Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

If you want to know what the word “statesmanship” means, consider this:

Vice President Kamala stepped up the plate this week to perform what must have been awkward test for her — certifying the vote she lost.

Here’s the definition of the word:

“The ability, qualifications, or practice of a statesman; wisdom and skill in the management of public affairs.”  Or, to change the words, stateswomen or statesperson to make it includes Harris.

The vice presidency comes with plenty of indignities, but probably none greater than the one Harris endured on Monday when she presided over the certification of her defeat.

Consider the stark contrast.

Donald Trump, after he lost Joe Biden, tried to stay in office by all means possible.  Even instructing his followers to attack the U.S. Capitol, which stands, for Trump, as major criminal offense, one for which it appears he will not pay a price.  Even as he contemplates pardoning those who are in prison for following his orders.

Under the Constitution, the vice president takes the gavel when the two houses of Congress meet to count formally the Electoral College votes for president.  While not every vice president has chosen to fulfill the duty, Harris carried out the painful task.

Here is more information from political writer Peter Baker in the New York
Times:

“Unlike Trump, Harris has made no effort to cast doubt on the election but has instead accepted defeat graciously.  Neither she nor President Biden has sought to pressure the Justice Department, members of Congress, governors, state legislators or election officials to reverse the vote she lost, as Trump did four years ago.

“She has not filed dozens of lawsuits that would be tossed out by judges as frivolous or unfounded.  She has not repeated false fraud allegations or wild conspiracy theories that her own advisers told her were untrue.

“Nor has she considered trying to use her role as presiding officer to reject votes for Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance the way Trump tried to get Pence to do to Biden and Harris in 2021

“The contrast between the two January 6 events could hardly be starker.  Four years ago, the mob ransacking the Capitol chanted, “Hang Mike Pence,” while the Secret Service rushed the outgoing vice president to safety.  Harris, then a senator on the verge of becoming vice president, was at Democrat National Committee headquarters at the time and also had to be evacuated, when a pipe bomb was found near a park bench outside.”

So, keep the stark contrast in mind even as Biden welcomes Trump to the White House, something Trump did not do when the roles were reversed.

It’s another act of statesmanship.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Ever thought about this question?

Who comes up with the names for golf drivers, especially for me, for Callaway whose golf clubs I play?

When I bought a Callaway driver several years ago, it was called Epic.  And that was followed each year by new names:

• Epic Flash

• Rogue

• Mavrik

• Paradym smoke

• Big Bertha

• And perhaps others.

Now, I have just learned that Callaway is marketing a driver with a new name – “Elyte.”

Not sure how the new name is pronounced.  But I suspect it is “elite,” not “e-light.”  The latter would not be a goal of Callaway staff who have designed and now make the new driver.

In all this, I wish my job would have been to think up new names for the new drivers.  For all I know, it is done with two objectives in mind – first, that the name sounds good and, second, that the new name translates into marketing more drivers.

My own driver – the Epic – has been in my golf bag for about five or so years now.  I have tried the new ones is that I don’t need to spend money for a new driver.  Plus, if I was to spend the money, I would need two – one for my home in Salem, Oregon and another for my winter home in La Quinta, California.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Once in awhile, I find a column worth repeating intact in my blog.  This is such a time.

Writing in The Atlantic Magazine, Tom Nichols advocated that Americans who care about America – and that does not include Donald Trump – need to band together to stop Trump pollution.

Even as we head toward Trump’s inauguration, which I will not watch, we should not forget Trump’s ill-conceived plan for America – one where he is always the acknowledged ruler…rather than just president.

And, today, in a huge irony, Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump, will preside over the routine in the U.S. Senate to declare Trump the winner.  The episode will stand in huge contrast to Trump who did the reverse last time around – urging supporters to ransack the U.S Capitol and ordering his vice president, Mike Pence, to undo the election, which would have been unlawful act.

There also is a lot of major news coverage today about Trump’s promise to pardon persons who are in prison, having been found guilty for January 6, 2022 crimes.

But, enough words from me.  Here are Nichols’ words.

*********

An aspiring fascist is the president-elect, again, of the United States.

This is our political reality:  Donald Trump is going to bring a claque of opportunists and kooks (led by the vice president–elect, a person who once compared Trump to Hitler) into government this winter, and even if senescence overtakes the president-elect, Trump’s minions will continue his assault on democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution.

The urge to cast blame will be overwhelming, because there is so much of it to go around.  When the history of this dark moment is written, those responsible will include not only Trump voters but also easily gulled Americans who didn’t vote or who voted for independent or third-party candidates because of their own selfish peeves.

Trump’s opponents will also blame Russia and other malign powers.  Without a doubt, America’s enemies — some of whom dearly hoped for a Trump win — made efforts to flood the public square with propaganda.  According to federal and state government reports, several bomb threats that appeared to originate from Russian email domains were aimed at areas with minority voters.  But as always, the power to stop Trump rested with American voters at the ballot box, and blaming others is a pointless exercise.

So now what?

The first order of business is to redouble every effort to preserve American democracy.  If I may invoke Winston Churchill, this is not the end or the beginning of the end; it is the end of the beginning.

For a decade, Trump has been trying to destroy America’s constitutional order.  His election in 2016 was something like a prank gone very wrong, and he likely never expected to win.  But once in office, he and his administration became a rocket sled of corruption, chaos, and sedition.  Trump’s lawlessness finally caught up with him after he was forced from office by the electorate.  He knew that his only hope was to return to the presidency and destroy the last instruments of accountability.

Paradoxically, however, Trump’s reckless venality is a reason for hope.  Trump has the soul of a fascist but the mind of a disordered child.  He will likely be surrounded by terrible but incompetent people.  All of them can be beaten:  In court, in Congress, in statehouses around the nation, and in the public arena.

America is a federal republic, and the states — at least those in the union that will still care about democracy — have ways to protect their citizens from a rogue president.  Nothing is inevitable, and democracy will not fall overnight.

Do not misunderstand me.  I am not counseling complacency:  Trump’s re-election is a national emergency.

If we have learned anything from the past several years, it’s that feel-good, performative politics can’t win elections, but if there was ever a time to exercise the American right of free assembly, it is now — not least because Trump is determined to end such rights and silence his opponents.

Americans must stay engaged and make their voices heard at every turn.  They should find and support organizations and institutions committed to American democracy, and especially those determined to fight Trump in the courts.  They must encourage candidates in the coming 2026 elections who will oppose Trump’s plans and challenge his legislative enablers.

After Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, then–Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to make Obama a one-term president, and obstructed him at every turn. McConnell, of course, cared only about seizing power for his party, and later, he could not muster that same bravado when faced with Trump’s assaults on the government.

Patriotic Americans and their representatives might now make a similar commitment, but for better aims:  Although they cannot remove Trump from office, they can declare their determination to prevent Trump from implementing the ghastly policies he committed himself to while campaigning.

The kinds of actions that will stop Trump from destroying America in 2025 are the same ones that stopped many of his plans the first time around.  They are not flashy, and they will require sustained attention, because the next battles for democracy will be fought by lawyers and legislators, in Washington and in every state capitol.  

They will be fought by citizens banding together in associations and movements to rouse others from the sleepwalk that has led America into this moment.

Trump’s victory is a grim day for the United States and for democracies around the world.  You have every right to be appalled, saddened, shocked, and frightened.  Soon, however, you should dust yourself off, square your shoulders, and take a deep breath.  Americans who care about democracy have work to do.

To this, I add this quote from Jennifer Rubin writing in the Washington Post.

“Democrats strain credulity if they imagine they can find common ground with someone who vows, among other mind-boggling schemes, to imprison opponents, deploy the military against immigrants, snatch the power of the purse from Congress and pay for tax cuts for billionaires with cuts to entitlements and other programs that serve ordinary Americans. (What would common ground even look like? Deport just 5.5 million people, not 11 million? Cut Social Security only a little bit?)

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Some days I think I know all I need to know about the Rules of Golf in the sport I love.

Then, I learn something new, which means, as all my friends will be happy to note, I am not as smart as I think I am.

So, here are three examples of the new information – or least reinforced old information:

#1/YOU CAN ALWAYS TAKE A “STROKE AND DISTANCE” PENALTY

With kudos to the Oregon Golf Association rules writer, Terry McEvilly, who also is a friend, I report this as he did:

“Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to the Rules of Golf.

“And knowledge is even more helpful when golfers come to the understanding that the Rules are not to be feared, but can instead be a help in lowering one’s scores and making playing the game more enjoyable.

“A great example of this is playing under stroke and distance, a simple concept that allows, with one penalty stroke, a player to play a ball from where the previous stroke was played.

“Rule 18.1 makes clear it is an option that the player always has, with no restrictions.  Even if a player isn’t sure where their ball may be, they can always proceed under stroke and distance.  And ‘always’ is the key word in the prior sentence.  At any time, a player may take stroke-and-distance relief by adding one penalty stroke and playing the original ball, or another ball, from where the previous stroke was made.

“It’s worth repeating — a player always has this stroke-and-distance relief option.  It’s a right granted under the rules that exists, no matter the circumstances.”

There.   My new knowledge.

I always had thought that there needed to be a specific reason for taking a new stroke from the spot of the last one, such as a shot going out-of-bounds.  McEvilly’s information is new for me.

#2/WINTER RULES:  WHAT IT MEANS

Another rule effects many people who live in cold and rainy climes – winter rules.

In the official Rules of Golf, “winter rules” go by this term “preferred lies” and are covered by Model Local Rule E-3.

So, how does it work?

Winter rules allow a player to lift his or her ball in the fairway and place it on a different spot, all because of adverse weather.  I knew this, but is more clarity.

The committee in charge or golf course should set the size of the relief area that the ball has to be placed in (such as 6 inches, a scorecard length or even a club-length).

This distance uses the original location of the ball as the reference point, and the ball can’t be placed any nearer the hole than that point.  Once lifted, the ball can be cleaned or even replaced with a different ball.  If this process were to allow the player to go from fairway to fringe, or even from fairway to rough, that is okay, as well.

Further, winter rules should generally be used only in the fairway of the hole being played.  If they are extended to areas outside of the fairway, it could result in a player unfairly getting free relief from a place where the ball might otherwise not have been playable, such as in a bush or group of trees.

Once the player places the ball using the procedure above, it cannot be lifted again and must be played as it lies.

Here, in the California desert, winter rules do not come into play, so I’ll remember this back in my normal home, Oregon.

#3/WHERE DID THE TERM “MULLIGAN” ORGINATE?

Let’s start with a definition.  In his book The Historical Dictionary of Golfing Terms:  From 1500 to the Present, Peter Davies wrote, “Mulligan means permission by a player (forbidden under the rules) to an opponent to replay a misplayed shot, especially a tee-shot.

Most of us knew that.

Plus, a friend of mine here is the California desert where I spend my winters told me the other day that, when he plays with his friends back in Montana, everyone gets one mulligan per round to use as he or she sees fit.

Sounds like a good approach to me.

As for the term “mulligan,” it arose from the surname of one or the other of two players back in the day.

Their names were David and Buddy Mulligan, whose tales played out at courses separated by 370 miles:  One in Montreal, the other in Essex Fells, New Jersey.

David Mulligan played in a regular foursome.   One morning, after a terrible drive off the 1st tee, he instinctively placed down another ball and whacked it again.  Simple enough, something you might do any time you play and not think twice about it.  But to this group, the re-do was a stunning moment.

Thinking fast, facing opposition from others in his foursome, he said his extra shot was a “mulligan.”

One of my on-line sources added this:

“It all worked out amicably enough, but after that it became an unwritten rule in the foursome that you could take an extra shot – but only on the 1st tee — if you weren’t satisfied with your original.  Naturally, this was always referred to as ‘taking a mulligan.’

There is alternative behind this story.  First, some claim that David Mulligan picked up and drove his playing partners to the course that day. The drive was rough and over an old rickety bridge.  Because his nerves and hands were shaking, he said he should be afforded a second tee shot after a poor attempt on the first.

Second, there is a dissenting camp that credits David’s brother, Buddy, with the mulligan name.

Either story is fine with me, as long as I get a mulligan!

Now, with all this, aren’t you glad you know as much as I do about golf rules – or at least made up rules if you are talking about a mulligan.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As Donald Trump ran for president, he made huge promises to crack down on immigration on the southern border of the United States, including the biggest deportation operation ever seen in this country.

His rhetoric on the subject, however false it was, was one of the main factors that put him over the top in the election.

It will be nothing if not interesting to see whether Trump fulfills his pledge.  If he doesn’t, of course, he’ll just find an excuse or blame someone else.

Several major hurdles are in the way, none of which, apparently, were worth talking about on the campaign trail where the emphasis from Trump appeared to be, “believe me because I always am the smartest person in the room.”

Hill.com and several major newspapers outlined the hurdles.

Here is a summary:

• Trump and his allies will face a number of legal battles, assuming they even recognize the jurisdiction of courts.

• Trump and his allies don’t have the workforce to match his rhetoric as he has suggested that the nation’s roughly 13 million undocumented migrants could face deportation.

• Trump and his allies will face economic realities as immigrants, with jobs, are shunted aside, leaving many companies in the lurch as they try to find employees.

• Trump and his allies will face what hill.com called “an astronomical budget increase” to fund what he says he wants to achieve, which is an immigrant-free America.  [The American Immigration Council estimates deporting the nation’s estimated 13 million undocumented people at a rate of 1 million per year would cost about $88 billion, exceeding the entire current budget of the Department of Homeland Security.]

• Trump and his allies will face something he no doubt will refuse to recognize — limits on executive power.  [In his previous administration, some of Trump’s immigration plans weren’t thrown out on the merits but because of issues with how his administration rolled them out.]

• Trump also could face “blue-state resistance” because many immigrants living in the country illegally are often concentrated in big, Democrat-led cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver.

• Finally, Trump and his allies likely will face lack of cooperation from foreign countries.  [The U.S. today can’t simply push migrants back across the border or even load them all onto a flight heading to the same place.  It must now orchestrate a complex dance of flights, choosing where to send its limited number of planes and fighting with other governments about when — and whether at all — they are willing to receive the flights.]

So, be ready for Trump to fail in some way, then blame others for his failure.

As I have written before, it also strikes me as unfortunate that Trump ran against immigrants.  Many of them, of course, are good people who contribute much to America.

If Trump would have run against “illegal” immigrants, it would have been more understandable, even though it also is true is that, if America’s government wanted to solve the problem, instead of just making political points, there are solutions out there just waiting to be implemented.

So, the immigration debate rolls on – or should it be roils on.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Two programs exist in Salem, Oregon, that provide a glimpse into what can happen when people of goodwill and good intent get together to solve challenges in a community.

Here are the two:

• Salem for Refugees, which does what its name says — support refugees in our community.

• Salem Free Clinics, which also does what its name says – provide free health care for those who cannot afford it.

I want to give proper credit to these two organizations because they enable us to practice what some of us preach, which means loving ALL people just as God loves ALL people.

Regardless of status in life or ability to pay.  ALL.

Both programs started through commitments by the church my family has attended in Salem for more than 30 years, Salem Alliance.  From that start, many people from many other churches in the region stepped up to help.

Here is information on Salem for Refugees says as the new year begins:

“As 2024 comes to a close, we are looking back over this year with a sense of awe and gratitude.

“Salem For Refugees received 329 individuals from 17 countries!

“These ‘New Neighbors’ found their new home because of commitments to make Salem a welcoming place.

“We are so incredibly thankful for all those who have given of time, heart, and resources in 2024.”

Forgive me, but consider this contrast.

Donald Trump and his ilk want to deport all these people – real people who should be helped, not shunned.

So, if you want to help, Salem for Refugees is a solid place to start illustrating God’s love for all people – yes, ALL people.

Now, regarding Salem Free Clinics, here is its report on 2024 moving to 2025:

“As 2024 comes to a close, we reflect on a remarkable year of serving our community with compassion and care.  So far, we have provided a total of 5,500 patient appointments this year.  

“None of this would have been possible without the dedication of our 260 community volunteers, whose efforts ensure that no patient ever receives a bill for our services. 

“We supported our Salem-Keizer youth providing 300 free sports physicals, enabling students to participate in all different sports.  We treated 540 seniors, which included 120 dental visits, addressing critical needs among our aging population.

“Beyond direct medical care, we assisted hundreds of residents in qualifying for state health insurance and accessing other community resources –helping to remove barriers to all forms of care.  Additionally, we distributed over $330,000 in prescription medications free of charge to patients who needed them. 

“As we look ahead, we remain committed to providing hope and healing to those who need it most.”

Both programs allow Christians, as I like to put it, “to put hands and hearts into the gospel.”

So, in the first few days of 2025, there is good news around if all of us endeavor to find it.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Opening the Department of Words Matter allows me to underline one of the words I don’t like much these days – transparency.

No one knows what it means, especially in politics.

It is just a code word political figures turn to as they seek to justify their actions.

Wall Street Journal writer Joseph Epstein wrote about this in an “essay” that appeared under this headline:  “I See Through Your Calls for ‘Transparency:’  Like all other vogue words, it will gradually lose its appeal and fall out of common use.”

Here are excerpts of what he wrote:

“Words, like clothes, can lose their elegance, come to seem inappropriate, sometimes even no longer quite fit.  They can also wear out from overuse.  Think ‘consumer society,’ think ‘lifestyle’ — vogue words of yesteryear. Think ‘tipping point,’ think ‘outlier’ — more recent vogue words now no longer altogether in vogue.

“Every now and then a word emerges from obscurity, or even from nothingness or a merely potential and not actual existence, into sudden popularity,” wrote H.W. Fowler, one of the small number of gods in my cultural pantheon.  ‘Ready acceptance of vogue-words seems to some people the sign of an alert mind; to others it stands for the herd instinct and lack of individuality.’

“Then there are ‘cant’ words deployed in ‘parrot-like appeal to principles, religious, moral, or scientific, that the speaker does not believe in or act upon or does not understand.”

That, Epstein writes, applies to the word “transparent.”

Here is how the dictionary defines the word:

“The quality of allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen.”

Sounds good, but…

“In congressional hearings, in city councils, no doubt in psychotherapy sessions, transparency nowadays is regularly requested, even though many of the various people requesting surely must know that it isn’t really available.

“At the moment, with hundreds of drones flying over New Jersey and New York, and with no one knowing quite what they are doing there or whose they are, one hears from every quarter — senators, representatives, city officials, local citizens — the call for transparency about these flying objects.  None has been forthcoming, and so the calls continue, with transparent and transparency, at least for now, lodging themselves more firmly in the language.”

The word “transparent,” Epstein adds, “has several shades of meaning, and various synonyms, among them pellucid, diaphanous and translucent.  Transparent has itself become a baggy-pantsed synonym of sorts for ‘the truth.’  Politicians nowadays regularly call for transparency, though the majority of them are barred from delivering or even receiving it by their ideological blinders.”

Then, Epstein continues with a few solid sentences that indicate that, among other things, he knows how to use words well.

“Words can glimmer, glow, dance and sing, but they don’t always obey their users.  Transparent is such a word.  By now discerning people should be avoiding the word not like the plague (a cliché this discerning writer can’t allow himself) but sedulously.”

For me, a retired lobbyist, I heard the word “transparency” early on when it was used to describe the State of Oregon budget-making process.

Let’s make it transparent said those responsible for the challenge..

But the word was nearly useless. 

If you looked at the State of Oregon budget and tried to make sense of it, you would be at a loss.  So would other taxpayers who fund it.

Even to me, after so many years of involvement, I found the word to be opaque when it came to understanding the state budget.

So, if you hear the word, be skeptical, at least until you see that it actually does mean clarity of thought and effort.

Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I have never been a great believer in the idea of New Year’s resolutions.

For some people, citing a resolution may work well to start off a new year on the right foot – and good for them.

For me, if I propose resolutions, I am not sure they carry much weight.  They often just strike me as opaque and far too general.  Plus, given my age, I often forget them in due course.

A columnist in the New York Times agrees with me (or do I agree with her?):

“Does it feel like there’s something gauche — maybe a little anachronistic — about New Year’s resolutions?  They run counter to the idea that we should accept who we are.  That we should give ourselves grace.  Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?  It’s a question that asks someone to believe they are inadequate.

“And I get that.  A colleague argues that resolutions shouldn’t be so grand that we set ourselves up to fail.  Maybe it’s better to admit we won’t improve in the new year — a dose of realism with our Champagne.

“No thanks.  

“But, I love real, down-to-earth resolutions, and I love hearing what work other people choose to do for themselves.  I think there’s a way to be better without believing you are deficient.  A New Year’s resolution is an opportunity to give myself a sense of accomplishment.  A gift to future me.”

So, that said, I have had some thoughts about the new year – thoughts, not “resolutions” — especially as all of us in America contend with the reality that an avowed autocrat, Donald Trump, will be in the White House.

But, at least for this blog, I will not mention blank _______ again.

Instead, my quick thoughts for the new year:

• Practice a choice to be positive

• Practice the Biblical admonition to care for others as you care for yourself

• Remain thankful that my status as a Christian is based on God’s free gift of salvation, something I don’t have to earn by performance

• Continue to be thankful for all members of my family and look out for their well-being in 2025

• Spend time with friends, including, but not only, on the golf course

Beyond my thoughts, I came across another column in the last few days that is worth sharing, at least in the form of excerpts.

Brenda Cronin, associate editorial features editor at the Wall Street Journal wrote under this headline:  “A Very Good Year? That Would Be Nice; The fruits of virtue — civility and cordiality — improve life for everyone”

Her words:

“The start of 2025 feels momentous, meriting more than just another late-December round of resolutions.  America, if not the entire weary world, feels on the cusp of a sea change, and it isn’t clear whether it will be a favorable one.

“With a new era, not merely a new year, upon us, here’s an ambitious notion:  What about making 2025 a return to virtue?  Not virtue signaling, preening or priggish hectoring, but actually being good and doing good.  “Why?  Because the fruits of virtue — among them, civility and cordiality — improve life for everyone and might reverse our culture’s determined downward spiral.

“Good behavior is so overdue it has become unfamiliar.  Beyond America, wars, terrorism, and political chaos are flourishing.  At home, things seem less dire, but a solipsistic skepticism, even suspicion, festers.  Unsurprising, amid headlines about random violence and events that reveal our values as more grape shot than bedrock.  Division is rife and trust diminished, perhaps because the past five-plus years have seen some epic acting out.

“…time has passed and when better than the dwindling days of December to make a lofty resolution?  The optimist in me hopes that virtue fosters peace and prosperity, and ultimately revives the American exceptionalism that has flickered but not been snuffed out.”

Excellent thoughts by Cronin, even though here “dwindling days of December” have dwindled.

One more from me:  Back when I worked at the State Oregon Executive Department, the director there practiced a good art that I have tried to emulate.  This:  Without being trite, he found a way to express thanks to someone every day for doing something for him that helped him through the day.

It’s a solid practice – so, in the new year, I will set out to continue achieving this objective. 

So, if you will, call it a “New Year’s resolution”, but, for me, it’s a way to “practice being positive,” as well as recognizing that someone – perhaps more than just one “someone” – helps me every day.

One of my friends put it very well when he wrote this in an e-mail:

“With all the political infighting and discouraging perspectives on the future, it can be easy to lose sight of many things; good health, close friends, the freedom to come and go as we please, and the ability to exercise what we value through the vote.

“Many people in the world are not as fortunate.  It’s always good to look back and realize how much we really have to be thankful for.”

Well said!

Welcome 2025!