviet Union to the democratic socialism of Israel, India and Great Britain after World War II to present-day Venezuela. Its econom- ic system doesn’t work; it doesn’t respect human rights; and because it works against human nature, government must constantly suppress the people to keep them compliant. KAY C. JAMES Socialism’s failures abound across the globe. Venezuela, for ex- ample, once had one of the world’s largest oil reserves. Today, 90% of its people live in poverty, and they need a wheelbarrow of Venezuelan bolivars to buy a loaf of bread. Even socialism’s “best” experi- ments didn’t work. “The world’s most successful experiment in socialism,” a prominent economist wrote about Israel, has “resolutely embraced capitalism.” Myth No. 2: Denmark (or your favorite Scandinavian country) is a prime example that socialism works. The reality is, Denmark has a free-market economy that produces the goods and services that the government then heav- ily taxes to fi nance an extensive welfare state. Despite American socialists’ claims, Denmark’s prime minister once told a shocked Washington, Letters to the editor • We welcome letters on any issue of public interest. Customer complaints about specifi c businesses will not be printed. • The Baker City Herald will not knowingly print false or misleading claims. However, we cannot verify D.C., audience: “I would like to make one thing clear ... Denmark is a market economy.” The nation actually has a great deal of eco- nomic freedom with few business regulations and no minimum wage (along with the other Scandina- vian countries). Like Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway all rely on free-market capitalism to fi nance their expansive welfare systems. Myth No. 3: Socialism is compas- sionate and caring. In truth, social- ists only care about the collective, not the individual person. To justify his Orwellian actions, Lenin used the cynical cliche, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” Well, they weren’t eggs but humans, and 100 million of them have been victims of Marxist- Leninist socialism, according to Harvard’s “The Black Book of Communism.” In Maoist China, children as young as 12 were subject to capital punishment, women were forced to work in coal mines and workers were harassed during their lunch- time with threats of prison if they returned to work late. In the Soviet Union, people faced perpetual sur- veillance, leading one dissident to say, “We lived in a world swarming with invisible eyes and ears.” Myth No. 4: Socialism places power in the hands of the people. Actually, true socialism depends upon the dictatorship of a military leader or a political party. After 60 years of the “Revolu- cion,” the Cuban people are still waiting for the democratic election that Fidel Castro promised them. Socialist leaders promised to bring down dictators only to replace them with their own Marxist dictatorships in places like China, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos. Myth No. 5: Karl Marx, social- ism’s founder, was one of the great thinkers of the 19th century. Marx was wrong about nearly every- thing. Nearly 200 years after “The Communist Manifesto,” the nation state has not withered away. Capitalism, not socialism, rules the the accuracy of all statements in letters to the editor. • Writers are limited to one letter every 15 days. • The writer must sign the letter and include an address and phone number (for verifi cation only). Letters that do not include this information cannot be published. • Letters will be edited for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. Mail: To the Editor, Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker City, OR 97814 Email: news@bakercityherald.com global economy. Workers have not turned into revolutionaries but en- trepreneurs. And private property — rather than being rejected — is a cornerstone of every prosperous country. Myth No. 6: Human nature is malleable and easily changed by government edicts. For 70 years, the Soviet Union tried to suppress people’s innermost desires for freedom and for improving their lot in life. In practice, socialism depends on constant policing by the state and huge prison camps like the Soviet gulag and the Chinese laogai to coerce people and maintain power. The inalienable rights outlined in the Declaration of Independence and protected in the U.S. Constitu- tion reject the Marxist idea that people can be molded like clay by a central government. These are just some of the many myths and realities of socialism, an ideology that has failed every- where it’s been tried. We must each in our own way work to enlighten our children and grandchildren about its evils and its failures. We must be there to counter the falsehoods they are learning from professors, the media and pop culture, or we will surely lose an- other generation to this poisonous ideology. Kay C. James is president of The Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).