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, 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.

The question in the headline resonated for me yesterday on July 4^th, a national holiday worth celebrating each year.

President Donald Trump, of course, has made the holiday into a celebration of his own worth, not America’s. So, at least for now, forget Trump, which is one of the highest acts of citizenship in this country, even though news reports from the Nation’s Capitol suggested that, in his formal remarks, Trump stuck to a patriotic script.

For me, America means something more elegant that a military exhibition:

• Freedom to work and produce.
• Freedom to live in an open society.
• Freedom to express religious convictions without fear or reprisal.
• Freedom to work together with neighbors, the community, the church and others institutions for the common good (though, for this point, I’ll leave politics off the list as elected officials continue to practice the “art” of division, not inclusion)
• Freedom to speak and be creative. [On this issue, I remember a poignant comment made by out tour guide in Prague recently. With the fall of communism in the Czech Republic, she said she relished the new freedom to think and be creative for herself, not some monolithic, central state.]

All of these freedoms are under attack in the today’s political system.

On the right – if that is really where Trump is — he wants acquiescence and worship from all citizens because he, of course, is great and will lead America to be great again…a phrase that often reminds me of Adolph Hitler’s Germany after World War I and leading to World War II, including the Hitler-led atrocities which tried to exterminate an entire race of people – the Jews – from the face of the earth. Trump’s approach to immigrants strikes, unfortunately, a similar chord.

Let me insert a quick point on immigration. My family on both sides comes from immigrants who came to America for a better life. My wife’s parents, when they were young children, emigrated from Scotland and we still honor that heritage.

On my side, my grandparents came from Norway to settle in Minnesota and, in that case, too, we honor the heritage.

Just think of what immigrants have done for our country over the years. Of course, we need a better system for allowing them to enter this country legally, but instead of developing that gateway, our “leaders,” especially Trump, denigrate all immigrants as “criminals,” or, if they recognize the reality the concentration camp-like holding centers, don’t develop the wherewithal to develop a better system.

On the general issue of the political system challenging our freedoms, the left is no better than the right. From Senators Bernie Sanders to Elizabeth Warren, the left wants to make America into a socialist country. No more freedoms. Just salute the federal government as the provider of all things free – college, health care and a so-called “green economy.”

As both sides yell at the other, with no middle ground, I worry about the future of America as a democracy.

So, on this July 4^th holiday weekend, it is worthwhile to reflect on the values of this country, which ought to be nurtured, not destroyed by Trump and those on the left.

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, 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.

Several facts:

• In a previous post, I commented on the absolute stupidity of President Donald Trump’s plan for an Independence Day celebration that focuses, not on the incredible record of America, but rather on Trump himself.
• I believe Trump be mimicking Adolph Hitler, not leading America to celebrate its existence.  Hitler appeared before what he considered to be Germany’s military might which led to his bid to conquer the world.  Now, under Trump, we have the specter of tanks rolling through Washington, D.C. as, somehow, that shows Trump is all powerful.  Of course, as usual, Trump knows nothing about the history of July 4^th celebrations, including those associated with the French Bastille Day (see below), which was a celebration of working together as countries, not going it alone as is the case with Trump.
• I will not waste a moment watching the Trump debacle, preferring, instead to focus on the worth of America, despite Trump.

Further, the Washington Post showed up yesterday with an excellent piece reporting that “Trump’s Fourth of July celebration was a bad imitation of Bastille Day.

Rather than write more about that myself, I hereby print the Post’s piece.

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Tanks arrived in Washington this week, ahead of the July 4 parade that President Trump has dubbed a “Salute to America.” He’s boasted about putting on such an event since he attended the 2017 Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which he called “one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen” — appreciating, in particular, its “military might.”

Though last year he failed to execute his plans to match, or explicitly “top,” France’s parade, he’s finally getting what he wants.

But Trump’s comments about his aims for the event — “showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World,” as he put it on Twitter — reveal that he fundamentally missed the point of Bastille Day. Enchanted by the tanks and flyovers, he overlooked other aspects of the French celebration that make it quite different in tone and tenor from the displays of martial force put on by autocratic regimes like Russia and North Korea, whose garish displays he now risks echoing.

A bit of history reveals the complexity of France’s Bastille Day fete — and clarifies how the military fits into the picture of what’s essentially a celebration of French national identity. Bastille Day, of course, marks the 1789 fall of the notorious prison that for centuries symbolized royal authority, and which served as home to many of the king’s unlucky targets, often relatives whom the monarchy deemed inconvenient.

The storming of the Bastille is widely considered to have ignited the French Revolution. Pro-Republican French organized annual commemorations in the years that followed the revolution. When Napoleon seized power in a 1799 coup, he repackaged the event as a military parade. Then, after his fall in 1814, the restored monarchy did away with the celebration altogether, pushing it underground, and it became a sort of act of Republican dissent.

What’s more, the contemporary parade celebrates not just the fall of the Bastille, but the sweeping, anti-monarchist victory that followed a century later, in the crucial 1880 elections. The left-wing National Assembly that emerged from that vote declared July 14 a national holiday to honor citizens’ empowerment; a military side of the parade was revived to showcase France’s pledge to regain the territories it lost to Germany in 1871.

So, yes, echoing that past, France’s parade today features elite military regiments. But the event as a whole is more about citizenship and unity than about showing the world the country’s military power — Trump’s vision of what his own parade would project. Moreover, the military element has deep historic roots, unlike Trump’s concocted show of force, even if its meaning has shifted over time.

France’s annual event has a decidedly international flavor that Trump would be hard-pressed to embrace. It has included troops from around the world, and not only from French territories or former colonies but also India, Mexico, Singapore and Japan — plus delegations from international organizations, including the United Nations. French soldiers have in past years brandished the European Union flag, honoring allies and advertising a commitment to international institutions. It’s about France, but also about its role in the world. And it’s meant to proudly champion the values of the liberal international order on which Emmanuel Macron has staked his presidency, and which Trump has so brazenly sought to destroy.

Some have drawn parallels between the 41-year-old French president and his 73-year-old American counterpart: Both campaigned as political disrupters, both love the pomp of the presidency, and both share an evident disdain for the media. But Macron, a staunch defender of the European project, has denounced Trump’s “America First” nationalism as a “betrayal of patriotism”; at last year’s Armistice Day celebration, Macron said,“By saying ‘Our interests first. Who cares about the others?’ we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great, and what is essential: its moral values.”

Those ideals, against which Trump has declared war, are central to the parade that runs along the famed Champs Elysees avenue every year in Paris. Bastille Day, in roughly its current form, has taken place annually since 1880, independent of politics or partisanship; Trump’s July 4 equivalent would mark the first such American military parade since 1991, which was held to celebrate the U.S. victory in the Persian Gulf War. And Trump appears to view it as yet another campaign rally — this time with a hard militaristic edge — that glorifies his own presidency, not as a celebratory tribute to those broader American values he often emphatically disregards.

Bastille Day was Trump’s inspiration, but he seems to have confused that event with the Soviet-style military parades now parroted by authoritarian leaders from China to North Korea. His objective isn’t to celebrate the U.S. presence on the world stage, tip a hat to allies and celebrate the nation’s rich democratic history. Rather, it’s to show off a “new” America unencumbered by what he sees as a bygone commitment to the international order and the civic values it represents. Trump may have watched the French parade, but he failed to look past its shiny military surface.

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So, today, on this July 4th, enjoy your family, friends and America.  Pay no attention to Trump.

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, 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.

Under President Donald Trump, the annual Independence Day celebration in Washington, D.C. is turning into re-election campaign event for himself.

What’s more, government money is being used to heap supposed esteem on this most mercurial of presidents.

And, what’s even worse, Trump’s order for a full military display – with tanks rumbling down the street in the Nation’s Capitol – conjures up images, for me, of what Adolph Hitler did in Germany to rally citizens there to support his unjust cause.

He wanted displays of military hardware, plus millions of soldiers, to show how strong he was…against the world.  By historical footage, I know Hitler relished seeing all the assembled military hardware and personnel arrayed to support him.

And, we know what Hitler produced – World War II and his incredible campaign to rid the world of an entire race of people, the Jews.

I have used the Trump-to-Hitler comparison before, especially as I returned from a trip to Europe, including Germany, where, again, I saw first-hand the history of the Hitler atrocities.

Too much to compare Trump to Hitler? No. To me, the comparison is apt.

The Washington Post reports this morning that the National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with Trump’s Independence Day celebration on the Mall.

Trump administration officials have consistently refused to say how much taxpayers will have to pay for the expanded celebration , which the president has dubbed the “Salute to America.”

The diverted park fees represent just a fraction of the extra costs the government faces as a result of the event, which will include displays of military hardware, flyovers by an array of jets including Air Force One, the deployment of tanks on the Mall and an extended pyrotechnics show.

Further, for Trump’s planned speech at the Lincoln Memorial, the White House is distributing VIP tickets to Republican donors and political appointees, prompting objections from Democrat lawmakers who argue that the president has turned the annual celebration into a campaign-like event.

Just another part of a continuing Trump infomercial, which like Hitler, heaps “required” praise on an individual, himself.

For an annual event that should be a celebration about America, Trump has turned everything into a toast to him.

I’ll give the Post’s “Politics 202” column almost the last word this morning:

“Celebration is what July 4 is supposed to be about. Instead, Americans are squabbling on Independence Day Eve over whether it condones slavery to honor the third president or to put the Betsy Ross flag on Nike sneakers. More significantly, has ordered tanks and other military assets into the nation’s capital for a new kind of ceremony that critics fear will be as much a celebration of himself as the nation’s birthday.”

My last word: Don’t expect me to drinking a toast to Trump.

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, 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.

The headline to this blog makes a point what won’t be true for me.

I will not vote for Trump in 2020, give his complete lack of character and the continuing untruths of his “act” as president, which resembles an infomercial for his brand – whatever that is.

What may be good for Trump is that many Democrats are lurching so far left you would have to design a new political spectrum to place them on it.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the leftward lurch is apparent on issue after issue, as follows:

• Climate change is now an urgent crisis that demands eliminating not merely the coal industry but all fossil fuels.
• Enforcing immigration laws that were once passed by bi-partisan majorities in Congress is now inhumane.
• Free health care for Americans isn’t enough; now it must also be an entitlement for any foreign migrant who enters the U.S.
• College loans must be forgiven in part or whole, and tuition now must be free.
• Taxes must be raised to rates unheard of since the 1960s because, as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio put it, money is “just in the wrong hands.”
• The Electoral College must be killed to save American democracy, and the Supreme Court must be packed with more Justices because the left now sometimes loses decisions.

The WSJ adds that it is not clear why the Ds have gone so far left so fast.

“Perhaps,” according to WSJ editorial writers, “it is changing demographics led by the millennial socialists scarred by the Great Recession. Perhaps Trump’s conservative populism (if that label, populism, is accurate) has inspired its counterpart on the left.

“Whatever the cause, this Bernie Sanders’ issue list triumph is the single most important development in the 2020 campaign. Trump should be grateful. If this is the opposition agenda next year, he might win a second term.”

He also will benefit from what WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan says is the reality in America that “elites in politics, media and the academy have grown oblivious to ‘the average Joe’s intense disgust’ at being morally instructed and ‘preached to.’

“Every day, Americans are told of the endless ways they are falling short. If we don’t show the ‘proper’ level of understanding according to a talking head, then we are surely racist. If we don’t embrace every sanitized PC talking point, then we must be heartless. If we have the audacity to speak our mind, then we are most definitely a bigot. These accusations are relentless.

“We are jabbed like a boxer with no gloves on to defend us. And we are fed up. We are tired of being told we aren’t good enough.”

To my friends, Noonan and WSJ editorial writers, I say this: We need someone in this country – R, D, or independent – who will lead us to the center and then operate from there.  Not the extremes of the left or the right.

For me, the center is a good place to be in politics these days, but I the center is growing smaller and shallower every day.

And the smaller and shallower it goes, the more Trump, the buffoon, benefits.

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, 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.

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NOTE: Oregon legislators adjourned their six-month sojourn in Salem at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday. That was about five hours or so before the statutory deadline to get out of town. The last couple days were not without controversy as Senate Republicans returned to the Capitol and one of their members, Brian Boquist from Dallas, came under criticism for the threats he made during the Senate R walk-out. He’ll have to fade potential censure for his conduct.

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I have been involved in politics, in one way or the other, for about 40 years.

I wrote stories on local and state politics as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Oregon. I worked for state government for about 15 years, always relating to elected officials, including, at one point, serving as press secretary for Oregon Governor Vic Atiyeh.

I worked as a state lobbyist for about 25 years. And, now as a private citizen, I follow all forms of government – local, state and federal – with blogs that give me an outlet for my views. At least I feel better if I write. Not sure if anyone else does.

My conclusion, at least at the moment is THIS: The institution of the Legislature has fallen to its lowest reputational depths in my memory. The fact is that the reputation is in tatters.

Now, there no doubt will be some observers who will point out that the final weeks of any legislative session look awful to the public.  As the old saw goes, making laws or sausage is not pretty.  Perhaps. But, to me, the final weeks this time were over-the-top negative.

Here’s why:

1. The urban-rural divide has been exacerbated, not bridged.

As never before, urban legislators and statewide office holders pull all the strings in favor of Portland and other areas heading south along I-5 to Eugene.

As I have talked to my former lobby colleagues, even before the Senate Republican walk-out which resulted in a stoppage of any legislative action (which was the purpose), they told me how tough it was to represent business interests at the Capitol this session.

Most Democrats, they said, would not listen to the perspectives of business, including those representing Eastern Oregon. What’s more, the lobbyists said, Democrat legislators from urban areas didn’t care.

The dam burst when Democrats wanted to move forward on a cap-and-trade bill (House Bill 2020) supposedly to reduce carbon pollution in Oregon, but legislation that would cost jobs and money in Eastern Oregon.

While some Democrat leaders contended they had made changes in the bill at the urging of Republicans, Republicans in general said they had been ignored.

So, they walked, a tactic that has been used several times in past years, but one that provoked angry actions and recriminations. And, to regular citizens, it looked like immaturity in the sense of “I’ll take my toys and go home.”

Republicans didn’t care. They said they got what they wanted, which was the death of HB 2020.

2. Immature and worse conduct by legislators – and staff — has been squarely on display.

So much so that legislators felt a need to pass a bill to require maturity and solid conduct.

Say what? Why not just behave as mature adults rather than trying to engineer conduct by passing another law?

3. The role of the minority – Republicans – has been a continuing source of tension.

Democrats hold super-majorities in both the House and the Senate this session, which meant they could pass bills – including tax increases – without ANY Republican support.

Democrat leaders would say they sought Republican input.

Republican leaders would say they were ignored.

Never the twain shall meet.

One test of any group in charge – Democrat or Republican – should be how it deals with the minority. Not by agreeing with minority perspectives, but by considering the views of those in the minority and being able to prove that consideration had been given.

If my lobby friends are accurate, the D leaders have failed on this standard.

4. The role of political contribution money.

If the Oregonian newspaper is to be believed, money from business “pollutes” the political process in Oregon.

That is the reason, the Oregonian avers, that improved or new environmental laws have not passed.

I find the Oregonian’s contention to be absurd. Democrats are in charge almost everywhere in Salem and, if they cannot pass new laws, including environmental laws, then they bear responsibility for the failure to act. Not “corporate pollution.”

To say otherwise, is to say Democrats have been bought by corporations. I suspect Democrats would bridle at that notion – and they should.

Plus, the Oregonian’s propositions ignore entirely the role and effect of political contributions from public employee unions which go almost exclusively to Democrats.

If limits should be imposed on political contributions, then they should be across-the-board, not just on one side.

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, 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.

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NOTE: Most Senate Republicans returned to the Capitol yesterday so legislative business could continue, with a quorum, in the face of an 11:50 p.m. Sunday deadline for the session, by law, to end. Saturday was a long day at the Capitol and will be again today Sunday. Three Senate Republicans were absent – Fred Girod from Stayton who said he had promised constituents he would say, so he did; Dennis Linthicum from Klamath Falls for who knows what reason; and Brian Boquist from Dallas who had issued major threat to State Police if they came looking for him which led many to believe that he would shoot. Thus, if he carried a gun on the Senate floor, some feared for their safety.  Such is the stuff illustrating how far the Legislature has fallen in terms of equity, forbearance and safety, not to mention just doing the job they were elected to do.

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Okay, here’s an idea. If you are concerned about the “culture” at the Capitol in Oregon, pass a law to change it.

Don’t expect elected office holders and their staff to behave responsibly. Just pass a law.

I’ve heard of legislating behavior, but this takes the cake.

Here are experts from a House Democrat news release touting the action.

“Bi-partisan legislation aiming to make significant improvements to the culture at the Oregon State Capitol is on its way to Oregon Governor Kate Brown for her signature.

House Concurrent Resolution 20 and House Bill 3377 update internal Capitol rules – both of which passed in the Oregon Senate yesterday (Saturday) – ensure ongoing respectful workplace trainings and establish the independent Legislative Equity Office to handle complaints.

“The Capitol should be a place where people of all backgrounds and walks of life can come together for the common good of all Oregonians,” Joint Committee on Capitol Culture Co-Chair Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) said. “I have been committed to doing the work necessary to make sure everyone who works in or visits our State Capitol feels welcome and safe. This legislation meets that goal.”

Does passing a law “ensure” respectful conduct? No.

And, to my friend, Senator Burdick, I say, simply EXPECT better behavior so “people of all backgrounds and walks of life can come together for the common good of all Oregonians.”

With all the important issues on the legislative agenda as the process drives toward a conclusion, this bill – engineering personal conduct – is one that should have been left on the cutting room floor.

I say – just behave better because it’s what supposedly mature adults should do without an silly legal mandate.

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, 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.

First, let me confess that I did not watch either of the so-called Democrat Presidential Debates because, for one thing, they were not debates, but rather theater to decide who say something idiotic to grab the stage.

Second, after reading commentary on each of the two “debates,” I have one conclusion (and, from here on in this post, I will put quote marks around the word “debate” because of its inaccuracy):

The process focused on competing efforts to spend someone else’s money – yours and mine.

Free health care.

Free college.

Reparations for slavery.

Requiring a so-called “green economy” that would require re-building all structures in the U.S. according to some kind of new code.

I call this socialism, which has been espoused by more than just Senator Bernie Sanders. He had a lot contenders on the “debate” stage this week.

In the Wall Street Journal, one of my favorite columnists, Peggy Noonan, put it this way as she skewered the “debate” participants about their performance:

“Every day, Americans are told of the endless ways they are falling short. If we don’t show the ‘proper’ level of understanding according to a talking head, then we are surely racist. If we don’t embrace every sanitized PC talking point, then we must be heartless. If we have the audacity to speak our mind, then we are most definitely a bigot. These accusations are relentless.

“We are jabbed like a boxer with no gloves on to defend us. And we are fed up. We are tired of being told we aren’t good enough.”

So, many voters ran toward Trump in the last election and may head his direction in 2020, even as the Ds compete to turn the U.S. into a socialist country while they spend more of someone else’s money.

Now, to be sure, there are ills in capitalism, some of which we see every day when the private sector makes mistakes. But mistakes are not all that is done as businesses hire employees, sell or make stuff and participate in the process of earning their way to solvency.

Better, I say, than expecting more government hand-outs.

Through the “debates,” we got another strong indication of the government handout rationale. Not surprisingly, it dealt with health care.

Senator Bernie Sanders, competing again to be president, not only went on record in favor of socialized health care, he said his plan would require every American to enter a government health care abyss whether they wanted to enter or not…

No more private health care. Like your doctor or your hospital?  Sanders doesn’t care. He has a plan for you.

What does not need to happen on health care is more diatribes on the ills of health care from Sanders and his ilk on the far left. We need solid minds from all political spectrums to participate in a process to reform health care in this country.

What would that reform look like? Don’t know. That’s why we need a bi-partisan, collegial process to find out. So it would not be the Ds Medicare for All proposal. It would not be the Republicans saying just “no” at every turn.

It would be a process designed to meet in the middle. A great place to be. Imagine that.

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, 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.

It’s hard, in some ways, to know how to comment on the current walk-out in Salem, which has extended beyond a week. [Late work today is the walk-out may end on Saturday as delinquent Republicans return to the Capitol.]

As a political junkie, I cannot avoid commenting.

So, here are a few competing perceptions:

COMPLAINTS FILED OPPOSING SENATE R FINE-PAYING OPTIONS: A collection of environmental groups and labor unions – probably most the public employee union type – filed complaints with the Secretary of State and the Oregon Government Ethics Commission contending that R senators should not be allowed to use their campaign funds to pay fines imposed due to their absence from the Capitol.

It is not clear, at the moment, whether the Secretary of State or the Ethics Commission has jurisdiction to consider the complaint. [And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I currently serve on the Ethics Commission, so will reserve all comment until I hear all sides of the issue at an upcoming meeting.]

A VIEW FROM ONE OF MY FRIENDS: Perhaps indicating that “regular citizens” – bless their hearts – don’t want to focus on the juvenile to-ing and fro-ing at the Capitol, one of my friends expressed this chagrin:

Lawmakers who walk-out portray a terrible example for those who watch the legislature, especially young people. If you don’t get your way, you leave. Like the old saw, “Take your toys and go home.”

Plus, my friend said, take away ALL salaries and benefits for those who leave their jobs at the Capitol. If the senators are not doing their work, they should not be paid, he said. When, or perhaps if, they return, they should have to apply for salary and benefits all over again.

A COMMENT FROM KNUTE BUEHLER: The candidate who lost to Governor Kate Brown in the last election, Knute Buehler from Bend, continues to share his views in a periodic e-mail to friends and acquaintances, leading to speculation, by the way, that he still harbors political ambitions, perhaps to run for the 2^nd District Congressional seat when Greg Walden decides he has enough of Washington, D.C.

After saying that he supported the walk-out, here is how he took on the person who beat him, Governor Brown:

“Governor Kate Brown has earned thumbs down for rampant extremism and creating the most egregious and divisive legislative session in our beautiful state’s history. Governor Brown and the Democrat super-majorities have taken advantage of their power and gone too far.

“Forcing statewide rent control, a new business sales tax, stealing part of the kicker, creating a carbon cap and trade slush fund and even taxing paddle boards! While, we’ve seen no meaningful progress for foster kids, homeless, education quality or fixing PERS.

“We’re just six months in to Governor Brown’s four-year term and we have seen a total disregard for how hard working Oregonians can continue to afford to live, work, and raise a family here.”

Whether Buehler is right or wrong about the walk-out, he has a point about the Democrat agenda at the Capitol, which has veered pretty far left.

A COMMENT FROM A FARMER: In the Salem Statesman newspaper, a 5^th generation farmer was quoted in a way that, probably, illustrated the views of many rural Oregonians.

“Those of us who make a living from the land are the best environmental stewards there are. Those who work outside are more in touch with the climate that those who legislate the climate.”

FROM BEND BULLETIN EDITORIAL WRITERS: “Governor Kate Brown and other Democrats criticized the walk-out in a medley of put-downs. ‘The Republicans are driving us away from the values that Oregonians hold dear, and are moving us dangerously close to the self-serving stalemate in Washington, D.C.,’ Brown said.

“That’s a curious perspective from Brown. In 2001, when she was the leader of the Senate Democrats, Brown backed a walk-out of House Democrats who didn’t like what House Republicans were doing in a fight over redistricting. She called the action by House Democrats “’very appropriate under the circumstances.’

“’Under certain circumstances, it’s fair to say we would use all the tools available to us,’ she added.”

FROM THE BLOGS WRITTEN IN MY OLD FIRM, CFM STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: “The final days of any legislative session tend to be chaotic, despite the best intentions of well-meaning legislative leaders. All the big issues bottled up during the session or the ones facing 11th-hour negotiating deadlines are suddenly alive. These tend to be issues that can’t just be swept under the rug, so some resolution is necessary.

“To outside eyes, the spectacle can seem bizarre and brazen. It is, but it also is how the process grinds to a conclusion, which rarely makes everyone happy, but is enough to allow enough people to vote to go home.”

AND THIS FINAL THOUGHT FROM ME: Without trying to understand all of the machinations of the Senate R walk-out, one fact remains puzzling to me. It is why what should be a major issue for all ALL legislators – preserving existing jobs and creating an environment that incents business to create new ones.

The issue that has been the pivot for the walk-out strategy – the so-called “cap-and-trade” bill – could (read could) cost thousands of job, especially in Eastern Oregon.

So, my question is why risk those jobs.

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, 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.

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NOTE: The fact that I am able to post this blog this morning indicates something important about me: I did not watch either of the so-called “debates” among Democrat contenders for presidentin 2020 – either Wednesday’s event involving the first 10 or last night’s event for the remaining 10. So, it is hard to comment on the inane character of the events, tough I guess I just did with the word “inane.” Did voters learning anything through the process? I suspect the answer is a resounding no.

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The word “spinning” got another high-profile mention a few weeks ago as Democrats in Congress accused Attorney General William Barr of spinning as he released and commented on the Mueller Report.

Democrats, of course, wanted the Mueller Report to do something it didn’t do, which is proposing to charge President Donald Trump with crimes, including obstruction of justice. Because, for better or worse, it didn’t do that, the Ds were incensed and prepared to lambaste Barr for doing what they always do, which is to spin.

For now, I’ll leave assessments of Barr’s conduct to others (though, I add that, from my post in the cheap seats out West, I generally laud Barr’s performance i the Mueller Report issue and other matters).

What I will do is comment on the word “spinning.”

Here, first, is the dictionary definition of the term: 

“To give (a news story or other information) a particular interpretation, especially a favorable one.”

So, if only based on this definition, the fact is that everyone spins. To put a point on it, critics of spinning are spinning.

Here some examples.

For newspapers, it’s all the news that fits, not necessarily all the news that’s fit to print. I say this as a former reporter for daily newspaper. The challenge was to write stories that fit into the otherwise-empty space.

Plus, reporters were told to write “in the inverted pyramid style,” so, if only for space reasons, their stories could be cut from the bottom up, with the important facts first.

Consider radio and television stations. What they produce as what they call news is limited by the time of the broadcast, not to mention the need to save time for advertising.

Or, public officials, do they spin? Yes. All the time.

In fact, over my 25 years in the firm I co-founded, CFM Strategic Communications, we usually advised clients to put their best foot forward. Provide information that, if possible and accurate, reflected positively on their enterprise. Call this spinning.

As for political analysts and columnists, they spin, too, if only to limit the words they write to the space available, but also to stimulate readership and viewership.

Finally, the fact is that those who criticize spinning are spinning themselves.

So, if we all do it, why is spinning sometimes viewed as bad?

Well, sometimes, the bad part of spinning is when the spin is designed, as in the case of President Trump, to tear someone down in what can only be called “the politics of personal destruction.” That’s what Trump does for a living.

And, unfortunately, those on the other side spin too in an attempt to criticize someone or put someone on the defensive. Not just to advance their own cause, but to derail someone’s else by the use of pejorative names and ridicule.

Spinning is also bad when it is patently and objectively false. Again, Trump is the best (or is it worst?) example of using no accurate facts as he tweets (and, unfortunately, reporters hang on every word in those tweets).

From her post on the far left, not even on any political spectrum, U.S. Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez gives Trump a run for his money on any criteria related to spinning to slam someone else or resort to outright falsehoods.

To all of this: Recognize spinning it for what it is – an attempt to put your best foot forward. And, on the personal destruction or falsehood type of spinning, ignore it.

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19TH 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, 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.

One of my favorite political columnists, Michael Gerson, has scored again with an insightful piece analyzing the person who claims to be president of the United States, but doesn’t act like a rational leader of the free world.

That, of course, is Donald Trump and Gerson skewers him under this headline:
Trump isn’t just speaking lies. He’s inviting loyalists to live in his own political reality.

Rather than try to write my own words – they would not be as good as those by Gerson, plus I choose to focus on this piece instead of on last night’s silly Democrat presidential debate – I will simply repeat the Gerson column here. It’s worth reading.

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When dealing with a political figure who faces allegations of sexual assault financial misdeeds and obstruction of justice, it is difficult to sort out the greatest damage to our public life. But a strong case can be made that it is the assault on truth.
This was again on display during a recent interview of President Trump by NBC News’s Chuck Todd. When asked his reaction to losing the popular vote in 2016, Trump returned to the narrative that he had been robbed of a popular-vote victory through fraud. “I’ll say something that, again, is controversial,” said Trump. “There were a lot of votes cast that I don’t believe. I look at California . . . Take a look at their settlement where California admitted to a million votes.”
Trump’s claim is not just “controversial.” It is a whole-cloth fabrication by the most ambitious fabulist in presidential history. The “settlement” to which Trump was apparently referencing was a judicial order for the state of California to remove about a million inactive voters from its registration list. This can in no way be interpreted as a million fraudulent votes cast for Hillary Clinton in 2016 (which still would not have won Trump California or the national popular vote).
Is Trump’s determination to inhabit his self-blown truth bubble a psychological compulsion or a political ploy? That is an interesting question, but an academic one. Each explanation reinforces the other.
Most of Trump’s boldest lies are devoted to protecting himself from facts that diminish him. So, his net worth must be exaggerated, no matter what his tax returns might say. His inaugural crowd must be larger than Barack Obama’s, no matter what aerial photographs clearly show. He was cheated out of a popular vote victory, no matter what the evidence indicates.
Sometimes Trump’s self-serving deceptions are hard for followers to keep straight. The Mueller report, for example, was both dismissed as the illegitimate work of Democratic agents and embraced as complete vindication on matters of collusion and obstruction. Even though the explanations are inconsistent, they are unified by Trump’s broader purpose: the bending of reality to serve his self-perception.
Some kind of personal pathology seems to be at work. Trump’s epistemology is not so much relativistic as solipsistic. He has a bottomless need to project himself as wealthier, stronger, smarter and better than he actually is. This is a sign, not of strength, but of psychological fragility. Desperation for the illusion of mastery is the evidence of deep brokenness. It indicates a hunger for affirmation that reality will never fill. This encourages both self-delusion and the spinning of elaborate, self-serving lies.
Why should these attributes bother us in a president? Because narcissism is not merely a stronger form of personal ambition. It is a different and distorted way of perceiving the world. Part of psychological wholeness — and of responsible political leadership — is the ability to consider reality from someone else’s perspective. But Trump seems incapable of escaping the small, dark cell of his own immediate needs and desires. He can’t see the world from the standpoint of an ally or an enemy. He seems immune to empathy for a minority facing prejudice, or a refugee fleeing from oppression, or a migrant child separated from his or her parents.
And Trump appears to accept no moral standards external to his interests. Every principle or truth is judged in relation to the welfare of his person. There is apparently nothing he won’t say to maintain the mythology that he is the winningest winner there ever was or will be. This means that he careens from crisis to crisis without moral guardrails.
Trump is not only speaking a series of lies. He is inviting millions of loyalists to live in a political reality conjured by his deceptions. Any news critical of him is “fake.” Any agitprop that supports him — even by the purveyors of conspiracy theories — is to be believed. And any election he might lose is fraudulent.
Not long ago, I sat on a plane next to a knowledgeable and articulate Trump supporter. The talk turned to the Mueller report, and I mentioned that Robert Mueller was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery in Vietnam. “How do you know that?” snapped my conversation partner. I sputtered something about reading it in multiple, reliable sources. She remained unconvinced.
How is any political conversation or policy discussion possible when citizens inhabit separate universes of truth and meaning? This is Trump’s most dangerous innovation: epistemology as cult of personality.