PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 see quality journalism, go to Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). 

Listen to OPOB radio.  Watch OPB television.  Go to OOPB’s website. 

You’ll find quality in each of those locations.  Often better than anywhere else.

I was proud to represent OPB as its lobbyist at the Capitol in Salem for more than 10 years.  My old company, CFM Advocates, still lists OPB as a client.

We did a lot of good work during my tenure.  One of the major achievements was to prod the Legislature to invest $3 million in making sure OOPB signals reached Eastern Oregon to make sure those areas did not go dark.

Gaining those funds was a tribute, not to just to me, but to the credibility of OPB’s management structure led by CEO Steve Bass, who remains there today and continues to lead a great organization.

He came to Oregon from the East Coast and, while I worked with Steve, he set out to become familiar with every corner of Oregon.  One of the ways he did was to join, for a day, a number of orchestras around the state demonstrating his ability to play his flute.

By such actions, he raised the reputation of OOPB.

A recent OOPB story on vaccine availability illustrates the point about quality journalism.  The story included information and perspective, a tribute to journalistic enterprise beyond what is available elsewhere in Oregon

Here are excerpts from the OPB story:

“The initial deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to Oregon, Washington state and Idaho are spoken for — at least well into next month. High-risk health care workers, EMT/paramedics and nursing homes have top priority to get the vaccine jab.  But then who?

“’We feel torn,” said a vaccine administrator.  ‘There is limited vaccine and we need to do the best decision making we can with the data we have and the values that are out there in terms of trying to share equitable access.’

Western state governors and state health officials are now reviewing a finalized recommendation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for how to prioritize future vaccination phases.

On Sunday, a CDC advisory panel voted 13-1 to urge states to give the next round of vaccines to people 75 and older along with “frontline essential workers.” Then remaining essential workers, seniors aged 65-74 and other high-risk people would get the vaccine in the following phase after that.

Jonathan Modie, a spokesperson for the Oregon Health Authority, said his agency was pleased that the CDC elevated the oldest Americans into the vaccination group coming up next.  Their turn came later in prior drafts of the guidelines.

“’If we could vaccinate the 12 per cent of Oregonians who are 70+ years of age, we could prevent 76 per cent of COVID-19 deaths,’ Modie said in an email.

“The frontline essential workers placed at the head of the line by the CDC include teachers, daycare staff, grocery store workers, farmworkers and food processing, prison staff and postal workers.

Vaccination for this grouping could begin in mid-January at the earliest, according to Washington assistant health secretary Michele Roberts. She said the states do not yet know how many vaccine doses they will get in January, which introduces much uncertainty.

“An Idaho committee advising Gov. Brad Little has already ranked and prioritized essential workers for the upcoming next phase, putting police and fire responders who weren’t in the very first group at the head of the next line.  Those folks would be followed by teachers, correctional staff, food processing workers, grocery workers and Idaho National Guard members, in that order.

“The Washington health department and Gov. Jay Inslee’s office said an announcement of the state’s priority list would be posted as soon as it is ready, possibly within days. A draft plan for the allocation of the COVID-19 vaccine posted online by the state health department several weeks ago includes some modest differences from the newly finalized CDC guidelines.

“One difference is that the preliminary state plan prioritized vaccination of inmates in prisons and jails. The new CDC list ranks correctional staff highly, but is silent about where inmates belong in the sequence.

“A Seattle-based union local representing grocery store workers said it had ‘strong hopes’ that its members would land on Washington state’s vaccine priority list after being included in the CDC’s guidelines for who should share the next allocation — formally known as Phase 1b of the COVID-19 immunization drive.

“’The federal government could and should be doing more to maximize the production of the vaccine,’ Geiger said in an email. ‘We are not in favor of one essential worker competing with another essential worker for a vaccine that they both should have access to.’

“Anthony Anton, the president of a trade organization that represents thousands of restaurants across Washington, said he thought it was appropriate to prioritize teachers for vaccination so that students could get back in classrooms soon.

“Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, wrote to Inslee, Little, Oregon Governor Kate Brown and other governors earlier this month to ask that ride-hailing company driver also be given early access to the COVID-19 vaccine.  The Uber chief said they provide an essential service that other frontline workers rely upon.

“The new CDC guidelines call out transit operators as frontline essential workers deserving to be in the next vaccination group.  

“Roberts (from Washington) said her state is working to build online tools to assess one’s place in line, and then be notified by the state when it is time to be vaccinated.  That information system may also provide links to vaccination locations.  Health care providers will probably notify their patients who are high-risk when it’s their turn, she added.

“In the meantime, even though folks are getting tired of it, people will need to keep wearing masks when around others outside of home, keep gatherings small and maintain social distancing, advise your state and local health officers.”

The fact that information has changed in the last couple days since this story first appeared is just an indication that more will be coming from OPB.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

The headline on this blog also appeared in the Washington Post this morning to herald a column by one of my favorite writers, Michael Gerson.

There is no better way to celebrate Christmas morning than by reprinting Gerson’s column.

So, here it is – and I hope, for you, this is a Merry Christmas in the true sense of the phrase  – “The Defiant Hope of Christmas:  God With Us.”

****************

One of the stranger elements of the strange Nativity narrative is the way an angel addresses Mary: “You who are highly favored.” As a teen mother, pregnant before marriage and destined to give birth among barn animals, she might have been forgiven for regarding this as angelic sarcasm. Fast forward three decades, and the most favored one will see her son executed among thieves before a jeering crowd.

The whole Christmas story is pregnant with enigma and violated expectations. The Creator pulls on a garment of blood and bone. Almighty God is somehow present in a fragile newborn. The deliverer of humankind is delivered, slimy with vernix, in a place smelling of dung. If God can come here, amid the shame and straw, he can come anywhere. If God came here, he has come everywhere.

As we pull back from these events, an odd violation of perspective kicks in. The largest figures of the time — King Herod, Emperor Tiberius — grow smaller. The smaller figures — Mary, Joseph and some random shepherds — loom large. The smallest, most helpless figure blots out sun and moon and fills the whole sky with song: “Glory to God in the highest. Peace on Earth. Good will toward men.”

Many in first-century Palestine — as in every time since — were looking for political deliverance. They had every right to resent the brutal rule of Rome and its proxies. But the Christmas story overturns that expectation. It asserts that the most important things — the things that last and count — are not political or social but personal and human. Instead of influence based on coercion, the birth of Jesus points to a power found in vulnerability, service and humility. Humankind is offered not a new way of organizing society but a new way of being human, marked by compassion, purpose, dignity and kindness.

Imagine if Jesus had been a political revolutionary. Even if he had miraculously succeeded in humbling Rome, he would be a historical footnote — someone on par with Judah Maccabee. Precisely because Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, it was not limited to his time. Those who politicize religion are also miniaturizing it. Their faith is as fresh and relevant as last week’s newspaper.

None of this is to dismiss the importance of politics. We are still working out the massive social implications of honoring God’s image in every life. But in the Nativity story, political figures only appear as tax collectors and murderers. At the center of history lies a domestic drama. The universe held its breath as a baby drew his first. God arrived, not as a conqueror, but as a child in a stable. A teacher on a hillside. A man nailed to a cross. And his achievement — bringing God’s presence to humankind — makes every victory achieved by force look trifling in comparison.

If the Nativity story is true, God is not merely a philosophic or theological postulate. In the scriptures, Jesus is given the name Emmanuel, which is Hebrew for “God with us.” He entered the bowels of human existence for the sake of every human soul. The implications are remarkable. It means there are no insignificant or pointless lives. It means that the events and choices of an average day can carry eternal significance. It means that a journey of meaning and purpose — a life of courage and generosity — can begin from whatever desolate place we find ourselves.

This emphasis on the personal — this glorification of the human — has sometimes been captured in art. Consider the luminous domestic spaces of Vermeer. A milkmaid, a lacemaker or a geographer shines with dignity and grace. A girl with a pearl earring and limpid eyes is as radiant as a Madonna.

Or consider James Wright’s brief poem “Trouble,” dealing with a young woman named Roberta who is pregnant out of wedlock. She is taunted on the street by a boy, Crum Anderson, who says she looks like she has swallowed a watermelon. The poem continues:

Fat? Willow and lonesome Roberta, running

Alone down Pearl Street in the rain the last time

I ever saw her, smiling a smile

Crum Anderson will never know,

Wondering at her body.

Sixteen years, and

All that time she thought she was nothing

But skin and bones.

None of us — no matter what Crum Anderson says — is merely skin and bones. We are skin and bones and the life of God within us. Even lives that feel relentlessly ordinary or hopelessly broken are vessels of divine purpose. We are embraced, elevated and dignified by God’s astounding humility.

This should be a source of hope. I am not speaking here of optimism, which is more like a genetic gift than the foundation of a life. Some of us, in contrast, have the genetic affliction of depression, which can bathe life’s wonders in dirty dishwater, making our days appear gray and two-dimensional. Depression tries to convince us that hope itself is a fiction. Sometimes the only comfort lies in knowing your mind is a vicious liar and in managing to endure another day.

But when we are thinking clearly, most of us can recall glimpses of purpose, beauty and glory in our lives. In the overwhelming calm and joy of holding our child close. In the majesty and marvelous internal order of nature. In art or music that touches our deepest being. In the undeserved, sacrificial love of a friend. And maybe, if we are silent and open, in the sense that a benign God is speaking to us in the seemingly random events of our lives.

These are not logical proofs; they are signposts pointing in the direction of grace. And they culminate the defiant hope of Christmas: God is for us. God is in us. God is with us.

In enforced isolation and loneliness, God is with us. In chronic pain and degenerative disease, God is with us. In a shattered relationship or a cancer diagnosis, God is with us. In an intensive care unit or a mental ward, God is with us. In life and in death, God will not leave us or forsake us.

It is possible, of course, that none of this true. Such Christmas hope may well be a pleasing myth or projection of our own desires. If we had been there on the night in question, walking the Judean hills, would we have seen and heard the angels? I have no idea. But I do know that the civilization I inhabit is unimaginable without the birth of the Christ child. I know that billions in the last two millennia have claimed communion with Him. And I have faith that this extraordinary person, who knew God’s heart so intimately, can be born into our hearts as well.

Such faith does not promise release from suffering, but it can bring deliverance from fear. It means that every moment we are blessed to inhabit, even in a difficult and shortened life, can be infused with God’s presence and ennobled by His calling. The hope that began on Christmas Day still shines like a star and swells like a song, carried across the centuries by chanting monks and gospel choirs, filling great cathedrals and revival tents, but clearest in the quiet of our hearts: God is with us.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

Here I go again writing about a travesty involving Donald Trump.

This time it is about immigration.

But, forget Trump as he exits the stage as a loser.

Just focus on one of the most heinous acts of the Trump Administration (there’s that inaccurate word again, “Administration,” which does not belong to Trump).  It was to separate immigrant children from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border.

Imagine that for a moment.

“Kidnap” children from their parents at the border, do so intentionally, and then forget about them.  If the kids cry, no problem.  If the parents wail, don’t listen.

And the fact is that Trump and his sycophants performed this tragedy intentionally out of some apparent belief that immigrants were all criminals.

So, the point of this blog:  New President Joe Biden and his allies should work immediately to undo this tragedy.

As difficult as it will be, reuniting parents with their children should be at the top of the Biden’s “new policy” list.  Achieving this would be an act of humanity as part of an overall reform of the American immigration system under Biden.

Trump began separating children from parents as part of a pilot program in El Paso, Texas, in 2017.  By the time Trump announced his “zero tolerance” policy against immigrants the following year, the practice of separating children and parents had been implemented up and down the U.S.-Mexico border.

Incredibly, according to a study by the Washington Post, 1,500 separations occurred in 2017 and 2,800 in 2018.

The practice included holding migrants for possible criminal prosecution — even if they were just seeking asylum — and eventually deporting them while their children remained in facilities located around the U.S.

The plan was devised by White House adviser Stephen Miller, an incredible figure in his own right, someone who put in place incredibly inhumane policies, such as parent-child separation without any regard for the long-term deleterious effects.

Miller’s work for Trump rested on several principles, if you can call what motivated his hatred “principles.”  He maintains immigrants are primarily a threat and should above all be feared.  Immigrants, he contends, are largely driven by nefarious motives, looking to scam their way into the United States. 

According to Miller, efforts to migrate must, above all, be crushed by maximum cruelty and hardship, including by separating children from their parents.

According to the Post, Biden officials don’t fear Miller who, fortunately, is on his way out.  Biden and appointees intend to “expand legal pathways for migration,” including “allowing people to apply for refugee resettlement.”

The Biden team accepts the principle that most migrants actually do have a plausible case to seek protection and that because of this, the U.S. should facilitate immigration, not make it harder.

“That’ is,” writes the Washington Post, “a decisive break with Miller-ism.  Indeed, it would begin to restore a core commitment that the U.S. has made to international laws and ideals dictating a human right to a fair and just hearing.

“Biden is also signaling efforts at regional solutions that are sane and humane.  Biden officials say they will pursue a $4 billion plan to combat corruption and foster economic development in migrant-origin countries, another sign of recognition that migrations are driven by root causes that can be addressed through internationally negotiated solutions.”

Unwinding Trump’s horrors will be extremely difficult.  But the effort to reunite children with parents is worth it as a key tenet of Biden’s approach.

The fact that such an intentional policy existed at all will rank as one of the major stains on Trump and his cronies as they leave the White House.  Only ONE of the major stains, because are so many over the last four years.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 when I public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

When I drafted this blog yesterday, my purpose was to give credit to where credit was due – to Congress for producing a bi-partisan compromise that, while imperfect, did respond to the national virus emergency.

Then, guess what?  Donald Trump intervened by saying that he opposed the compromise, even though he had not done one thing to help with its development.

It struck me a little like former Oregon John Kitzhaber who earned the nickname, Dr. No, when he vetoed various bills after no involvement in their development.

Well, as I complete this blog this morning, it is not clear whether Trump was just doing his usually ranting via Twitter, or whether he intends to veto the compromise.  If he does, there were enough votes when it passed the House and Senate to override his veto if Members of Congress were to vote the same, affirmative way.

We’ll see about that, but, for now, back to the bill that emerged from Congress.

I agree with Washington Post editorial writers who contended this week that the virus relief bill shows that Washington, D.C. can still work, albeit slowly and with difficulty.

What happened in Congress was a compromise, which is not a negative word.  It is the real definition of politics.

And, by definition, with compromise, there is:

• A lot to like about the bill that passed.
• A lot to dislike about the bill that passed.

If you are involved in producing a compromise, another way to say it is this – you give and you get.  And you don’t always like everything about the final product.

Here is how the Post described the result:

“As the nation closes out a gloomy 2020, there have been a few signs that its political system still can work.  First was an orderly presidential election, perhaps the cleanest and most secure ever, that has resisted concerted attempts by President Trump to overturn the result.

“Second is the compromise Covid-19 relief bill that lawmakers raced to pass on Monday, following months of legislative stalemate. Yes, it is imperfect.  But it is nevertheless an indication that lawmakers are still capable of shaking hands on big legislation when national prosperity is at stake.

“The $900 billion bill would extend enhanced unemployment benefits for another 11 weeks, provide rental assistance to keep people in their homes and reinvigorate the Paycheck Protection Program that has kept businesses afloat amid the historic coronavirus shutdown.

“It would pump more money into vaccine development and distribution. While it lacks much-needed federal help for state and local budgets, it would funnel aid to some of the most critical areas of state and local need, such as mass transit, covid-19 costs and schools. Lawmakers hitched Covid relief to a big funding bill that would keep the federal government running through September.

“A welcome addition to the legislative package is a ban on one of the most obnoxious practices in the country’s health-care system, so-called surprise medical bills, a long-overdue bi-partisan reform that finally overcame intense industry lobbying.”

Of course, the relief package has flaws.  For one thing, it is late; it should have been passed weeks ago.  For another, the bill includes a few “earmarks” on issues not related to the virus, which illustrates the often-used definition of law-making – it often looks like sausage.

It also is possible to imagine that, as the virus rages and the vaccines are just beginning to be distributed, there will be a need for further relief after the first of the year, no matter what the loser Trump does.  If there is further action, it will have to occur by way of another compromise.

The Post’s conclusion:  “Governing in this environment will not satisfy the ideologues, and it will not deliver everything the country needs.  But as President-Elect Joe Biden has said, ‘a willingness to compromise will be essential to getting anything done.’”

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 the pandemic rages on – and as the first vaccines are being distributed – I have taken a look back at the year in junior golf in Oregon.

I do so for at least two reasons.

First, the course where I am a member, Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club, has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to building golf among junior players.

This commitment existed back about 35 years ago when we joined Illahe and the Club became a site for activities by our now-grown children, Eric and Lissy.  Both learned golf, so much so that Eric earned a golf scholarship at Oregon State University and Lissy started what has been a lifetime interest in the sport.

Second, the Oregon Golf Association (OGA), where I serve as member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors, posted one of the best years ever in junior golf, if that is measured only by the group of young people learning to play golf by signing up for OGA tournaments.

So, even during the pandemic, junior golf has thrived.

What follows – a summary of junior golf achievements through the OGA – is based on a report prepared by the OGA’s junior golf intern, Tianna Brown, a graduate of George Fox University.  She worked all season long in junior golf and was good enough to prepare the following summary.

• The numbers of young people signed up for OGA junior golf programs grew markedly – 2,7872 by the end of the year, way up from 1,890 in the previous year.

• Two juniors – Graham Moody from Vancouver, Washington, and Kyra Ly from Portland – were named Junior Players of the Year, each for the second year in a row.

• Over the run of junior tournaments this year, there were:

         +  94 eagles

         +  5 holes-in-one

         +  2 albatrosses

• Illahe got a warranted dose of credit for hosting the annual OGA Junior Tournament of Champions.  Illahe’s head pro, Steve Bowen, worked well with the OGA to adjust the tournament several times for reasons related to the pandemic, as well as the effects of smoke from forest fires.

Kudos to Bowen, his pro shop staff and Illahe overall for being willing to host junior and regular amateur tournaments for the OGA.

What could be said about junior golf is what can be said about golf in general – the pandemic, amplified by the good work of golf administrators, is making golf these days more popular than ever.

For evidence, look no farther than a recent Wall Street Journal story that appeared under this headline:

Coronavirus shutdowns are making golf courses an oasis for stir-crazy Americans eager to get out and tee it up

With few alternatives for outdoor activities, the golf business hopes built-in social distancing can draw new participants

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

In a major Washington Post story on the still-emerging coronavirus relief legislation, one sentence caught my eye.

It was this:

“It may take some more time for congressional staff members to draft those agreements into legislative text and prepare the massive bill for votes in the House and Senate.”

The headline in this blog – Small Details – understates one of the major realities as lawmakers in Congress, in Oregon, or in any other state work to craft legislation.

Someone has to translate the action into specific law.  That means words, lots of them.

Under significant time pressure, as is the case with the virus relief bill as citizens around the country try to make ends meet in an unprecedented pandemic, a lot rides on getting the words right. 

I watched all of this happen in Oregon where, as the intro to this blog notes, I worked in and around government for 40 years.

Every time a piece of legislation passed at the State Capitol in Oregon, it was proceeded by preparation of a draft by members of the Legislative Counsel’s Office, a group of lawyers who functioned much like a firm in private practice.

If a client I represented wanted to get a bill drafted, I, the lobbyist, had to stand on my head to get the job done – and, no problem with that flexibility in the reality of lawmaking.  First, I had to get what was called “a note from mother,” a piece of paper from a legislator, with his or her signature, authorizing me to go to the Legislative Counsel office with a bill-drafting request.

Remember, the Counsel Office represented legislators, not me.

Then, a draft was produced and was printed into specific bill form.  On certain occasions, I had a chance to comment on the draft – but only that.  The specific words where those of the assigned lawyer.

If legislators acted on a bill and approved amendments, that revised bill also would have to be re-drafted by the Counsel Office.  And, overall in any Oregon legislative session, more than 5,000 bills are drafted, though a relatively small proportion of them become law.

So, with that brief background, imagine the pressure congressional bill drafters are under at this very moment.  They have to draft specific language:

• To direct hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to jobless Americans, ailing businesses and other critical economic needs that have grown as the pandemic ravages the country and batters the economy.
• To enable stimulus checks to be prepared for millions of Americans of up to $600 per person.  
• To extend federal unemployment benefits of up to $300 per week, which could start as early as Dec. 27.
• To extend the deadline for states and cities to use unspent money approved for them by the Cares Act,
• To extend for one month a moratorium on evictions that is set to expire at the end of the year.
• To provide $325 billion in business relief, including about $275 billion for another round of Paycheck Protection Program funding.
• To protect patients from “surprise” medical bills (and, to use the word “surprise,” a surprise inclusion in the relief bill).

All of helps, I guess, to provide some context for what happened several years ago in the U.S. House of Representatives when even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted that she had not read the bill inaugurating the “Affordable Health Care Act” before she voted to approve it.

It was possible that the draft bill was only circulated a few moments before the vote – not good process, but, at that point and still today, health care coverage is a major issue.

So, finally, just know that when the Oregon Legislature, Congress or other legislative bodies pass their bills, folks behind the scenes are working hard, out of the spotlight, to get the words right.  Given what’s at stake these days, here’s hoping they are successful.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 long argued that compromise is a key part of the definition of good politics.

But, I may be a Pollyanna.  Strike the word “may.”  I am. 

I still believe in the fact that solid solutions to pressing public policy challenges lie somewhere in the middle, not the extreme right or left.

If I didn’t believe middle ground was possible, then I fear for whether we will be able to retain democracy as the form of government in our country.

Ruth Marcus, deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post, dealt with this subject in a column Saturday, which appeared under this headline:  “Will Biden be able to compromise with Republicans? The glass is three-quarters empty.”

Here are excerpts of what Marcus wrote:

• When it comes to the question of whether President-Elect Joe Biden will find areas of productive compromise with Republicans, the best way to think about the issue may be to ask:  Is the glass one-quarter full or three-quarters empty? In other words, is there a sliver of hope, if not for bi-partisan legislating, then for tamping down the worst of the partisan animosity? And if, as I have reluctantly come to believe, that sliver is thin to the point of invisibility, and should Biden nonetheless proceed as though he holds out hope?
• …Biden took a hopeful tone with CBS’s Stephen Colbert.  “I think I can work with Republican leadership in the House and the Senate,” Biden said.  “I think we can get things done.  And I think, once this president is no longer in office, you’re going to see his impact on the body politic fade and a lot of these Republicans are going to feel they have much more room to run and cooperate.” “I don’t think I’m kidding myself. I got criticized in the beginning for saying this — I think the nation’s looking for us to be united.  Politics has become so sort of dirty and vicious and personal and mean, a clenched fist instead of an open hand, and I think people are looking for us to come together.”
• It is good for Biden to call for unity; leadership has to be aspirational to be effective.  And Biden is no inexperienced Pollyanna.  Barack Obama, in his new autobiography, relates Biden’s sour story of trying to persuade Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to support a bill he was sponsoring. “You must be under the mistaken impression that I care,” McConnell responded.  Biden knows who he is dealing with on the other side.
• I (Marcus) come to this conclusion as someone who has been an advocate for compromise both as a means to an end and a value in itself.  Who believes the most extreme achievable result — on either side — is not necessarily, indeed probably not, the best outcome?  Who thinks individual Republicans, many of them, are decent people who love their country and have good-faith beliefs about the best way to improve it?
• Republicans have a robust history of prioritizing obstructionism and defeating Democrats over solving the nation’s problems.  Long before Trump’s election, McConnell proclaimed that “the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”  There can be no doubt that his goal remains the same with Biden, and that he is determined that a Republican replace Biden.

So, who is to blame for the failure to find middle ground solutions – Republicans or Democrats?  I say both.

In a spirit of compromise – not to mention the good of the country we love – I say the time has arrived for both parties to work to find the smart middle.

I hope Biden will lead toward it and I hope he will find followers.  And, I also hope that we, as voters, will reward compromise and pragmatism, not extremism. 

Too much is at stake for any other outcome to prevail.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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 said many times that one of my favorite columnists these days is Michael Gerson, who writes for the Washington Post.

Nearly everything he writes prompts me to think – and that, for any writer, is a high compliment.

Plus, he uses words very well, which is another high compliment.

Gerson’s work is nationally syndicated and appears twice weekly in the Post.  He is the author of “Heroic Conservatism” (Harper One, 2007) and co-author of “City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era” (Moody, 2010).

He appears regularly on the “PBS NewsHour,” “Face the Nation” and other programs.  Gerson serves as senior adviser at One, a bi-partisan organization dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases.

Until 2006, he was a top aide to President George W. Bush as assistant to the president for policy and strategic planning.  Prior to that appointment, he served in the White House as deputy assistant to the president and director of presidential speechwriting and assistant to the president for speechwriting and policy adviser.

So, to provide a rationale for my “like,” here is a selection of quotes from recent Gerson columns:

• Under this headline, “Prominent evangelicals are directing Trump’s sinking ship. That feeds doubts about religion,” Gerson wrote this:

“President Trump’s naked attempt to overturn a fair election — with key elements of Joe Biden’s victory vouchsafed by Republican state officials, Republican-appointed judges and even the Justice Department — has driven some Trump evangelicals to the edge of blasphemous lunacy.”

• Under this headline, “Evangelicals need to follow Christianity’s morals, not Trump’s,” Gerson wrote:

“It is in this context that the recent commentary by Mark Galli in Christianity Today calling for President Trump’s removal from office should be read.  Here, in contrast to Fox News, is an institution trying to use a specifically Christian lens to examine the president’s conduct in office.  

“Galli argues that cheating to influence a presidential election is not merely a threat to the Constitution but also ‘profoundly immoral.’ Trump’s lies and slanders on Twitter are ‘a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.’   The corruption and cruelty of the president and those around him have ‘rendered this administration morally unable to lead.’”

• Under this headline, “This is a massive failure of character among Republicans — with evangelicals out in front,” Gerson wrote:

“One of the better speeches I helped produce for George W. Bush was never given.  On election night 2000 — standing outside in the rain, at an Austin victory rally that never happened — I had the copy of a concession speech in my pocket.  As I remember it, the first lines were:  “I have just talked to my opponent, who is no longer my opponent. He is the president-elect of the United States.”

“I had no doubt that then-Governor George W. Bush would have delivered that speech if necessary.  The 2000 presidential election was far closer than the one we just experienced — a slight electoral wind could have blown it either way.  But Bush, had he lost, would have played by the rules and accepted the outcome, just as Vice President Al Gore eventually did.  And how do I know that Bush would have done this?  Because he is a man of character who would have put the good of the country ahead of his own interests when the moment called for it.

“What America is now experiencing is a massive failure of character — a nationwide blackout of integrity — among elected Republicans. From the president, a graceless and deceptive insistence on victory after a loss that was not even close.  From congressional Republicans, a broad willingness to conspire in President Trump’s lies and to slander the electoral system without consideration of the public good. Only a few have stood up against Republican peer pressure of contempt for the constitutional order.”

• Under this headline, “Trump’s handling of race is the single most important issue in this election,” Gerson wrote:

“There is one particular way that Trump has made this a directional, perhaps a definitional, election:  He has purposely brought the issue of race to the center stage of American politics.  His re-election would mean, in part, the public vindication of his approach to racial matters.

“He probably views this as one issue among many — just another way to rile and rally his base.  That is the measure of his historical ignorance.  The struggle for racial equality is the defining American struggle.  Much of our history has been spent dealing with the moral contradiction of America’s founding — how a bold experiment in liberty could also be a prison for millions of enslaved people.  That hypocrisy and its ramifications have been our scandal.  Our burden. Our sin.”

• Under this headline, “The election is over, but there’s no end to Republican bad faith,” Gerson wrote:

“The presidential election is certainly over, and the result was not particularly close.  President-elect Joe Biden won a decisive majority of the popular vote and likely a considerable electoral college victory. Claims of widespread electoral fraud would be spurious even if they weren’t made by a prating fool in front of a Philadelphia landscaping firm.  The 2020 election is done.  Concluded.  Finished.

“What has not ended — what seems endless — is Republican bad faith and poltroonery.”

• Under this headline, “This election was a reflection of who we are as a country,” Gerson wrote:

“Trumpians feel confirmed in their belief that a hostile establishment and hidden “deep state” are conspiring against their dignity and influence.  Democrat progressives feel confirmed in their belief that the politics of compromise has gained liberalism nothing.  Democrat centrists feel confirmed in their belief that they are saving liberalism from political oblivion.  No large group of voters came away chastened or sobered.”

• Under this headline, “Trump and his party are threatening our constitutional order,” Gerson wrote:

“President Trump’s coup attempt has failed in every place but his fevered mind.

“The president’s claim of comprehensive electoral fraud has been distinguished by a complete lack of supportive evidence.  Legal representation by swaggering, bungling windbags has done little to advance the president’s cause.  And Trump’s diversion into deranged conspiracy thinking while national challenges mount is a fitting end to this sad, shabby chapter in the American story.  One imagines the other 43 presidents in Walt Disney World’s Hall of Presidents pointing and laughing at their most embarrassing successor.

“… the challenge has been a relatively weak one.  Trump combines the ambitions of a despot with the strategic planning and operational competence of a hamster.  He is an evil mastermind without the mastermind part.  Would our system have held firm in a closer election against a more talented authoritarian plotter?  We have no idea.  

“And the openness of the question should terrify us. Democracies tend to end not by revolt from below, but by erosion from above.  They are less vulnerable to revolutionaries than they are to demagogues.  While we have not lost our republic, we have glimpsed how it might eventually be lost.”

Enough, at least for now.  All of this shows Gerson’s fluid attempts to prod thought and reflection, as will, I suspect, future columns.  Clearly worth reading.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

My wife and I drove east up the Santiam Canyon the other day.

It was a familiar drive for us, having taken it many times to visit Central Oregon. 

But, it was different this time.  Our purpose was to take a first-hand look at the result of wildfires that ravaged the area earlier this year.  We delayed this trip for a number of weeks because we did not want to get in the way of residents who were heading back to see whether their homes and other belongings had survived.

What follows are some of the on-site perceptions we formed during and after the visit – and, if I was better at posting a blog, I might include photos of the “new canyon.”  But, since I’m not, you might consider taking the trip yourself.

• It definitely was not pleasant to look at the devastation.  We could only imagine what it was like for residents to try to escape the fire and, after doing so, to go back to survey the damage.

• As we got to the area of the first fire damage, we literally could still smell the burn.  Not smoke.  The burn.

• One major perception was this:  Fire proceeds in a random way.  What do I mean by this?  Well, for one illustration, the Cedars Restaurant at the beginning of the Detroit community was burned to the ground.  About 20 or 30 feet away, the Mile-High Grocery Store was still standing (though, given the ongoing effects of fire, was closed).

• Another example of randomness occurred as we looked at the stands of timber.  One swath was burned by fire.  An adjoining stand escaped and was still green.

• As I recounted this aspect of our trip up the canyon, one of my friends told me that he understood that fire behaves much like cyclones in the Midwest.  One side of a street might be demolished by a cyclone.  The other side would escape.  As we saw first-hand, fire behaves in a similar fashion.

• Downed timber?  It was everywhere including by the side of the road.  One of my friends who works for the Oregon Department of Transportation told me this week that log trucks and crews will be spending the next two weeks collecting downed timber.  Some of what is collected, once the burned bark is off, might even have market value.

As a final point in this blog, we met recently a couple who had to evacuate in the region around Elkhorn as the fire lurked only feet from a home they had built over the previous two years.  They made it out, but, then, a few days later, had to return to see that, in fact, the home had been leveled. 

It was an emotional experience for them.

And that is a point to remember as we reflect back on the fire season, in Oregon, Washington and California:  What happened is more than damage to buildings and belongings; it represents torn emotions and a changed way of life.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This 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 of 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.

Is it too early to propound a series of New Year’s resolutions?

Perhaps.  But, I do so anyway.

And, what appears below are not typical resolutions in the sense that they do not express intent to change my own behavior.  Rather, they express my wishes for my country as we enter a new year.

So, therefore, I wish:

…Donald Trump would go away quietly now that he is a loser.  [And, to point a recent point on it based on news accounts today, residents of Mar-A-Lago, where he may choose to live, don’t want him there.]

…Joe Biden would be given room by Senate Republicans to form his Administration similar to what has been done traditionally as new presidents take over…in other words, make Senate confirmation processes based on substance and credentials, not politics.

…Biden’s Cabinet level and other significant appointments would be judged first on their experience and credentials and, then if at all, on the basis of their ethnicity.

…Members of Congress would find a way to land in the middle on complex public policy questions rather than prattle away on their own side of the agenda.

…Members of Congress would realize the true definition of politics – compromise.

…The Biden Administration would place a huge initial priority on undoing one of the Trump Administration most egregious acts, the kidnapping of children from immigrant parents.  [Hard to imagine a more tragic policy!]

…The Oregon Legislature, as is the aspiration for Congress, would find middle ground on tough issues.

…Those who lead the Legislature – all Democrats – would find a way to listen to and respect the views of the minority…all Republicans.

…Republicans in Salem would find a way to express their minority views without walking out to avoid quorums.

…Both sides in Salem would find ways to restrict or at least contain the “two-Oregon’s” issue…the reality that, in the past, urban legislators appear not to care about rural issues and rural legislators appear not to care about urban issues, so they fight.

…Journalists in and around Salem would follow the example of the Salem Reporter, which means they would focus more genuinely on “news” of interest to area residents.

…And this conclusion:  The pandemic would recede as millions of Americans – as well as Oregonians – take one of the vaccines, with thanks to those who have provided it, including pharmaceutical companies working with the federal government, scientists in those companies working against long odds, and the huge distribution network required to get vaccines throughout the country in short order.