A8 THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2021
EDITORIALS & OPINIONS
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Heidi Wright
Gerry O’Brien
Richard Coe
Publisher
Editor
Editorial Page Editor
Raising alcohol
tax in Oregon
has pros, cons
R
aise your glass for mental health. Alcohol drinkers could
be contributing $746 million in new taxes every year to
raise money for mental health.
The Oregon Health Authority had
proposed a similar tax in its plans,
but Gov. Kate Brown declined to in-
clude it in her budget. The nonprofit
Oregon Recovers has teamed up
with legislators to work up a tax bill
anyway. Is it what Oregon needs?
Suggesting higher taxes on alco-
hol might not make you popular at
parties, but it makes sense on some
levels. Higher taxes can reduce con-
sumption and raise money. As the
price goes up, some problems might
go down. The state can also raise
taxes without creating a whole new
bureaucracy because the bureau-
cracy is already there. The concept
under consideration would take
the money raised and use it to help
Oregonians with mental health
problems.
And there is a need. Relatively
speaking, the state of Oregon has
one of the highest rates of need for
mental health care and the lowest
rates of access, according to Mental
Health America, a nonprofit dedi-
cated to mental health.
We haven’t seen the exact pro-
posal, but according to the Willa-
mette Week, it would “compel the
Oregon Liquor Control Commis-
sion to raise prices 20%” on hard al-
cohol. The rest of the money would
be raised by increasing taxes on beer
and wine. It’s not clear what that
would mean to prices for a six-pack
or a bottle of wine.
Are Oregon’s taxes on alcohol too
high or too low now? The Tax Foun-
dation regularly puts out maps that
show relative rates among the states.
Beer taxes in Oregon in 2020 were
about 8 cents a gallon, giving it one
of the lowest rates in the country,
45th. Wine taxes were about 67 cents
a gallon, making it 31st in the coun-
try. And Oregon was No. 2 in taxes
for distilled spirits at $21.95 a gallon,
though that takes into consideration
an implied rate because the state of
Oregon controls hard liquor sales.
Of course higher taxes could
mean lower sales, and that could
mean jobs. Oregon has some 900
wineries, 400 breweries, 100 cideries
and 73 distributors. You can’t walk
far around Bend without bump-
ing into a brewer or distiller. And
many of those businesses have been
slammed by the pandemic.
No matter how you feel about this
tax proposal, you can let your legis-
lator know.
Bills would change
child care, ban box
H
undreds of bills are intro-
duced before the Legislature
begins, but more are added
and updated almost daily. We no-
ticed quite a few interesting ones
added to the legislative hopper late
last week.
Affordable child care is simply too
hard for too many families to find in
Oregon. A state task force has been
working on the problem. But one
solid change to child care proposed is
in Senate Bill 716. Employers would
be required to “reasonably accom-
modate” an employee’s work sched-
ule request as a result of the availabil-
ity of child care. What is reasonable?
That is not defined. That could be a
lawsuit-sized headache for employ-
ers, but let’s hope everyone is indeed
reasonable. Passage of this bill may
mean employees without children or
with more flexible child care sched-
ules get their schedules shifted.
Transit workers in Oregon cannot
strike according to state law. Senate
Bill 690 would repeal that section
of the law. Good news, perhaps,
for transit workers. It could tilt the
balance toward more benefits and
wages for them. People who ride
the bus might not be so happy, if it
comes to a strike.
Should people be required to dis-
close criminal convictions in college
applications? Senate Bill 713 would
prohibit private and public post-sec-
ondary institutions in Oregon from
requiring applicants to make any
such disclosure before a decision
was made on admission. There is
an exception carved out for law en-
forcement programs and profes-
sional degree programs. This bill can
be seen as an extension of the “ban
the box” movement, which strives
to eliminate barriers that convicted
criminals face. Most colleges across
the country did require that such in-
formation be disclosed, according to
a 2019 study. Disclosing a conviction
may not bar a student. Lying about it
might. But many believe having the
question on an application at all cre-
ates a chilling effect, destroying op-
portunities for people to turn their
lives around. Should Oregon ban the
box for higher education?
Editorials reflect the views of The Bulletin’s editorial board, Publisher Heidi Wright, Editor
Gerry O’Brien and Editorial Page Editor Richard Coe. They are written by Richard Coe.
My Nickel’s Worth
Thank you for the shot
When I got my first dose of
COVID-19 vaccine recently, I was
positively giddy. Thank you to all
the workers at the fairgrounds who
work like a well-oiled machine. It
was painless and efficient.
Thank you Gov. Kate Brown for
making educators a priority as we
return to the classroom with mul-
tiple opportunities for exposure to
infection. Thank you to the over-60
citizens who have been so gracious.
It is unfortunate that difficult de-
cisions have to be made. I promise
not to squander the gift I have been
given. I have pages of notes and
plans of how I am going to meet the
needs of my students.
Thank you to the families who have
worked so hard with their children
during comprehensive distance learn-
ing. Your efforts were not in vain. I
will continue to wear a mask, socially
distance and wash my hands at every
opportunity. Those are still important
tools to keep everyone as safe as possi-
ble. The vaccine is not a panacea but it
is beacon of hope. Thank you!
— Torree Abrams works for
Bend-La Pine Schools.
Results were reliable
With so many judicial comments,
including from the Supreme Court
of the United States, so many re-
counts of the ballot results, we ended
up with the most reliable results ever
from a national election. In spite of
this, letter writer Jared Black wants
an asterisk next to Biden’s name.
How do we rate Trump’s four-year
reign in office: @#$%&*!
— Tom Gunn, Bend
Gorman was an inspiration
Thank you for publishing the
text of “The Hill We Climb” by
the Youth Poet Laureate Amanda
Gorman, which she read at Pres-
ident Joe Biden’s inauguration on
Jan. 20.
Her composure and delivery were
remarkable for a 22-year-old on
such an auspicious occasion. But
her words were even more impres-
sive: eloquent, uplifting, and inspi-
rational.
— Laurie Henberg, Sunriver
Bad vaccination policy
Juxtaposed on Saturday’s front
page were three stories about
COVID-19: one in which Redmond
schools announced a delay of in-per-
son learning (which I applaud) and
two regarding Oregon’s current vac-
cine priorities (which I disagree
with).
Gov. Kate Brown has embarked
on a program with hypotheti-
cal benefits (returning students to
schools) at the expense of a known
outcome (excess COVID-19 mortal-
ities for Oregon seniors). In doing
so, she repeats the same mistakes
she regularly castigated the Trump
administration for: ignoring the sci-
ence.
She misses the point that the only
way schools will return to normal
is when the pandemic has ended
— and the only way to end the pan-
demic is to follow the science as well
as the recommendations of medical
professionals.
Dozens — if not hundreds — of
Oregon seniors will pay the ultimate
price for delaying their vaccinations.
If the governor wants to demonstrate
empathy and leadership, she should
defer her personal vaccination until
all Oregon seniors have had the op-
portunity to receive theirs; or, better
yet, until all Oregon residents have
had their turn. Nothing beats leader-
ship by example!
— Kent McLean, Redmond
Brown made the right choice
These trying times force tough
decisions. I approve of Gov. Kate
Brown’s decision to vaccinate teach-
ers before seniors. All children,
especially in the K-3 group, will
benefit significantly from in-per-
son learning, not only education-
ally but socially as well. It has been
well- documented that not only do
schools teach and provide needed
social interactions, but they also en-
sure access to meals and visibility to
child abuse for some.
It is not just children that will ben-
efit when schools reopen, but par-
ents (mostly women) who have had
to forgo working and can return if
their work environment is available
and safe.
How then to respond to the con-
cern of 300 additional senior deaths
if vaccinations are delayed by two
weeks? Communities can help en-
sure that these numbers are not real-
ized by making grocery runs for se-
niors, by staying in touch with their
senior relatives, not with indoor
gatherings, but by phone or elec-
tronic means, and following mask
and social distancing rules.
At age 73, I can wait a few more
weeks.
— Kay Korzun, Bend
Letters policy
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Biden’s foreign policy must start with strength, unity at home
BY DANIEL DREZNER
Special to The Washington Post
E
very U.S. president elected in
this century has started his pres-
idency by prioritizing problems
at home rather than abroad. George
W. Bush ran on a foreign policy plat-
form grounded in humility, devoting
his inaugural address to themes of re-
storing civility and reducing poverty
in this country. Amid economic cri-
sis and war, Barack Obama stressed
the need for nation-building at home
to “begin again the work of remak-
ing America.” Donald Trump echoed
Obama’s theme, declaring the need to
repair American carnage and subordi-
nate all foreign policy principles to do-
mestic economic interests. Joe Biden
continued that tradition in talking
about the need “to restore the soul and
to secure the future of America.”
Seasoned U.S. foreign policy observ-
ers reacted to these words with a mix-
ture of fervor and cynicism. Fervor,
because there is a legitimate, ongoing
debate within the foreign policy com-
munity of just how much any incom-
ing administration should try to exer-
cise global leadership. For some, this is
because of debates about the utility of
retrenchment or engagement relative
to the status quo. For others, it is the
content of the liberal international or-
der that they think should be debated.
The cynicism is because national se-
curity advocates across the spectrum
treat the words of an inaugural address
as fleeting. Sometimes events, such
as the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, force
a president’s hand. Sometimes, advo-
cacy, such as those who called for hu-
manitarian interventions or targeted
assassinations, bring an issue to the
front of a president’s queue.
As Biden’s inaugural address fades
from view, it will be easy for the stan-
dard retrenchment vs. engagement
debate to emerge. Traditionally, I have
been on the engagement side of that
argument.
This time is different. For Biden,
foreign policy really has to start at
home. This is not to say that the Biden
administration should be isolationist.
Far from it. Biden has put together a
stellar foreign policy and national se-
curity team dedicated to restoration.
Whatever qualms I have about the de-
fense secretary, the Democrats now
have a much deeper foreign policy
bench than Republicans, a remarkable
reversal of fortune from a generation
ago.
My point is that Biden should let
that team take the lead on as many for-
eign policy questions as possible for
the rest of the year.
This is not only because these prob-
lems are paramount, although they
clearly are. Nor is it only because it
is Biden’s first year in office and he
should maximize his policymaking
ability while his party controls both
chambers of Congress, although that is
also a good reason. It is that right now,
Biden’s ability to address what ails the
nation will help the United States over-
seas the most.
Read the first inaugural addresses
of Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden in
sequence and a pattern emerges: The
crises facing each new leader are de-
scribed in progressively more apoca-
lyptic terms. Look at polling across the
world and a similar pattern emerges:
Foreign attitudes toward the United
States have worsened because of the
country’s inability to get a grip on the
coronavirus pandemic. The after-
math of a Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol
does not help either. Allies look at the
United States and doubt its ability to
credibly commit; adversaries look and
see every reason to trumpet their own
models as inherently superior in cop-
ing with 21st-century challenges.
The Biden administration has the
capacity to shift this narrative. It can
improve the testing and tracing re-
gime. Most important, it can accelerate
the vaccination of Americans well past
1 million doses a day. Given the emer-
gence of more-infectious strains of the
coronavirus, the quicker the vaccina-
tions proceed, the better.
The more the United States displays
policy competency, the greater U.S. in-
fluence will be globally.
Polls suggest that in taking office
and implementing the first-day actions
that eliminate the previous adminis-
tration’s dumbest, most counterpro-
ductive policies, Biden has already
ramped up the nation’s image among
key allies.
Biden’s foreign policy team has a
lot of work to do on how to handle
China, Russia, the Middle East and
other global challenges. The president
should let them get to it and get out
of the way for 2021. His experience
means they are less likely to freelance
and more likely to pursue his overar-
ching restorationist vision.
Time is a president’s scarcest re-
source. The overwhelming bulk of
Biden’s time this year should be de-
voted to restoring Americans’ trust in
their own system. On this, let us hope,
all stripes of the foreign policy com-
munity will agree.
e e
Daniel Drezner is a professor of international
politics at the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University.