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

A story in the Washington Post this weekend caught my attention as it recounted the challenges of Afghan refugee resettlement even as the United States is preparing to exit Afghanistan as of Augusts 31.

Here are the first three paragraphs of the story:

“For those who managed to flee Afghanistan, leaving their home country under Taliban rule is just the beginning of their challenges — they are landing in foreign countries around the world to rebuild new lives and contend with anti-migrant attitudes.

“Most people seeking to flee Afghanistan have little hope of finding a quick way out of the country, let alone finding welcome abroad, as some destination countries issue warnings against asylum seekers and harden their borders.

“But some among the relatively small handful with the right paperwork who weathered the chaos of the Kabul airport in recent days and managed to board flights out have been received warmly upon arrival around the world.”

The story went on to report that, despite all of the chaos in Afghanistan and the enormous difficulty of leaving the country – both for Americans and Afghan allies — some good things are happening.

Consider these additional paragraphs from the Post story:

“Children were given white and pink teddy bears and met with welcome banners at Incheon International Airport in South Korea, where hundreds of Afghans arrived — not as refugees, but dubbed by authorities as “persons of special merit,” in a bid to deter anti-migrant abuse. Approximately 390 people have been granted short-stay visas that are valid for up to 90 days, with local media reporting that they are likely to be converted into long-term visas.

“The youngsters were photographed clutching their new toys as they boarded buses and walked alongside their loved ones.

“In some photos, the young arrivals peeped out of windows, offering sheepish waves and half-smiles.

“’We love all of you,”’ read one banner from a church group that was displayed outside the National Human Resources Development Institute, where those who fled Afghanistan are reported to be temporarily housed. ‘We will share your pain. Have a comfortable stay,’ read another.

“Among those landing in the country are medical professionals and interpreters who have worked for the South Korean government,and an estimated 100 children — including three newborns.”

These are stories of real people as refugees, not some term such as “immigrants,” often used in a derogatory way.

Just imagine the look on the faces of the children arriving in a new temporary home, or at least a location where they would not suffer inhuman treatment.

Or consider another story from the Washington Post as residents of Sparta, Wisconsin grapple with hundreds of Afghan refugees.

“Fort McCoy’s Facebook page lit up in the hours after officials there announced that thousands of Afghan refugees would be coming to the Army base. In an instant, the website turned into an impromptu public forum as news spread that the largest airlift in U.S. history would affect a pair of blue-collar communities in western Wisconsin.

“Some people wanted to know how they could donate blankets, warm clothes or canned goods to desperate strangers. Others worried that their community would face problems rooted in a chaotic withdrawal that, until a few days ago, was 7,000 miles away.

“It’s still unclear whether the impact of the Afghan refugees on this part of Wisconsin will extend past the tall metal gates of the century-old installation.  Yet residents are nursing concerns big and small:  Will Afghan children share schoolrooms with local children in a district already short-staffed and contending with the coronavirus? Has the government properly vetted people fleeing a place known to harbor terrorists?”

Now, as I write this from Salem, Oregon, where I live, the Afghan refugee reality continues to hit home for us.

Through “Salem for Refugees,” a program associated with our church in Salem, Salem Alliance, citizens here are preparing to welcome a few Afghan refugees to our community.

One is a family of 10 – a father, a mother and eight children.  Donations have been and are being made to help the family get resettled in Salem, a tall order.

Further, Salem for Refugees is in the process of expanding its future as a go-to agency for refugee resettlement.

The organization has been approached by World Relief to become involved in a new program through the federal Office of Population, Refugees and Migration.  Under this new program, Salem would get about 20 new Afghan refugees.

Funding for some of the services, including housing, food and health care, will be covered as refugees come to Salem.  But Salem for Refugees will continue to rely on donations from individuals throughout the community to see the need of ALL refugees – Afghans and others — and volunteer to help.

All of this underlines a point I have made several times, including as the situation in Afghanistan has become an international emergency.  All of us need to see refugees as real people – real people who deserve our help and support as they long for a new, better life.

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

For some time, I have thought that the way out of the Covid 19 virus emergency was to mandate that all citizens get the vaccine.

Of course, that is easier said than done. 

And, if a public official – a governor, the president or someone else – mandated the vaccine, they would have riots in the streets led by persons who want their way no matter how their selfish approach affects others.

Meanwhile, a piece of good news is that the Food and Drug Administration has given “full approval” to the Pfizer vaccine, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, could mean more employers will require shots.  It also could remove one of the reasons some people site for not getting the vaccines – there is only “temporary approval” of them.

Even before full approval of Pfizer, many companies were requiring vaccines.

Consider this list, which recently was produced by NBC News:

• Amtrak
• Anthem
• BlackRock
• Cisco
• Citigroup
• Delta Air Lines
• DoorDash
• Equinox
• Facebook
• Ford
• Goldman Sachs
• Google
• Jefferies
• Lyft
• Microsoft
• Morgan Stanley
• NBC Universal
• Netflix
• The New York Times
• Saks
• Salesforce
• TJX
• Twitter
• Tyson Foods
• Uber
• Union Square Hospitality Group
• United Airlines
• Viacom CBS
• Walgreens
• The Walt Disney Company
• Walmart
• The Washington Post

To be fair, not all of these company mandates carry the same structure.  In some cases, employees are given a choice – take Covid tests or get vaccinated.  In others, employees who refuse to take the vaccine are allowed to work at home, at least for a time.

But, the impact is clear.

Mandates in companies will increase the proportion of citizens who are vaccinated – and that is a good result for all of us.

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

If you were to talk to my four siblings and, without rehearsal, ask about one of our father’s favorite sayings, they would probably report the same thing.

What he said:  You don’t have to want to do it, just do it.

Of course, back in the day, he was not talking about a vaccine for anything.  He was telling us to take out the garbage, do the dishes, and the like.

But his admonition works today for the vaccine just as it worked many years ago when all of us were growing up with parents we adored.

We didn’t HAVE TO WANT TO DO SOMETHING, WE JUST HAD TO DO IT.

Now, for today, I would say the same thing to many of my friends and neighbors in regard to the Covid vaccine.  Of course, I have no idea if they are vaccinated or not, but if they are not, YOU DON’T HAVE TO WANT THE VACCINE…JUST GET IT.

There are a host of reasons why this makes sense.

• It represents an unselfish goal to work for the good of all people, not just yourself.  Those who refuse the vaccine don’t just hurt themselves; they risk infecting others.

• It represents a reliance on science, which the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have used to verify that vaccines work to control Covid.  Just look at the evidence.

• It represents a reliance on something other than right-of-center politics.  There, folks are saying “don’t tell me what to do,” and they are mimicking a host of politicians these days who believe that individual rights always trump the collective good.  Not true.

This morning, I toyed with not writing again about the vaccine because there is not much more to say other than “get it.”  Then, I thought of my late father and couldn’t help but cite his instructions.

They worked back in the day – and they work today.

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

At least “airlift” is what I like to call what is happening, though that could be too big a word.

What President Joe Biden announced yesterday was that a major effort was under way to rescue Americans and their allies still in Afghanistan now under Taliban rule.

Will this action correct Biden’s mistakes and those of his Administration?  I doubt it.  I suspect the gross misjudgments about ending the Afghanistan war will dog Biden for the rest of his Administration, however long that turns out to be.

Does what has happened over the last couple days mean that Biden read a column by Peggy Noonan that appears in the Wall Street Journal?  Again, I doubt it.

But Biden appears to be doing almost exactly what Noonan advocates.  In very strong words late last week, she urged Biden to undertake a massive airlift.  Here are a few excerpts that appeared under this headline:

 What Biden Can Still Save in Afghanistan

His careless withdrawal stranded thousands of U.S. citizens and an untold number of local allies.

“The president’s speech Monday was what everyone called it, defiant. What was needed was a distanced kindliness—patience, an acknowledgment of the mess that was unfolding, an explanation of a way through, a reiteration of the soundness of the larger vision.  Instead, blame shifting, finger pointing, and defensive claims of higher wisdom.

“He “inherited a deal” from his predecessor.  Sure, things “did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,” but that only “reinforced” his conviction that he’d made “the right decision.”  He’d told Afghanistan’s president to prepare for civil war, clean up corruption, unite politically.

“They failed to do any of that.”  There was no admission of mistakes or misjudgments.  “I stand squarely by my decision. . . . We were clear-eyed about the risks.  We planned for every contingency. . . . I’ve worked on these issues as long as anyone.”  Unlike others he sees the big picture. “ I will not repeat the mistakes we’ve made in the past.”

“What America needed was wise and stoic Lincoln after First Bull Run. What we got was more late-season Junior Soprano telling Tony and the boys they don’t have the vision and guts anymore. “

Noonan also recalled another military debacle – the World War II loss at Dunkirk – which became a story of heroic action to save British soldiers stranded on the beach in France.  Boats of all kinds crossed the British Channel to rescue the soldiers – which is interesting because, if you recall stories of this event, you will hear mostly he rescue, not the events leading  up to it.

Beyond Noonan’s column, lawmakers from both parties and chambers said that the military, foreign service and immigration systems needed to cut processing restrictions that have hampered entry to the airport, follow through on a new law broadening eligibility for the program, expand security to enable travel to the airport, and commit to staying in the country until vulnerable Afghans—and not just Americans—are evacuated.

Of course, it’s easy as a lawmaker to issue a press release and call for something, with no responsibility to implement that something.

But, for Biden, doing something heroic strikes me as what the country needs at this moment.  We need news of a massive airlift, not more repeated images of persons flying off airplanes as they try to get out of the country.

More from Noonan.

“What can be done?  I would say that when history turns dark, it can help to astound yourself and see the romance in it.  History, after all, is the story of mankind:  There’s a lot of derring-do in there, sacrifice too, even some high-mindedness.

“The only right political path now is the humane one. It’s also the path to at least some partial redemption.  Biden should see that his job now is saving the lives of Americans in Afghanistan and their friends in a major and declared rescue operation.  If that means embarrassing himself temporarily by reversing decisions, then so be it.  Humility never killed anyone.”

For me, all of this far away picture became clearer this week when my wife, Nancy, learned that a large Afghan family of refugees – a mother, a father, and 10 children – were heading to be re-located in Salem.  Yes, Salem, Oregon!

That sparked my wife’s effort to do what she already was doing for other refugees, which is to help the organization called Salem For Refugees re-settle immigrants here.  That means donations of food, clothing, bedding , furniture and other essentials.

If you find a way to see immigrants – be they from Afghanistan, the Congo of anywhere else – as real people, you will have done yourself a substantial service.  You will divorce yourself from all of the political rhetoric about the “immigration problem,” especially the disinformation so prevalent on social media sites, and see people for what they really are – people.

So, I hope and pray that the Afghanistan airlift works.  Real lives of real people depend on it.

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

Today, I take a break from thinking about two world problems – the devastation in Haiti that has left many people, including children, homeless, and the American blunders in Afghanistan that have left American citizens and their friends in untenable circumstances.

I wrote the other day about one of the strangest rules in golf – issues related to where don’t want to be if you are a golfer, which is in a bunker.

If you want to review the “strangeness,” look at Rule #12 in the United States Golf Association (USGA) rule book.

Forgive me if I don’t tread over that old ground.

What I’ll do this time is provide information on how to rake a bunker if you have the misfortune to be in one.  The information is provided by the USGA, so it  is solid.

Based on work by USGA Northeast Region agronomist, Paul Jacobs, here is the USGA’s advice.

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After raking a bunker, the sand should be as smooth as possible. If using the “Aussie Method,” use the back of the rake head to smooth the perimeter as you exit.

When raking a bunker, do not leave piles of sand or depressions that might create a tough lie for someone else.

Superintendents work hard to provide good bunker playability and presentation, but the maintenance team can only do so much. Once they have completed daily bunker maintenance it’s in our hands as golfers to keep bunkers looking and playing great. Doing a good job raking bunkers is an easy way to maintain good playing conditions for everyone and it’s a great way to demonstrate care for the course.

The ultimate goal of raking a bunker is simple – use whatever rake is provided to produce as smooth of a surface as possible. This includes raking your footprints and whatever disruption was caused by the golf shot. In addition to this basic goal, there are a few other things to keep in mind while raking that can help maintain the bunker and surrounding grass areas:

• Always enter and exit on the low side of a bunker – do not jump down or climb up steep faces, even if it might be a faster. Climbing steep grass faces can cause serious turf damage in an area where it is already hard to grow grass. Walking up and down sand faces can cause the sand to shift and collapse, which creates playability issues and a time-consuming repair job for the maintenance team.
• Some facilities use the “Aussie method” of raking bunkers, where sand faces are kept smooth while the floor of the bunker is raked normally. If you find yourself in a bunker that has been prepared this way, flip the rake over and use the smooth side of the rake head – with the teeth facing up – to smooth the perimeter of the bunker where you enter and exit after raking your way out of the floor.
• When raking near the edge of a bunker, do not pull sand out of the bunker into the grass. Sand can accumulate in the grass around bunkers over time, causing the grass to dry out. Raking sand over the bunker edge also makes it difficult to define the edge, which can be problematic from a rules perspective.

• As you are exiting the bunker, use your club to knock any sand off the bottom of your shoes. This is especially important following greenside bunker shots. Walking across the green after hitting a bunker shot can leave sandy footprints that cause playability issues for other golfers and may even damage expensive maintenance equipment.
• The final step is replacing your rake in the location preferred by the course. Courses opt to set things up differently, so you should make yourself aware of the desired location before playing. If you’re not sure what to do, place your rake outside the bunker in a location where it is easily accessible by others and not likely to have a negative impact on play.

As you play different courses, you will likely find different rakes being used. Courses choose different rakes for a variety of reasons, including price, the type of sand they have, the type of playing surface they want, and the appearance of the rake itself. The type of rake shouldn’t influence what we do after hitting a bunker shot – enter from the low side, smooth the surface as uniformly as possible, exit from the low side, knock the sand off your shoes and then go make that par putt!

**********

And, from me, as you will play, you will encounter another issue.  After raking, do you leave the rake in the bunker or on the outside.  My preference is to leave the rake in the bunker for a simple, yet profound, reason…if you think about it.

If your ball hits a rake in the bunker, the ball could ricochet out, which would be a good thing.  But, if the rake is outside the bunker, it would be just as possible for your ball to hit the rake and end up in the bunker.

See, with nothing else to do in retirement, I have thought about this issue – a lot.

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

This is a footnote to the blog I posted earlier this morning noting majority public support for a Covid vaccine mandate.

Of course, there is and will be opposition, some of it fierce.

But, from various news reports, this footnote to what I wrote:

“The Biden Administration plans to tell nursing homes to vaccinate their staff against Covid-19 or risk losing Medicare and Medicaid funding.”

That idea – linking the vaccine to federal payments to citizens – payments such as Medicaid, Medicare and others – has crossed some minds before.  Now, the good news – at least for me – is that the Biden Administration is making following up.

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

I wrote the other day that, if was in charge, I would impose a Covid vaccine mandate and let the chips fall where they may.

What chips?

Well, first, no doubt there would be many lawsuits arguing there was not to impose such a thing.

Second, no doubt many would protest the action, apparently believing that they should be in charge of their own bodies, even if “being in charge” was selfish and meant that others would be infected.

So, for the country, what’s involved in such a mandate ?  This is oversimplified, but two factors – the development of public policy and affrect of public relations.

Washington Post writer Aaron Blake wrote about this today in a story that appeared under this headline:

The GOP is losing the argument on coronavirus mandates

The Republican Party has rather clearly marched itself into a minority position, from masks in schools to targeted vaccine mandates

Here is how his piece started:

“Early in the coronavirus pandemic, mitigation was by and large a consensus issue. To be sure, there were those who balked at or even fought masking — most notably President Donald Trump, who eschewed wearing them — but the American people were generally on the same page. Three-fourths supported mask mandates.

“A year and a half later, despite the resurgence of the pandemic amid the delta variant, there is no such consensus.  Republican governors who once signed off on mask mandates are making fighting against them a cause celebre.  Mandates in general are the issue du jour, with some calling for extending them to vaccines, even as large swaths of the public (and especially Republicans) refuse to get vaccinated.

“There are certainly valid debates about what the government should require, morally speaking.  But on the political front, the Republican Party has rather clearly marched itself into a minority position.”

To validate his point, Blake provided these statistics based on recent, credible polling:

“Mask mandates have fallen in popularity in recent months, apparently thanks in large part to vaccinated people who support the concept but thought getting the shots would absolve them of that responsibility, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initially advised.

“But on the central battleground — masks in schools — 69 per cent of Americans support the mandate, per a new Axios/Ipsos poll.  And when it comes to both vaccine mandates and the methods to fight mask mandates that some Republicans are floating, the verdict is also pretty strongly against the GOP.”

In one poll by “The Economist and YouGov,” respondents were asked whether they would support a vaccine mandate.  The results:

• Medical providers: 65-21 in favor
• Teachers: 61-24
• Police: 60-25
• Military: 59-24
• Federal employees: 56-26
• College students: 55-27

Now, even in the face of such statistics, some Republican governors continue to fight a mandate, believing, I guess, that doing so solidifies their base. 

For instance, Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey announced that schools that require masks won’t be eligible for a $163 million school grant program providing $1,800 per student.  Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis floated a similar idea, though his initiative would have deprived school officials of their actual salaries , though he backed off the threat.

Decisions by a governor also are playing out in California where Gavin Newsom is facing a recall election.  A variety of other issues are involved in California, but Newsom is having to defend his advocacy for vaccines and masks.

In Oregon, where I live, Governor Kate Brown has come close on occasion to imposing a mask mandate, but has not done so directly.

So, when all is said, at least for today, more Americans support a vaccine mandate than don’t. 

Will that convince high-level policymakers to impose one?   Probably not, but they should for the good of the country – just as I would do, if perish the thought, I was in charge.

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

Hundreds of refugees have been settled in Salem in recent years even as the subject of immigration in general has been controversial nationally.

The main proponent of the controversy was the rogue president, Donald Trump, who made immigrants the enemy and influenced many citizens to believe the same.

But, if you get past the negative political rhetoric, you can see real lives of people who are seeking a better life, often from terrible circumstances.  

At the moment, look no farther than Haiti where a 7.2 earthquake caused unbelievable devastation and death.  The death count has soared to about 1,400 as rescuers race to find survivors amid the rubble ahead of a potential deluge from an approaching tropical storm.

The earthquake also left at least 2,800 people injured in the Caribbean nation, with thousands more displaced from their destroyed or damaged homes.  Survivors in some areas were forced to shelter in streets or soccer fields with their few salvaged belongings while overloaded hospitals scrambled to help those who were injured.

Just think of the children who are on their own without families!

But, those statistics, overwhelming as they may be, are difficult to grasp.

So, I turn to Salem where I live and where I laud the Salem Refugee Program started by Salem Alliance Church where my wife and have attended for more than 30 years.  My daughter-in-law asked about the program other night; we were glad to provide information then.

And I am glad to repeat that information here.

It may not be well-known, but refugee re-settlement has been taking place in the State of Oregon for decades.  For the past 30 years, refugees who were forced to flee their homelands, and were chosen for resettlement in Oregon, were initially re-settled in the Portland metro area.

Due to the rising costs of housing in Portland, agencies began to expand resettlement to Salem at the end of 2015.

There was an overwhelming response of support and volunteer effort throughout the city.

In October 2016, Salem Leadership Foundation hosted a series of lunch meetings called “Welcoming Our New Neighbors.”  The purpose of these meetings was to bring together the various groups and organizations that were seeking to care for refugees and explore how the efforts could be coordinated.

At the end of these meetings, “Salem For Refugees “was formed to continue the collaboration in caring for new neighbors.  Now, organization is a growing network of community members, businesses, government organizations, non-profits, re-settlement agencies, and faith communities committed to empowering refugees to thrive in Salem.

To my wife’s credit, she has organized donations for us to make to the effort, including bedding, furniture, food and other stuff.  It has been a pleasure to organize and make the donations.

When refugee families are due to arrive in Oregon, often by plane, after long hours in the air, a representative of Salem for Refugees meets the family, provides some food and clothing immediately, then drives the family to Salem where they are put up in apartments prepared expressly for the purpose.

Then, a host family from Salem is introduced to the refugees to help them get settled.

Of course, that starts a longer process to help the family adjust to life in their new home and that, in an of itself, is a huge task.  One of the issues is the language barrier.  Another is employment.

On the latter, Sparrow Furniture, another Salem Alliance Church program, provides  some refugees with the opportunity for a paid apprenticeship and language classes in a custom-woodworking business where the result – new furniture – often goes to the refugees.

It’s not all sweetness and light, but the reality is this:  There is a huge benefit for many citizens in Salem, including my family, if we help with refugee re-settlement as one way to see refugees as what they are – real people.

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

Here I go again.  Postulating notions when I know something, but not everything. 

But, I guess, that’s the nature of writing a blog…such as this one.

Today, I submit that this is a good time not to be a high-level public official such as a governor.

Navigating the shoals of the Covid vaccine emergency is as tough as anything for governors in the West –- from Jay Inslee in Washington, to Kate Brown in Oregon, to Gavin Newsom in California.  Not to mention other governors around the country.

I feel for these public officials, not because I agree with them all the time – I don’t — but because I recognize the almost impossible nature of their task.

If I were in their shoes, I would take action that would probably get me recalled, such as is happening now to Newsom in California.

Given the national Covid emergency related to the delta variant, I would mandate that everyone – yes, everyone – get the vaccine.

To me, the rationale for doing so strikes me as a bit like a mandate to buy automobile insurance.  If you do, you’re protected, as are those who might be involved in an accident with you.  If you don’t, you pay a price.

I recognize this analogy may not be exactly apt, for what we are dealing with in Covid are often life or death situations.  The same could be said about auto insurance, I suppose, but, with Covid, life or death is always at stake.

For context on this subject, know that up-to-date data from Johns Hopkins University indicates that the U.S. reports a seven-day average of more than 108,600 new cases per day as of Sunday, up 36 per cent from a week earlier,

Would it be legal to impose a mandate?  Who knows, and the statutory context would vary state-by-state. 

A legal scholar from American University says yes in an article from National Public Radio”

“In Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a Supreme Court case from 1905 the issue was about a vaccine mandate

“In the early 1900s, smallpox outbreaks were fairly frequent and many people had been vaccinated earlier as children, but needed to be vaccinatedas their immunity waned.  The State of Massachusetts passed a law that gave authority to local boards of health to make a decision at any given moment in response to an outbreak that smallpox vaccination should be mandatory for all residents of their local area if — in the opinion of the medical experts who were serving on the board — it was necessary to protect the public’s health.

“The city of Cambridge made that determination.  It then went through the effort of outreach to get everyone vaccinated.  When it came to Henning Jacobson, he objected.  He argued that vaccines are ineffective.  He argued that they don’t prevent transmission.  And he argued that they were harmful.

“The court described those arguments as not seeking a medical exemption, but rather reciting the alternative views that differ from medical consensus and that those arguments did not warrant an exemption from the requirement to be vaccinated.”

So, then, in the case of smallpox, the mandate was legal.

Things, of course, are different today in a society inundated by social media fabrications, but the solid rationale is that a mandate would be designed to preserve health and avoid what is happening now, which is that those who refuse the vaccine are flexing their selfish muscles at the expense of everyone else.

Often today, right-wing politics rules in the form of protests.  Many citizens are more disposed these days than in past years to question government and, in the extreme, to refuse to follow orders.  Call it what it is – selfishness.

Consider these developments from around the country:

• Get the vaccine or get fired?  In Shenandoah Valley, some nurses choose termination. One nurse put it this way:  “This is the hill to die on.”  If she gets Covid, perhaps she will.
• State workers in Oregon are demanding to bargain over Governor Brown’s vaccination mandate, believing that union bargaining trumps all else.
• More than a dozen large U.S. corporations, including Walmart, Google, Tyson Foods, and United Airlines, have recently announced vaccine mandates for some or all of their workers.
• In California, protests in Los Angeles turned violent after the City Council voted to require proof of vaccination for anyone entering an indoor public space.  In a separate incident in Northern California, school officials banned a parent who, upset over seeing his daughter in a mask, allegedly left a teacher bloodied and bruised on the first day of classes at an elementary school.
• But, overall, support for vaccine mandates is high in California, according to a new CBS-YouGov poll, in which 69 per cent of respondents said they supported vaccine mandates for health-care workers and 61 per cent said they support mandates for indoor businesses.
• Florida, due mostly to the actions of a stupid governor, Ron DeSantis, is earning its reputation for dumb stuff.  A state law signed in May gives DeSantis the power to invalidate local emergency measures put in place during the pandemic, including mask mandates and limitations on business operations.  It also bans any business or government entity from requiring proof of vaccination.

Given the national health care emergency, including hospitals that have no room for patients, getting a vaccine is the only rational solution.

So, who should impose a mandate?  Government?  Employers?  Both?  Others?   I don’t care.  Just get it done and then go to court and win the legal debate for the good of the country.

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

It would be unlikely for a true political conservative to root for President Joe Biden.  After all, he is a Democrat and not all that conservative.

But, I know of one Republican conservative who will root for Biden.

He is Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and now an opinion columnist for the Washington Post.

Here is the way he started his most recent column:

“Many of us not naturally inclined to support a Democrat president have developed a rooting interest in Joe Biden’s political success. This is not mainly due to Biden’s skills or vision; it’s because he is fighting a rear-guard action to save political rationality.

“The president is working from a theory that his party’s mid-term survival and long-term appeal will be based on delivering tangible benefits for the middle class. This has led to spending proposals for things such as Medicare, infrastructure, family leave, child credits and pre-kindergarten programs.”

Gerson admits that Biden’s calculation could be wrong, if only because, advocating similar goals did not gain him much ground among White, working-class voters in the 2020 election.

But, for me, Gerson hits the nail on the head when he writes this:

“Still, Biden treats voters as fundamentally rational beings, who calculate what is best for their families and communities.  His strategy carries the assumption of sanity.

“It could have been otherwise — if Republican warnings about Biden’s intentions had been remotely true.  Biden could have tried to pack the Supreme Court, eliminate the Senate filibuster or sided with more radical elements of his party on police reform (in the direction of defunding).

“Biden might have employed dynamite to solve a jigsaw puzzle — blowing up American politics and hoping the political pieces would come down in their proper places.  Instead, it is Republicans who have taken that approach.

“House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California.) is not implementing an electoral plan.  He reiterates the demands and charges that come to his caucus in fevered dreams.  His aspiration to the speakership is sad and small — who actually auditions to be in a hostage video?”

Gerson goes farther.

“By what sane strategy would Republicans defend those who attacked the Capitol on January 6 and snub the police officers who stood in their way? By what theory would some demand public release of the name of the officer who defended House members and the House floor, so that he or she could be targeted for harassment or violence?  According to what stratagem would many Republicans fight basic health measures to defeat a deadly virus, thrusting the country back into crisis through their own defiant ignorance?”

Gerson, employing an old phrase, admits that “there may be some madness to this madness.”

He calls Donald Trump a master manipulator “who did not carefully organize his troops for battle, but lit them on fire and hoped they would run into enemy lines.  The collateral damage to our society, norms and institutions means nothing to him.  The traumatized police officers, the harassed election officials, the true believers dying of covid-19, the lives thrown down conspiratorial rabbit holes, the young people confirmed in disfiguring bigotry mean less than nothing to him.”

But Trump and his sycophants could still triumph, perish the thought.

Gerson says American politics has become a contest between those who accept (or are intimidated into accepting) the grand deception, and those on the left, center and right who do not.  “In the political struggle ahead, he asks, “how confident are we that the truth will prevail?”

Like Gerson, I have no idea?

As for “truth,“ I think I know it when I see it.  But, I also did what I often do, which is to check my on-line dictionary.  Here is what it said about truth, which is partly helpful:

“The quality or state of being true.

• Loyalty; trustworthiness.
• Sincerity; genuineness; honesty.
• The quality of being in accordance with experience, facts, or reality; conformity with fact.
• Reality; actual existence.
• Agreement with a standard, rule, etc.; correctness; accuracy.”

Note phrase, “being in accordance with experience, facts, or reality.”

Right!   I hope truth will prevail.

If it does not, our country is in for further trouble.