A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
SB 870 should
be decided by
Oregon voters
T
here is great irony in
a legislative proposal
to embrace the Na-
tional Popular Vote, which
would change how Oregon
helps elect our nation’s
president.
Senate Bill 870 would
require that Oregon’s votes
in the Electoral College be
cast for whomever wins the
national popular vote for
president, regardless of the
election outcome in Oregon.
The bill’s backers say they
believe in “one person, one
vote.” However, they are ada-
mant against letting voters
make that change through a
ballot measure. Instead, they
insist the Legislature do so.
The bill passed the Senate
on a 17-12 vote and passed
out of the House Rules Com-
mittee on a party-line vote
with no discussion. It was
scheduled for a vote on the
House fl oor Tuesday.
The Oregon House passed
similar bills 2009, 2013 and
2015, only to see the legis-
lation disappear in the Sen-
ate. Last time, supporters of
the National Popular Vote
refused to accept a compro-
mise offered by Senate Pres-
ident Peter Courtney, D-Sa-
lem, to send the proposal to
voters.
This year, advocates
started in the Senate, where
the increased number of lib-
eral Democratic senators
ensured passage of SB 870.
Our nation’s founders cre-
ated a process in which elec-
tors — now referred to as
the Electoral College, a term
that does not appear in the
Constitution — choose the
president and vice presi-
dent. This arrangement was
an 18th century compromise
between Congress’ elect-
ing the president and having
the people do so. It also gave
a greater voice to smaller
states, although advocates of
the National Popular Vote say
that no longer applies.
The Electoral College has
proved controversial, to say
the least. Through the cen-
turies, more than 700 pro-
posals have been introduced
in Congress to reform or
eliminate the Electoral Col-
lege. The impetus stems in
large part from fi ve presi-
dents — including two of the
past three — losing the pop-
ular vote but winning the
presidency via the Electoral
College.
That is how Republicans
Donald Trump and George
W. Bush came to occupy
the White House instead
of Democrats Hillary Clin-
ton in 2016 and Al Gore in
2000. The other three, in case
you’re wondering, are pres-
idents Benjamin Harrison
(1888), Rutherford B. Hayes
(1876) and John Quincy
Adams (1824).
State Sen. Betsy John-
son, D-Scappoose, recalled
that recent history in urging
her fellow senators, unsuc-
cessfully, to send the issue to
voters.
“There are two words not
mentioned in Senate Bill
870: Donald Trump. In my
opinion, he’s the reason the
National Popular Vote has
caught on so aggressively of
late,” Johnson said. “If we’re
going to end an historic insti-
tution, let it be prompted by
something loftier than dislike
for one particular president.
“Let regular voters
make that decision, not the
Legislature.”
Johnson, Courtney and
Senate Majority Leader
Ginny Burdick, D-Portland,
voted against the bill. Two
Republicans voted for it:
Brian Boquist of Dallas and
Chuck Thomsen of Hood
River.
SB 870 would add Oregon
to the 14 states, plus the Dis-
trict of Columbia, that have
adopted the “Interstate Com-
pact for Agreement Among
the States to Elect the Pres-
ident by National Popular
Vote.”
If Oregon joined, partic-
ipating jurisdictions would
have a collective total of 196
electoral votes. The compact
will become legally bind-
ing once enough more states
have joined to reach an Elec-
toral College majority: 270
votes.
The Electoral College
comprises 538 electors. Each
state has as many electors
as it does U.S. senators and
members of the U.S. House
of Representatives, giving
Oregon seven electors. And
under the 23rd Amendment
to the Constitution, the Dis-
trict of Columbia is allocated
three electors.
Like most other states,
Oregon has required its elec-
tors to cast their Electoral
College ballots for whichever
presidential candidate wins
the popular vote in their own
state, regardless of what hap-
pened nationally.
Feelings run strong on
both sides of the issue. Advo-
cates of the National Popular
Vote consider the Electoral
College an anachronism from
an era in which the white
male elite made all the deci-
sions. They contend the cur-
rent system disenfranchises
members of political minori-
ties — for example, Republi-
cans in Oregon, Democrats in
Idaho — because such states
are predictably blue or red in
presidential races.
Opponents warn that
Americans should be very
wary of tinkering with the
U.S. Constitution, even in a
roundabout way. They say
the change would make it
even less likely that presiden-
tial candidates would person-
ally campaign in Oregon or
other small states.
In any case, this is an issue
that deserves to be decided
by Oregon’s 2,783,496
registered voters, not 90
legislators.
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Published every
Wednesday by
FARMER’S FATE
Make someone dance a jig
“Buy Local
Buy Homemade
Buy from People You Know
Buy from Self-Employed
When you buy from a small
business, an actual person dances
a little jig at each sale.
Big stores don’t ‘jig’ when they
make a sale.
Make someone ‘jig’ today —
buy local!”
hat a great sign, I
thought, as I pulled out
my notebook to scrib-
ble down the message. I am sure
most self-employed people feel
the same way. Each time a load of
hay drives out of the stack yard, or
a load of melons heads to the gro-
cery store, or something we have
crafted sells at the local market,
you can be sure it makes supper
time conversation that night.
I can’t remember how long ago
I jotted down the words on that
sign, but the sentiment has taken
hold in our family vernacular. Such
as “I know it’s a couple of dol-
lars more, but it’ll make some-
one dance a jig” or “I think we just
made someone dance a jig.”
I’m often very ... um ... let’s say
frugal with money. So my natural
inclination is to go where I can get
the best deal — but over time, the
personal relationships you make
when buying local often turn out
to make it a deal that can’t be beat
— making us both dance jigs —
because it isn’t just money transac-
tions that create jig dancing.
On a recent trip south, a com-
plete stranger made my husband
dance an unexpected jig. We had
spent a few days in Mexico before
deciding to surprise our kids with a
couple days at Disneyland. A mag-
ical place where adults can relive
their childhood, kids can meet
their favorite storybook characters
and just breathing in the delicious
scents seems to debit your bank
W
strangers? My husband danced a
jig the rest of the evening.
A week later we were back
home, a little worse for wear as
our trip had been maybe packed
with a little too much stuff and not
enough sleep. We were all sick,
and not a tissue in sight. Too soon
our noses looked like we were run-
ning competition with Rudolph.
Then came an Amazon package
in the mail. Inside a four-pack of
Puffs with lotion — my favor-
ite type of tissue from a friend in
North Carolina. Dancing may not
cure the common cold — but it put
a smile on my face for the rest of
the day.
Dancing a jig doesn’t have
to be as expensive as a Disney-
land cookie. It could be as sim-
ple as a letter and stamp. I recently
received a letter from a reader in
Mt. Vernon that made me “jig” all
afternoon.
The writer said he looked for-
ward to reading both my column
and “Life on a Ranch” by Chel-
sea Matthews. He then went on
to address my comment that I had
always expected “blonde, Pinter-
est-loving, tractor-driving girls”
and instead had loud, messy, ador-
able boys. In nearly the same issue,
Chelsea had been out calving when
she came back to a homecooked
meal her daughter had found on
Pinterest. The reader then sug-
gested that perhaps Chelsea and I
do a “kid-swap-camp.” Her kids
would become tractor drivers, and
mine would learn the cattle side of
ag! He closed the letter: “I am anx-
ious for each issue to watch your
two families grow through the
years to come.”
Think local. Think commu-
nity. Think about making someone
dance a jig.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Veterans deserve
Memorial Day
recognition
To the Editor:
Memorial Day is special to all
Americans with the display of
fl ags in cemeteries and on veter-
ans’ graves. The front page photo
in the Blue Mountain Eagle of
Prairie City’s cemetery was beau-
tiful, as is Canyon City cemetery.
There are veteran graves that
do not have a military marker and
are sometimes missed having a
fl ag because volunteers are not
personally aware of the individu-
al’s military service. This is unfor-
tunate for the veteran and a family
member or friend that visits the
site on Memorial Day.
It is my understanding that
several years ago both Ameri-
can Legion posts in John Day and
Prairie City acquired small stain-
less steel stars to mount at the
base of headstones to denote mil-
itary service on those not oth-
erwise identifi ed. Prairie City
Legion post has done that, but
John Day Legionnaires have yet
to do so.
I wonder why the stars have not
been set on grave bases for those
veterans that are not identifi ed as
such? If help is needed, perhaps a
Publisher............ ......................................Chris Rush, crush@eomediagroup.com
Editor & General Manager ...............Sean Hart, editor@bmeagle.com
Reporter ...................................................Richard Hanners, rick@bmeagle.com
Community News .................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Sports ........................................................Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
Marketing Rep .......................................Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com
Administrative Assistant ..................Makenna Adair, offi ce@bmeagle.com
Offi ce Assistant .....................................Alixandra Hand, offi ce@bmeagle.com
day could be picked, and volun-
teers could place the stars where
needed. All our veterans should be
recognized with a fl ag on Memo-
rial Day. It is the least we can do
for their service for our country.
Dave Traylor
John Day
‘Is this what
they fought
and died for?’
To the Editor:
I just received the latest publi-
cation of Imprimis from Hillsdale
College, which featured “Sacred
Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arling-
ton National Cemetery,” com-
piled by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton
from Arkansas. My attention was
immediately captured by the fi rst
paragraph “Every headstone,”
which described how the minia-
ture American fl ags were placed
at the graves in Arlington Ceme-
tery. Only one soldier is allowed
to place the fl ag on a row for con-
formity due to boot size. The fl ag
is placed one boot length from
the head stone, and the length
cannot vary for the full row.
The article went on to give
the history of the “Old Guard,”
which was the oldest active duty
infantry regiment in the Army
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Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
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account.
We have made
this trip multiple
times with our old-
est son — and he
knew exactly which
land he wanted to
Brianna
visit fi rst and which
Walker
rides he wanted
Fastpasses for. Our
youngest son has only been there
once, and it was a bit overwhelm-
ing to him. He found the kid rides
“too dark,” “too loud” and “too
scary.” Meanwhile, my oldest just
wanted to ride the biggest ones
again and again and again. So we
decided to divide and conquer.
I headed to the roller coaster
with my speed-obsessed boy, while
my husband headed out with the
stroller to fi nd something “not
dark, not loud, not scary” to do.
The breeze picked up, and my hus-
band maneuvered the stroller into
a side area, and started rummag-
ing around in the bottom of it for
sweatshirts.
“Excuse me sir, are you in line
for the cookies?” a woman’s voice
asked.
My husband looked up to see
he had stopped in front of a fresh
cookie hut. “Oh, sorry, no,” he
said, trying to pull the stroller out
of the way. “I didn’t even real-
ize there were cookies there,” he
laughed, “but feel free to pick one
up for me.”
The lady moved around him,
and he fi nally got the shirts out
and had just fi nished putting one
on our son, when a man tapped his
shoulder.
“Here ya go. My wife got you a
cookie.” The man handed my hus-
band a plate, and then quickly the
couple walked away. Leaving my
husband holding a giant, warm,
chocolate-oozing cookie. As if
buying Disney food wasn’t expen-
sive enough, buying it for total
Grant County .........................................$45
Everywhere else in U.S. .......................$57
Outside Continental U.S. ....................$60
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mailing offi ces.
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send address changes to:
Blue Mountain Eagle
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Phone: 541-575-0710
dating back to 1784 and nick-
named “the old guard” in 1847.
They have served in every
war in our history and remain
the only unit in the Army autho-
rized to march with bayonets
fi xed to their rifl es in honor of
their forerunners’ bravery at
Cerro Gordo. Since 1948, the
Old Guard became the Army’s
ceremonial unit and offi -
cial escort to the president at
ceremonies.
The article is full of fascinat-
ing history, and the fi nal com-
ment tells a lamentable story:
While attempting to explain
the history with a foreign mili-
tary leader, Sgt. Maj. Dan Dailey
said that the foreign leader stood
looking out the window at all
those headstones and, after a long
pause, commented, “Now I know
why your soldiers fi ght so hard.
You take better care of your dead
than we do our living.”
Then I think about all of our
homeless vets, second-rate health
care, dishonored by small-minded
football players and the under-ed-
ucated younger generation, the
attempt to dishonor the U.S. Con-
stitution whose rights they took
an oath to defend, and ask myself,
“Is this what they fought and died
for?”
Judy Kerr
Canyon City
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Blue Mountain Eagle
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