MY PRESCRIPTION FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT

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 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 this blog headline strikes you as a bit presumptuous, good.  It is.

I have no business thinking I will ever be in charge of government, either at the state or federal levels and either by appointment or election.  Plus, I am retired. 

But I do have a few prescriptions for what I believe would constitute good government.

So, here goes.

1. Good government should be marked by asking one important question:  Is there a role for government in regard to this problem and, if there is, how should a government response be designed to achieve the desired result?

Too often, this question is not asked, much less answered.  Thus, we have to pay for government “solutions” to every problem.  Does government have a role in some cases?  By all means, yes.  But not all cases.

Asking this hard question and providing a fact-based answer is a first step toward good government.

• Good government should be about promises kept, not just promises made.

Making promises is easy.  Keeping them is hard.  But if promises are just talk, then why listen?  Make promises, then keep them.

Let me add one clarification here.  If a candidate makes a promise on the campaign trail or an agency head makes a promise in running a program, then finds out he or she cannot fulfill that promise, tell the public the truth.  In straightforward facts, describe why a promise cannot be kept.  That honesty and clarity builds credibility.

• Good government should be about achieving results, not just proposing them.

The “promises kept” and “results” items may seem similar.  And, I suppose they are.  But they also are different.  This relates actually to running programs, not just talking about running them.

Results matter.  Measure those who serve in elected or appointed office by the results they achieve, not the results they promise and don’t achieve.

Or, if by some chance, if results don’t materialize, elected or major appointed officials could add to their credibility by “admitting” the failure and explain why it occurred.

• Good government should be about the search for middle ground, not extremes in public policy.

Too often, government these days is about the ability to win at all costs.  Call the other side stupid.  Impose your will.

[As an insertion, pardon this reference back to an “old” issue, national health care policy.  I continue to use it because, despite the years, it still stands as an excellent example of how not to write legislation.]

Consider the Affordable Health Care Act, which came to be called ObamaCare.  It was, in fact, an apt moniker, not the Affordable Health Care Act.  The program was imposed by Obama and his Democrat supporters in Congress without one Republican vote – and this was not because Republicans were just opposed to Obama.  It was because the Act was an over-the-top, one-size-fits-all, government-run prescription for health care in America.

Was it all bad?  Of course not.  Millions of Americas got health coverage as part of new government spending, but at what cost?  A huge spike upward in health premiums, both for those newly on a government program, as well as those in the private sector.  After all, some payers had to support those new to health care coverage.

The better answer on health care and any other pressing public policy challenge is to legislate from the middle.  Work with reasonable elected officials on both sides of the political aisle – yes, there are some — to develop real health care reform and real solutions on other issues…. for ALL Americans.

• Good government should be about ethical and honest behavior, not bending the truth.

This seems far from the case today.  A government by and for the people should be honest in its approach to the “people” – us. 

Conclusion:  These prescriptions might not always make good sound bites.  But they do make good government.

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 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.

Now that we have endured the mid-term election – at least most if it even as we await final results in “too-close-to-call” contests – our attention should turn to the question posed in this blog.

This:  How can those who won get past campaigning and get on to the business of governing?

As I began writing this blog, I came again to the realization that getting about the business of governing will require something more basic than political will.  It will require a change of heart that will have to weave its way into politics and, indeed, into every area of life.

That is especially true now as Donald Trump tries to sow discord and dissension as he anticipates announcing in a few days a run for president in 2024, a run that promises to emphasize disagreement and enmity for anyone who chooses to disagree with the epitome of a narcissist.

For me, Washington Post opinion writer Michael Gerson prompted deeper thoughts than just politics with a very well-written piece in the Post. 

Who among our political leaders, he asked, “is calling for mutual understanding and practicing it?  This would involve the concession of truth on both sides.”

Gerson went on to quote Judge Learned Hand who, in 1944, told newly minted citizens in New York’s Central Park: 

“What then is the spirit of liberty?  I cannot define it.  I can only tell you my own faith.  The spirit of liberty is the spirit that is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit that weighs their interests alongside its own without bias . . . the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten, that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.”

This, I know, is a lofty, hard-to-reach goal, given the kind of politics we have been seeing in recent years.

But, for what’s is worth, here are my ideas about what the future should hold.

First, those in office should get about the business of solving – or at least making substantive progress on — two major issues that are gripping the nation, homelessness and immigration.

For too long, both issues have been subjected to talk and pithy quotes, not solutions.

Republicans and Democrats have a joint responsibility, finally, to move to solutions on the immigration issue.  Find a way to stimulate legal immigration and take advantage of the perspectives and energy of new citizens.

For one thing, we need no more of the tactics employed by two governors – Ron DeSantis from Florida and Greg Abbott from Texas, both of whom just won re-election in ways that put them into a group of Republicans who could make a bid for president two years from now. 

To illustrate their pique earlier this year, they used public transportation to deliver immigrants to cities to the north in the belief that, somehow, this tactic would illustrate “their” problem.

It didn’t work.  Many of those on the receiving end of the immigration ploy reacted with skill and empathy to help refugees gain their footing in the north.

The same admonition for solutions applies to homelessness.  Do something.  Don’t just criticize.

For one thing, it will be interesting to see how Oregon Governor-Elect Tina Kotek moves on this issue, which was a major one in the recent campaign.  If there was one issue that moved voters, it might have been this one and, toward the end of the campaign, she said she a major plan to do something about homelessness.

Second, the mid-term election appeared to underscore that many Americans were concerned about democracy in the country, so they voted against the so-called “election deniers” who wanted a dictatorship under Trump.  Elections don’t matter, those deniers said.

Well, elections do matter – and that’s why many of them lost, a good thing. 

Several reputable post-election pollsters underscored that America got through the election without major threats to democracy.

Here is how Washington Post put it:

“Democracy fared pretty well, actually.  Election Day felt normal, with fears that MAGA Republicans would refuse to concede races, based on baseless voter-fraud allegations, mostly failing to materialize.  When Donald Trump wrote on social media that people should protest a minor absentee-ballot problem in Detroit, no one showed up.

“Election officials breathed a sigh of relief that aggressive fraud-hunting novices seemed few and far between, despite promises from popular voices in the MAGA movement to inundate polling places with activists and station monitors in eyesight of ballot drop boxes

“Going into the mid-terms, many eyes were on a post-Trump phenomenon:  Election deniers on the ballot.  By The Post’s count, 51 per cent of the 569 GOP nominees questioned or refused to accept Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.  They ran in every region of the country and in nearly every state.”

Many lost.

So, if democracy matters, then so should a commitment to find middle ground on such issues as immigration, homelessness, crime, police funding, international relations (including the war in Ukraine), and many others.

Middle ground in politics is hard to find and may remain remote, especially of hard-right conservatives in the U.S. House continue to press for an advantage with the new House leadership which will have to practice the art of “herding cats.”

As the introduction to this blog says, I love middle ground – both in golf and in politics.

So, I say, let’s find it as the reality of campaigning moves to the obligation of governing.

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 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.

Reports from almost all media indicated that Democrats were breathing sighs of relief all night long on election day, Tuesday, as it became apparent that the Republican “red wave” predicted by some pundits and polls had failed to materialize.

Several days later, the Ds are still breathing.

Drawn from various publications here are what reporters often call “takeaways:”

• The GOP hit its high-water mark early in the night when projections from Florida showed both Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Marco Rubio winning their races easily.
• It was mostly downhill for the GOP from there.  The most dramatic result — so far— came when Democrat John Fetterman’s defeated Republican Mehmet Oz in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races in Pennsylvania.  To win, Fetterman, to his credit, overcame notions that he had lost so much from a recent stroke that he was not qualified to serve.
• Why did the GOP fare worse than expected?  The Washington Post says “it was that GOP leaders spent much of the last year fighting against each other or plotting against their own primary voters.  They were hobbled by unprepared first-time candidates, fundraising shortfalls, and Donald Trump, whose self-concern required constant attention — right up to the eve of the election, when he forced party bosses to beg him once again to delay a presidential campaign announcement.”
• Republicans will control the U.S. House, but by a smaller margin than originally expected.
• In the Senate, control likely will come down to run-off between Senator Raphael Warnock and former football star, Herschel Walker, who showed himself to be a terrible candidate during the campaign. 
• At the gubernatorial level, races that had caused Democrats some last-minute nervousness were won comfortably by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.  Plus, in Oregon, the Democrat, Tina Kotek, won the statehouse to preserve the office the Ds have held since 1987.  Further, Whitmer likely cemented a perception that she might be a good candidate for president in 2024 – if President Joe Biden does not run, or, perhaps, even if he does.
• Speaking of Biden, this was as good a mid-term outcome as he could have dared to expect.  Whatever the final results, he fared far better in his first mid-term than the two most recent Democrat presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, did in theirs.  That’s vindication, of a kind, for what has been called “Biden’s much-criticized but steady, low-wattage approach.”
• Republicans in the U.S. House – and the likely speaker, Kevin McCarthy — now face hard questions about how to manage with a smaller margin than expected.  That started yesterday when a group of far right conservative House Republicans demanded that McCarthy take more time to take up the mantle of leadership because they wanted more of a say.  Still, no doubt, the Rs would rather have won by a small margin than the alternative.
• Huge wins by DeSantis and Rubio turned Florida red from its past as a swing state.  By winning, DeSantis positions himself as a – if not “the” – leading R candidate for president in 2024.
• Of course, that irritates Donald Trump no end because he thinks he always is the leader, no matter the truth.
• According to Niall Stange who writes for hill.com, “the verdict on the vexing issues of election denialism, threats to democracy and flat-out conspiracy theories was, ultimately, ambiguous.  Several people who hew to those kinds of views lost, including Republican Doug Mastriano who was heavily defeated by Democrat Josh Shapiro in the race to be Pennsylvania’s governor, and Don Bolduc, who failed to run Senator Maggie Hassan anywhere near as close as some Republicans had hoped.”

For my part, the last bullet strikes home.  Election denialism or rabid anti-democracy was not as strong as I feared it would be.

That’s no guarantee for the future because Trump and his minions will continue to stoke the fires of antagonism and violence.  Eugene Robinson in today’s Washington Post says Trump will not go away quietly after a stinging defeat – he’ll have to be thrown out.

So, back to the start of this blog, regarding the WHY of this election?  Not sure yet, other than what appears above, so there is another chapter yet to be written about this election, the WHY, not just the who. 

Finally, this from George Will, the savvy analyst who writes for the Washington Post:

“Tuesday’s elections should move both parties to introspection.  Journalists could benefit from emulation.  Many of them believe that the nation does not just have problems but has ‘existential’ crises:  Democracy is a guttering candle, dying before climate change snuffs out the remainder of life.  Progressives, because of their mind meld with journalists, talk to voters a tad too much about existential this and that, and too little about voters’ existence.”

Will makes a great point.

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 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 someone who has followed politics for years, I try to focus on the substance of the news coverage. 

Not just who won or lost.  But WHY someone won or lost.

But, every once in awhile, some commentator writes a line that resonates. 

Such was the case yesterday when important words appeared in the Washington Post as a writer focused on Donald Trump’s failure to capture as much political momentum as he thought he deserved (of course, as the epitome of the narcissist, he always thinks he deserves everything):

The Post quote:

“Besides, we’re not out of the woods yet.  Trump is almost certainly going to run for president again, and then we’ll see just how many Republicans are willing to join the former president on his own personal Titanicand go chasing more icebergs.”

“How many Republicans are willing to join the former president on his own personal Titanicand go chasing more icebergs?”

How’s that for a person – me – who like literal more than imagery!

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 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 spend too much time reading newspapers, as I do, it is easy to forget several key notions about elections, such as one under way today across the country. 

Or, if you are from Oregon as I am, the mail ballot election has been under way for a couple weeks and ends for us at 8 p.m. today, Pacific time.

Today is the first mid-term election since the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.  Since then, it has become increasingly clear that the grave threat to American democracy posed on that day was no aberration; it was a prelude to a broader right-wing movement to undermine our electoral process.

So, as we wait for election results, some of which won’t come tonight (as in Clackamas County where the controversial and unqualified county clerk there says the first results won’t be posted until Wednesday) in races that are particularly close.

To avoid the “horse-race tendency” of many news outlets, I list here a few impressions about elections which are worth remembering on this “election day:”

• WE SHOULD VALUE ELECTIONS AS A WAY TO CHOOSE OUR OWN POLITICAL LEADERS

Don’t forget this as you cast your ballot.  Instead, we could be living in a dictatorship with someone else imposing his or her will on us.

Columnist Gary Abernathy said it well in the Washington Post a couple days ago:

“While it’s (elections) always been a serious business, there should also be a joy to the democracy, a celebration of process.  We live in a free country and get to decide who our leaders are going to be.  That’s a big responsibility – but we also should have fun while doing it.”

• WE SHOULD EXERCISE OUR RIGHT TO VOTE AND, AS THEY SAY AT NIKE, “JUST DO IT.”

So, just do it – vote.

• ONE VOTE MATTERS.

Sometimes there is a tendency to lost sight of this reality.  On occasion, local races are decided by just a few votes – so yours’ could be critical.

Statewide or nationally, no, your vote might not determine the outcome.  But, it does matter.  And, when you cast it, you take heart in your commitment to solid citizenship.

• RECOGNIZE, NOT JUST YOUR VOTE ON INDIVIDUAL MATTERS OR CANDIDATES, BUT CONSIDER THE BIG PICTURE

This admonition is one of the reasons I read both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post every day.

The Journal gives me a right-of-center perspective, but still center, not wacky right.

The Post gives me a left-of-center perspective, but still center, not wacky left.

In both cases, I focus, not just on individual news stories, as important as those may be, but also on commentary – or opinion – which is clearly marked, an important task for any reputable journalism organization.

Varied opinion gives me a sense of the big picture that is at stake in any election.

This time around, as is the case in many mid-terms, the party in charge of both the White House and Congress, Democrats, may suffer substantial losses.  But focus, not just on the story about who wins or loses, but about what results may mean on policy grounds.

Reading the various opinion pieces give me pause as an American.  With major Republican advances, we may be seeing the beginning of the end of democracy as we know it.

Which is another reason to vote – and to vote smart.

Also, if the question of “why vote” persists, consider this from President Franklin D. Roosevelt 80 years go.

He emphasized “four essential human freedoms” in a what was then a crisis for the nation, which could be mirrored today:

“I imagine a future in which all of humanity enjoys the ‘four essential human freedoms’ — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.  This is no vision of a distant millennium; the United States is still striving to achieve those freedoms today.”

Roosevelt’s message remains as urgently relevant as ever today as we anticipate mid-term elections results and implications.

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 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.

While I don’t watch much television news, I happened to catch an anchor say the other day say that, in the upcoming mid-term elections, “the very future of the country is at stake.”

Could be overstatement.  Mostly, though, I agree.

That’s because Donald Trump and those who follow him want to tear the country down, not build it up.

President Joseph Biden underlined the concern when he gave a speech contending “the country could be chaos,” if, as threatened, some Republicans, following Trump’s lead, won’t accept election results.

Here is how bad the Washington Post says it is:

“Local governments have erected barriers and called in police reinforcements to protect buildings where votes will be counted.  Election officials have prepared rapid social media responses to false claims of ballot fraud.  And a human rights group typical focused on fragile democracies has turned its attention to the United States, asking candidates to pledge to respect the results.

“Two years ago, after Donald Trump tried to overturn a presidential election, Tuesday’s mid-terms will test American democracy once more, with voters uncertain whether they can believe in the process, Republican deniers poised to take positions of power, and the mechanics of voting itself under intense scrutiny.”

Washington Post contributor Gary Abernathy struck a chord with me when he wrote that politics is no longer “fun.”

I almost thought he was poised to use the word “bemoaned,” as in that he bemoaned the loss of civility in politics.  He didn’t, but if the phrase sounds memorable, it was uttered by the late General Colin Powell as he contemplated, then nixed, a run for president several years ago.

The quote lingers in my mind.  Politics:  Not fun; not civil.

The “this ain’t fun anymore” article in the Washington Post started this way:

“With just a week until Election Day, the focus grows more intense on predicting outcomes.  And that means more intensity and even rancor in the debates on cable news stations and social media outlets.  It’s getting vicious out there.

“I used to think politics was fun, and, like so many, I pored over polls and love listening to pundits and politicians predict the coming results and argue about the merits of their candidates and issues.

“Even as a kid in presidential election years, I stayed up until all hours watching the Republican and Democrat national conventions – back when it took until the wee hours of the morning to know who the nominee was going to be.

“When an election ended, my buddies on the other side and I would rib each other for weeks about it, but that was fun, too.

“Now, I just can’t wait for it to be over.  Why?  I think that, by entrenching ourselves so deeply into partisan bunkers and so viciously demonizing the other side, we’ve taken all the fun out of politics.

“We’re just angry instead.  While it’s always been a serious business, there should also be a joy to the democracy, a celebration of process.  We live in a free country and get to decide who our leaders are going to be.  That’s a big responsibility – but we also should have fun while doing it.”

I remember the same things Abernathy does.  Staying up late to watch returns.  Waiting nervously to see if candidates I favored had a chance.  Going on-line to see what I could find out early on.

And one time when I had managed a local school bond measure campaign in the Salem-Keizer district, sitting on pins and needles waiting, with my colleagues, for the outcome.

In that case, we won – a great relief.

Today, I sit on pins and needles for a different reason.

I wonder if the election this time around – at least the national one – could mean the end of democracy as we know it in America.  At least the beginning of the end.

In fact, that appears to be exactly what Trump and his ilk want.  They want to be in charge because they always think they know best and don’t need elections to prove it.  Democracy doesn’t matter to them.  If they don’t win an election, they contend forever that they did and then they go to court to prove it, results be damned.

So, for me, politics – in other words, the election tomorrow – is not fun anymore. 

Instead, it carries a foreboding sense of darkness.

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 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 my mind heads off to Royal Dornoch Golf Club from time to time, pardon me.

If my heart and soul follow, there are a few good reasons.

• Royal Dornoch in the far north of Scotland is a great golf course, acclaimed by many around the world as one of the very best.

• Sitting, as it does, in the small town of Dornoch hard by the North Sea, it is both picturesque and challenging.  Plus, it is one of my favorite types of golf course – a links-style course where you play your golf ball close to the ground so it runs out.

• The course was designed by one of golf’s greats, “Old Tom Morris.”  Plus, it had a notable greenskeeper for several years, Donald Ross, who became an acclaimed golf course architect around the world, including in Scotland.

• Its history is incredible, dating as it does, to 1877.  So, if you play the course, you imagine those tough Scots who preceded you so many years ago.  Of course, after they finished their round, often in pounding rain and howling wind, they would retire to the clubhouse for a “wee dram.”  Yes, it’s Scotch.

I have had the privilege of playing Royal Dornoch three times, two by myself, with my wife Nancy (who doesn’t play, but whose parents came from Scotland to the U.S., so Nancy considers Scotland a “second home,” and she walked along with me at least one of those times), and one with my son, Eric, who is a far better golf than I am and proved it on a great day at Royal Dornoch.  One for the memory books.

Another reason Dornoch comes to mind frequently is that a good friend of mine in Salem, Oregon where we live has gone out of his way to find Dornoch relics for me:  (a) a framed flag from Royal Dornoch, which sits on the wall by my desk; (b) a book entitled Personal Memories of Royal Dornoch by Donald Grant, a Dornoch member from 1900-1925; and (c) another book, A History of the Royal Dornoch, 1877-1999, by long-time member, John Macleod.  It also has a place of prominence near my desk.

It took my friend, Steve, an experienced golf collector extraordinare, about a year to find the last book, so thanks to him for his undying effort.

A third book stimulated my early love for Dornoch several years ago.  It was entitled A Season in Dornoch, by a golf writer from Toronto, Lorne Rubenstein.  With his wife, he set out to spend four months in Dornoch to learn the course, to meet the residents, and to commune with nature in that far off place, very different from either Canada or the U.S.

Then, Rubenstein wrote great prose about his experiences.

His words captured my imagination, so much so that, (a) I have read the book multiple times, and (b) was able to experience the course first-hand, sort of, I guess, like Rubenstein. 

On our first trip to the town of Dornoch, my wife and I visited the book shop that Rubenstein described because he and his wife lived in a flat above the store.

[As an aside, it has been interesting for me to note how much the Scots love to read, both newspapers and books.  There are bookstores and “news-shops” in nearly every town.  Of course, there are golf courses, as well.]

One of the lines in Rubenstein’s book still resonates with me.  He said he “loved to hear his foot-fall on the hard ground of Dornoch.”  Hard ground is a characteristic of links-style courses in “the home of golf.”  So, you literally can hear your feet as you plod the ground along the 18 holes with vistas of the North Sea.

Rubenstein tamed that kind of ground, but not just for golf alone.  The course became a sanctuary for him, one where his thoughts roamed among such topics as golf, his sojourn in Scotland, his life in Toronto, and time spent at his summer home in another golf mecca, Jupiter, Florida.

In the long Scottish days, Rubenstein recalled how he often set out late at “night” to get in one more round.  By himself.  With only the turf, the sky, and the sea to accompany him. 

So, overall, why does Dornoch reside so much in my thoughts?

Well, as I said above, it is acknowledged as one of the great golf courses in the world, established as it was 145 years ago.  It was awarded “royal status” in 1906 by King Edward VII…and it earned the distinction.  The name “royal” is held by only seven other golf courses.

Further, the following comments by golf two well-known golf experts verify Royal Dornoch’s value:

• “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a golf course.” –  pro golfer Tom Watson
• “No golfer has completed his education until he has played and studied Royal Dornoch.” – Golf writer Herbert Warren Wind

So, the point is that “I have completed my education because I played Royal Dornoch.”

But, not just that.  It remains in my memory and, good news – it won’t leave.

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 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.

A few days ago, Links Magazine emerged with its list of what it labeled “the toughest greens in golf.”

Arbitrary?  Yes.

But, nonetheless, interesting, especially for me, when I added to the list on the courses where I play most of my golf — Illahe Hills in Salem, Oregon, and The Palms in La Quinta, California.

Now, Links has followed up with a list of what it calls “the scariest watery graves.”

And, of course, with nothing much better to do, I thought of “watery graves” at Illahe and The Palms. 

Here is how the writer, David DeSmith, started his Links story:

“Whether you call them water hazards or penalty areas, golf’s lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans often become final resting places for our errant shots. You can recover from deep rough or a bunker.  But there’s no coming back from a water hazard unless it’s a very shallow one and you’re feeling especially courageous.”

So, at Illahe and The Palms, here are my comments:

• Illahe:  Depending on how you count them, there are water penalty areas on seven holes.  The toughest – scariest – for me?  It’s #16, a tough par 5 where water comes into play on at least two shots, perhaps more.  If you get a par on the hole, great.
• The Palms:  If you don’t count a creek which runs along several holes, with two small ponds, water in the form of a large pond comes into play on only one hole, #7, a par 4.  I can attest that it’s easy to reach that water on your drive or on your second shot – or even on your third.

In the Links article, DeSmith goes on to cite his view of the 12 toughest water hazards – er, penalty areas:

Rae’s Creek—Augusta National Golf Club (Augusta, Georgia.)

Let’s get the most famous one out of the way first.  Patrons of the Masters know well the role that a nettlesome tributary of Rae’s Creek plays in guarding the front of the green at Augusta National’s famous par-three 12th hole and the fairway and green of the equally famous par-five 13th.

Mangrove Lake—Mid Ocean Club (Tucker’s Town, Bermuda)

Bermuda’s Mid Ocean Club credits C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor as its original designers.  At Mid Ocean’s par-4 5^th hole, they created a classic Cape hole that starts at an elevated tee and bends gently left around the edge of Mangrove Lake.  How much of the lake can you carry with your tee shot?  The lake will let you know.

Machrihanish Bay—Machrihanish Golf Club (Machrihanish, Scotland)

It’s not a lake you need to worry about when you hit your opening tee shot at Machrihanish Golf Club — it’s the Atlantic Ocean.  Here again, the par 4 sweeps gently to the left, hugging the shoreline.  There’s plenty of room to bail out to the right, but that just makes this 424-yard hole even longer. Should you hit your tee shot left, you might get lucky, though.  If the tide is out, you can play your second shot from the beach.

[NOTE:  I played this hole and managed to clear the water – the ocean — making it to the beach where my shot toward the green was like playing out of the sand.  But, you can play from the sand, not the water…usually.]

Stillwater Bay—Pebble Beach Golf Links (Pebble Beach, Calif.)

Imagine coming to the 18th tee at Pebble Beach needing a birdie or par to win the U.S. Open and seeing the vast expanse of Stillwater Bay lurking.

Victoria Cove—Cape Wickham Golf Links (King Island, Tasmania)

Here’s another 18th hole where a water hazard features prominently. In the case of Cape Wickham’s 434-yard finisher, though, the fairway bends to the right along the edge of Victoria Cove and its secluded beach. From the tee, you can’t see all of the fairway, which adds to the shot’s difficulty. And you’re not out of danger after your tee shot, either, as the beach runs right up the edge of the green.

Pacific Ocean—Cypress Point Golf Club (Pebble Beach, Calif.)

Just up the coast from Pebble Beach lies one of golf’s most demanding holes:  The 230-yard, par-three 16th at Cypress Point, which is all-carry from tee to peninsula green—usually into the prevailing wind off the sea.

Pacific Ocean—Mauna Kea Golf Course (Kohala Coast, Hawaii)

The 3rd hole at Mauna Kea is another all-carry par three — this one with black volcanic rock thrown in for good measure.

[NOTE:  I also have played this hole, though it was too long to remember much, other than the forced carry.]

17th Hole Pond—Ocean Course at Kiawah Island (Kiawah Island, South Carolina)

At 223 yards, the par-three 17th hole at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course didn’t need water to make it a tough test.  But designer Pete Dye put it there anyway.  

West Whale Bay—Port Royal Golf Course (Southampton, Bermuda)

The 16th at Port Royal in Bermuda is another all-carry par three.  In this case, it’s West Whale Bay that your tee shot will have to avoid as it travels the 227 yards from tee to green.

Pacific Ocean—Punta Mita Golf Club, Pacifico Course (Nayarit, Mexico)

Jack Nicklaus must have been drooling when he saw the coastline he’d have at his disposal when he was asked to design the Pacifico course at Mexico’s Punta Mita Golf Club.  Jack’s Pacifico course actually features 19 holes; after the par-three 3rd hole (labeled Hole 3A), you get to play a bonus hole that the club calls its 19th hole (or Hole 3B).  Its name is “Tail of the Whale,” and it’s 180 yards over rocky shoreline and water to a green perched on its own selfie-spot peninsula.

Hawke’s Bay—Cape Kidnappers (Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand)

Don’t play Tom Doak’s Cape Kidnappers on New Zealand’s North Island if you’re afraid of heights.  Several of its spectacular fairways and green sites have steep drop-offs from cliffs perched 400 feet or more above the tumultuous waters below. At the dramatic, 650-yard, par-five 15th Hole, the green is perched at what looks like the edge of the world.  Anything long or left is likely to tumble a long, long way down to the bright blue water below.

17th Hole Lake—TPC Sawgrass, Players Stadium Course (Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida)

The famous island-green, par 3, 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is golf’s ultimate do-or-die hole.  All it demands is a high, straight shot of around 137 yards.  Easy, right?  The only problem is that the green is just 78 feet deep and 81 feet from side to side.  More than 100,000 balls are pulled out of the water there every year.

Okay.  Perhaps more information than you wanted to know or needed.  Oh well.

But, during this election season, this is another poll, probably with a high margin of error because, again, I am the pollster, with only marginal credibility.

At Illahe, what is the toughest water penalty area?  All entries accepted.

Overall, the best approach, both with bunkers and water hazards, is to avoid them. 

Sounds simple.  It isn’t.

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 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 write the headline on this blog as Elon Musk and Donald Trump appear headed toward a decision for Trump to re-join Twitter.

I say – the two can have each other.

There is an irony in what I write this morning:  If I advocate paying attention to goofballs like Musk and Trump, then this blog achieves the opposition.  I am paying attention.

But, I add, I am doing so while also advocating a clear prescription:  Quit.

Also, I wish my “friends” in journalism would not devote so much time to following the two.  They don’t deserve star treatment.  Frankly, who cares what they say or do.

In the Washington Post, opinion columnist Megan McArdle agrees with me – or, perhaps, better said – I agree with her.  Her most recent column appeared under this headline – “What journalists should do if Trump returns to Twitter.”

Her column started this way:

“Until it happened, I didn’t want to go out on a limb and say that Elon Musk would definitely buy Twitter.  I am reluctant to make firm predictions about anything Musk does.  So, until he actually walked into Twitter headquarters carrying a sink, I treated his acquisition of Twitter as a thought experiment, like Schroedinger’s cat — maybe it is alive!  Maybe it is dead!  The only way to find out is to wait and see.

“But now he’s gone and done it, and it’s time to start grappling with the problem that might soon be upon us:  What to do if Musk allows former president Donald Trump to rejoin Twitter?

By “us,” McArdle said she means journalists.  If you are not one, she said there is an easy way to handle Trump’s tweeting – “ignore it.”

“Sure, I understand that you might be anxious about his vile provocations, but your fretting about every stupid tweet isn’t going to change anything.  All your attention does is encourage him.”

When Trump was president, McArdle said he did what he always does playing the role of the narcissist – he wants all the attention anyone will give him.

“As president, Trump cannily exploited those traditions to get himself billions worth of free media.  Every news cycle was about him, and some awful or ridiculous or provocative thing he said.  It is no exaggeration to say he climbed into the presidency on the shoulders of the hundreds of journalists who kept treating his pronouncements as matters of epic importance, even if it had been tapped out one-handed while schmoozing around Mar-a-Lago.

“It’s no longer news that Trump likes to say terrible things on social media. It isn’t news that he likes to threaten people, attack important civic institutions, tell baseless lies, and rub elbows with bigots.  No one in the country — in the world — can possibly be unaware of the kinds of things Trump likes to tweet or the revulsion this produces in establishment media.”

It’s time, McArdle argues, “to create a new journalistic tradition that will be harder for Trump to exploit.”

Rather than leaping to condemn his every pronouncement, we should treat Trump’s Twitter account the way we’d treat some random account with five followers and a penchant for rancid verbal attacks:  As if it were generally beneath our notice.

Then, as real journalists, report only on the tweets that actually convey new information, without the normal rancor and invective.

And, the bottom line:  Avoid covering his deliberate provocations.

Good advice.

And, as I said earlier in this blog, Musk and Trump deserve each other.  Let have them their own space and don’t let them intrude on yours.

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 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 is often the case, a new article in the on-line edition of Links Magazine caught my attention this week.

In a story by David DeSmith, the article listed 10 of what he called “golf’s scariest greens.”

I reprint the list below.  It turns out I have only played one of the 10 – the 14th hole, a par 4 at Machrihanish Dunes, in Machrihanish, Scotland that measures just more than 300 yards.

I don’t remember the green, but it must have been tough to make the Links list.

Machrihanish Dunes is a course designed by Scottish architect, David McKay Kidd, who now lives in Bend, Oregon.

I had the privilege of playing the course, as well as the older Machrinish, which lies by the side of what Kidd created.

Great golf?  Yes.

Tough greens?  No doubt.

The article got me thinking of “scary greens” at Illahe Hills Golf and Country Club in Salem, Oregon, where I play most of my golf, as well as The Palms in La Quinta, California where I play during the winter.

Put simply, there are a lot of tough greens on both courses. 

At Illahe, a piece of advice I often give to first-time players is “stay below the hole.”  That’s because most of the greens run steeply from back to front.  Better to be short of the green on a hole than to face a tough, downhill putt.

To pick the toughest green at Illahe, in the spirit of the season – election season – I took a poll.  The universe of the poll was three friends and the margin of error was 100 per cent, just like any current pollster, this time me with all of my deficits.

The consensus?  There wasn’t one.

My friends could argue with this, but my candidate is hole #4, a par 5, with a green that slopes strongly from back to front.  And, sidehill putts?  Yes, there are many and they often are more difficult than those that go straight downhill.

Two friends nominated one that was close to the toughest for me — #8, a relatively short par 4, with a green that slopes off both to the left and the right.  On a short pin, a downhill putt on #8 is tough – very tough.  But to have such a putt, you have to hit and hold the green first.

At The Palms, I could pick all 18 greens, which are the major defense on the tough course.  But hole #1 ranks as toughest for me.  It’s tough to read putts on that hole (as on all others), prompting veteran members to tell me when I first joined that “you can’t read putts on the greens…you have to memorize them.”

I am still working on the memorization.

All of this said, here is the way the Links Magazine story started:

 “Okay — you’ve hit a green in regulation, and you’re feeling pretty proud of yourself.  Two putts and you’re out of there with a solid par; maybe you can even steal a birdie.  You’ve done the hard work, now it’s up to your flat stick to finish the job.

“Except that on some greens, your work will be far from finished.  As difficult as it is to find greens with approach shots on some holes, on many others the challenge presented by the putting surface is an inherent part of the hole’s difficulty.

“People who consider themselves bad putters may tremble at the sight of any green, or indeed any three-footer.  But even good putters will eventually find themselves on a green that gets their knees to knocking.”

Here are the Links top 10:

·      2nd hole—Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pennsylvania (340 yards, par four)

Every green at Oakmont can give players fits.  They’re maintained at U.S. Open speeds all season, and unless you’re a Tour player, that means three-putts will be easy to come by.  The green at the par-four 2nd is among the most undulating at Oakmont, and an early opportunity to lose whatever confidence you may have had in your putting when you started your round. Plan to three-putt — then you won’t be disappointed.

·      1st hole­—Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course), Mamaroneck, New York (451 yards, par four)

The first time I saw a putt struck on the 1st green at Winged Foot West was in the 1974 U.S. Open.  A player had hit his approach shot to the back of the green, some 40 feet past the hole.  When he played his first putt, I thought he’d dubbed it.  It trickled, and trickled, and trickled — all the way off the front of the green some 60 feet away.  Downhill putts here are death. Sidehill putts aren’t much easier.  [Note:  I caddied for my son, Eric, when he played the U.S. Amateur there, but I have no memory of the 1^st hole.]

• 13th hole—Prestwick Golf Club, Prestwick, Scotland (458 yards, par four)

Some players will complain that a hole this long shouldn’t have a green this vexing.  That’s nonsense, of course.  Prestwick’s 13th is just a hole that requires four superb shots to earn a par — two of them putts on the slightly elevated and undulating green, which has steep drop-offs on several sides and enough ridges and tilts to give a golf ball vertigo.

·      6th hole—Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California (199 yards, par three)

The chief challenge on this green at Riviera has nothing to do with the putting surface.  It stems from the bunker that sits smack-dab in the middle of the donut-shaped green.  Do you try to chip over it?  Putt around it and just take your three-putt?  Members know:  Whatever you do, don’t put that bunker between your ball and the hole.

·      4th hole—Paako Ridge Golf Club, Sandia Park, New Mexico (182 yards, par three)

The green at this three-tiered par 3 is so deep from front-to-back (almost 100 yards) that you may need your playing partner to send up a flare if your tee shot finds the wrong tier.  It’s virtually impossible to practice putts of the length you may encounter here, and that’s often evident in scores players make on this hole.

·      5th hole—Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia (510 yards, par four)

People who walk Augusta National for the first time often note that it’s hillier than it looks on television.  This green is, too.  From its false front, the green rises sharply before dropping off again and tumbling off in all directions.  Depending on the hole location, you may be better off missing this green than reaching it in two.

·      2nd hole—Tara Iti Golf Club, Mangawhai, New Zealand (182 yards, par three)

Tom Doak’s design at this standout New Zealand course has sand just about everywhere you look.  There are tees, fairways, greens — and sand. The 2nd hole here, like the 6th at Riviera, offers up even more sand in the form of a small pot bunker set in the middle of the green.  Depending on where your tee shot ends up, the contouring of this delightful green may help you find a path around the bunker to the hole — or it may do the opposite and force you to settle for a three-putt bogey.

·      14th hole—Machrihanish Dunes, Machrihanish, Scotland (332 yards, par four)

It’s common for short par fours to present you with devilish greens as their chief line of defense.  The shallow, slightly elevated green at this David McLay Kidd-designed hole will give you all you can handle.  A “buried elephant” in the front-right of the green can send mishit putts in wild directions.  But that only adds to the challenge — and fun.

·      8th hole—Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, Calif. (428 yards, par four)

It’s one of the most majestic holes in golf, with a storybook setting that seems too beautiful to be real.  It’s also one of the course’s most difficult —in part because of the design of the heart-shaped green, which slopes treacherously from back-right to front-left.  Most players will miss this green in two; if you do, plot your third shot carefully or you may leave yourself in three-putt territory and be staring quickly at a six.

·      6th hole—Royal Portrush Golf Club, Portrush, Northern Ireland (189 yards, par three)

Even before this already-large green was expanded to create an additional hole location in the very back, it gave players fits.  Despite its size, there are very few places on this putting surface that will yield anything close to a straight or flat putt. Add in some wind, and Portrush’s 6th is a bogey, or worse, waiting to happen.

So, the conclusion?  On many tough greens, take your three-putt and run.