Oregon politics, business and current events
The courthouse I don’t remember if I knew who then-U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield was before I started college at Willamette University in the Fall of 1993. I was, relatively speaking, politically aware at the age of 18, but that’s not a particularly high bar. To the degree I was unaware of Hatfield before going to Willamette,…
Reality bites Increasingly, Americans hold a view of reality that comports with their political leanings. Polls consistently show that members of the president’s party think the economy and country are doing better than members of the other party. When a president of the other party is elected, the sides flip, even though the economy has…
The dream of the ’70s is alive in Portland If I were to ask you to describe the Portland City Council in relation to an historical figure, “Nixonian” probably wouldn’t leap immediately to mind, but it should. In the early 1970s, Nixon instituted price and wage controls throughout the economy in an effort to combat…
Football and Father Luke Good intentions, when acted upon rashly, often lead to bad outcomes. Those who intend to purge racism from America’s institutions should not drive from view or from acceptable public discourse instances in our history in which racism was beaten back, just because those instances necessarily require the depiction of racists who lost….
The other day, a group of people toppled a statue of Thomas Jefferson from its perch in front of Jefferson High School in Portland. The white man interviewed by Willamette Week in the article linked above explains that he participated in bringing down the statue because he wanted to support people of color, and didn’t think it was appropriate for…
We shouldn’t water down the term “white supremacist” Bend City Councilor Gena Goodman-Campbell declined to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of Wednesday night’s city council meeting. She explained that she did so in solidarity with protesters and in opposition to state violence against black people in what I think is a thoughtful…
What keeps me and maybe Kate Brown up at night In my free time lately, when my mind is not occupied with the immediate needs of a wife, two young boys, an elderly male cat named Baxter, two businesses, one weekly(ish) email newsletter and one or perhaps two blue jays (one of whom the boys…
