The Way: Is the Democratic Process Beyond Repair?
PLUS Bowman + Titus with an election rundown, Steiner Hayward on health systems, Bowers on the Urban/Rural divide, and Rachel King talks about public lands.
As you’ve undoubtedly heard, this week in Uvalde, Texas, a mass shooter opened fire in an elementary school. 19 children are dead. Two teachers sacrificed themselves to save more.
You’ve also undoubtedly been subjected to the typical ensuing outpouring of grief, calls to reform, conspiracy theories, and finger-pointing that seems to invariably following these events. Or perhaps you’ve made an effort to tune that out, maybe even done so unconsciously. It’s easy to grow numb to this seemingly endless cycle of violence, and come to expect it.
Being born in the year of Columbine, I went to school alongside the daily horrors of mass shooting as the norm, their details brought to me nearly minute-by-minute as they unfolded. I received the first CNN alert telling of Sandyhook while en route to a crowded middle school assembly. That was nearly 10 years ago.
So it isn’t a great mystery to me why so many Americans have lost faith in their government. We, as a country, and particularly as a state on issues like homelessness, are seriously beginning to question whether democracy and its representative institutions can fix our problems anymore. You can see this distrust in everything from the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, to petty vandalism of municipal buildings in downtown Portland, to the millions who have turned away from even voting.
I have also grappled with whether the hallowed halls of legislatures and the great structures we have erected to serve as forums for progress are still relevant in the contemporary environment. “If they are, they have done a poor job of demonstrating it,” was a frequent thought.
And yet for all the pessimism, I have chosen to persist in engaging with democracy. Why? Because I still believe in the fundamental correctness of it. I still believe that the other choices—anarchy or totalitarianism (the two leading alternatives in the current consciousness)—are vastly inferior to the capacity for good our existing democratic republic framework provides.
Something must, of course, change. If we are to restore the ‘civic will’ as the dominant driving force behind the trajectory of society, then we must provide space for it to be properly crafted. That means transcending the noise. That means holding policymakers to account on policy, not just passing on their rhetoric. And it means having pointed discussions on specific plans to make our state—and our nation—a better, safer, healthier, more prosperous place to live and go to school.
This is all a roundabout way of announcing that The Oregon Way is launching a new special series alongside our existing Governor’s Goals: beginning next week, we will be asking all new primary winners from the May 17th election to submit an outline of their specific goals if elected. The requirements? Each and every submission will follow the guidelines we have always upheld at The Way: contributors must layout their case not only for their vision, but their plan for how to actually achieve it.
Pontification about a brighter, safer future is easy. As is regurgitating catchphrases, zingers, and superlatives. But that is not the job of a lawmaker. The job is to sweat the details, assess and reassess the plan, and make sure the values of fairness, opportunity, and effectiveness are paramount in any decision.
That’s what will bring democracy back from the brink. That’s what will restore faith in our once revered institutions. And that’s the Oregon way.
Here’s to a better Oregon,
Xavier
To read:
Ben Bowman and Alex Titus provide a rundown of last Tuesday’s head-spinning election.
Read more here.
Rachel King adds her thoughts about the Alpenrose Diary redevelopment, and the importance and history of public space in Oregon.
Read more here.
Marie Bowers tells us what she thinks rural Oregonians really want, and how to to bridge the Urban/Rural divide in this month’s Governor Goal.
Read more here.
State Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward writes about the future of health care and health systems in Oregon.
Read more here.
To interpret:
To look forward to:
Jesse Burke, owner of The Society Hotel and chair of the Old Town Community Association, weighs in on the dysfunction in the Rose City.
Mark Hester and Gary Conkling share their thoughts on where guns stand in Oregon’s future, in the wake of the Uvalde shooting.
Our #GovernorGoals series. Learn more about how you can help shape the future of our state here.
To do:
Read the latest version of the Liftoff
Share The Oregon Way with three friends
Join our editorial team or nominate someone to join
Tell us how we can improve!