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The INDEPENDENT, July 3,1996
^INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published
twice monthly on the first and third Wednesdays of each
month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge
Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper.
Editors and Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen, (503)
429-9410.
Independence Day,
1996: What is next?
The ideal of Independence requires resistance to
the herd spirit now so widespread, to our worship of
quantity and indifference to quality, to our unthinking
devotion to organization, standardization, propagan
da, and advertising.
Daniel Gregory Mason, Artistic Ideals, 19277
Tomorrow we - our nation, our state, our communi
ty, ourselves - will celebrate the anniversary of the De
claration of Independence. Much has happened in the
220 years since that declaration. Where do we stand
today?
Has the herd spirit already taken over in Oregon?
Before you say “no”, take a look at the state’s current
priorities: Increased spending on prisons; decreased
spending on education; closure of 65 state parks. In
spite of those who want to blame the government for
this situation, it behooves us to remember that these
issues were decided by the voters.
It was the voters who approved measures to ex
pand the prison system and require inmates to work—
measures requiring more money than good schools.
It was the voters who approved a measure to cap
school taxes at $5/thousand of assessed property val
ue, giving big business a huge tax break while helping
to promote conditions that will keep those new prisons
occupied.
It was the voters who said no to a measure that
would have allowed a small amount of gas tax to be
spent on parks — guaranteeing inadequate funds to
maintain Oregon’s most outstanding, and most visited
physical features.
In each case, there were voices explaining the fu
ture consequences of these decisions. And in each
case, a majority of the voters listened only to the big
money campaigns that conned people into thinking
that prisons would make Oregonians safe; that a good
educational system could be maintained for more stu
dents with less money; that all gas taxes should be for
roads and none for the destinations reached by those
roads. In other words, as long as somebody screams
long enough and loud enough about how our tax mon
ey is “wasted”, why bother to evaluate those claims.
Is this the herd spirit?
Our founding fathers never suggested that democ
racy would be easy...and it isn’t. Majority rule is the
basis of our government and most Americans would
n’t want that changed.
But democracy requires thinking voters, people who
will analyze what is said and what is written, people
who can listen to a voice of caution even if it isn’t as
loud as a television commercial. Without that, voters
can even be talked into rule by the minority, as Oregon
voters were when they approved a two-thirds majority
as a requirement for legislative tax increases. Now,
with only one-third plus one, the minority can rule.
Independence was hard won and freedom must al
ways be defended, but they’re worth the effort.
It would be a shame to throw away 220 years of ef
fort to herd spirit.
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Thoughts on Independence 8c Freedom
What constitutes the bulwark of our own lib
erty and independence? It is not our frowning
battlements, our bristling sea coasts, our army
and our navy. These are not our reliance
against tyranny. All of those may be turned
against us without making us weaker for the
struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty
which God has planted in us. Our defence is in
the spirit which prized liberty as the heritage
of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy
this spirit and you have planted the seeds of
despotism at your own doors. Familiarize
yourselves with the chains of bondage and you
prepare your own limbs to wear them.
Accustomed to trample on the rights of others,
you have lost the genius of your own indepen
dence and become the fit subjects of the first
cunning tyrant who rises among you.
Abraham Lincoln
Speech, Edwardsville, Illinois, Sept. 11, 1858
Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to
enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared
to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich
or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no
matter what their race or the color of their
skin.
Wendell Wilkie
Radio Address, Oct. 20, 1942