The Weekly Way (5/14/21)
Models to follow and others to avoid.
Editor’s Note:
Dear Oregon Way Community,
Thank you for enduring Oregon’s most boring op-ed page. Jokes aside, for nearly a year, we’ve shared perspectives from every corner of the state...without partisan rancor, without sensationalism, and without extremism.
This focus has allowed us to build a community across the state that’s committed to finding common ground and moving forward collectively as Oregonians. To stay true to our focus, we’ve identified our core principles: perspectives that are available to all Oregonians, nonpartisan views, statewide voices, and ideas that will improve all of Oregon.
I could not be more grateful for the contributors who have volunteered their time, energy, and ideas to this blog. From Brenda Smith to Jim Moore to Cyreena Boston Ashby, our contributors have impressive credentials—and numerous publications that would publish their pieces. Yet, these folks have opted to share their perspective with The Oregon Way because they believe that there’s a tomorrow in which we unite around our shared Oregonian-ness to accomplish big things.
I could also not be more grateful for you, the readers of The Oregon Way. Many of you have taken the time to send me feedback, suggest contributors, and assist us in getting to this very exciting point. All of you have joined a community that can help restore Oregonian’s reputation for working across party lines and across the Cascades to implement common sense ideas.
My own time as Editor of The Oregon Way is slowly nearing an end. Pending a successful medical review and one more year of school, I’m off to join the Air Force to serve as a Judge Advocate General, the equivalent of a lawyer in the Air Force’s legal department. I am thrilled for the opportunity to act on my belief in the importance of service. Never doubt that at the end of my service, I’ll be back in Oregon, fighting for a statewide community that places people above party, good ideas above ideology, and what’s best for the state above what’s good for whichever community draws the most attention.
Though I’ll remain a part of The Oregon Way for a bit longer, we’re beginning the next chapter through a pilot period with a new steward of this community: East Oregonian Publishing Co. Over the next month, the folks at East Oregonian Publishing Co. will work with contributors and this community to continue to share the content you’ve come to expect and that our state needs.
Through several conversations with the East Oregonian Publishing Co. team, I am confident that they share our focus and core principles. I am also confident that they can help amplify our reach while also expanding the perspectives shared on the blog. This month-long test period will allow both parties to make sure this is a good step forward. I trust you’ll provide us with feedback.
Thank you for your continued support and continued belief in a more collaborative and connected Oregon.
To a better Oregon,
Kevin
To do:
Nominate a contributor
send their name and why you’d like them to join The Oregon Way team to Kevin (kfraz@berkeley.edu).
Share this blog with your friends!
nearly 800 Oregonians are a part of this community; let’s hit 1,000!
Welcome new contributors!
Sabbath Rain and Dana Whitelaw have joined our ranks!
To ponder: “But first, create clean jobs…”
To read:
The Oregon Way didn’t emerge solely from politicians. It was the product of private- and public-sector leader as well as community organizations. Jim Moore assesses whether business leaders are still helping move Oregon forward—he finds that there’s room for far from engagement. Read the full post here:
Oregon’s economy is not controlled from Oregon. We are a small player between a much larger Washington and a gargantuan California. It is companies from both of those states that play a huge role in Oregon’s economic life, but they leave a vacuum in terms of business engagement with Oregon’s political life.
While we are looking for new ways to engage with each other over political differences, we also need to be looking for a new generation of business leaders to step forward to help bridge the divides that split us. We need to be looking for powerful players in growing the Oregon Way 2.0.
John Tapogna bet on Portland. But, Tim Nesbitt is putting his money on Independence. Learn why by reading this post.
When the Fallows and Brooks and other national commentators started calling attention to the vitality of rural cities and small towns a few years ago, they told many of the same kinds of stories I’m sharing here about Independence. But the key to the renaissance they saw was social and civic, just as I see in Independence. Whether that culture is scalable is beside the point. At some scale, it works. And I’m willing to bet more than a five-dollar coupon that cities like Independence will create new models for sustainable and inclusive development in the years ahead.
Oregon Humanities is trying to connect Oregonians through its “Dear Stranger” project. Kevin Frazier thinks we should all participate. Check out his letter here.
We need “glue” individuals and organizations—folks committed to identifying what connects us, rather than what divides us. That’s why I am so thankful for The Oregon Way community — it’s a blog I help run; it focuses on sharing nonpartisan, pragmatic, and statewide perspectives. I think it’s done a lot of “gluing” but it has the potential to bring even more people together.
There’s a Prosperity Formula and it could help make Oregon a better state to call home. Jeff Gudman outlines that formula as well as how we can maximize its potential to improve our state:
The good news is that Oregon continues to see a strong in-migration, primarily of people in their 20s and 30s – younger, mostly skilled labor that allows local business to hire and expand at faster rates (you could think of this as businesses having greater access to human capital). The challenge, therefore, is make sure Oregon remains a draw for these folks so that the Prosperity Formula can be fully implemented.
For the State of Oregon, that means setting demanding goals based on a three-part strategy of fiscal control/management/oversight, spending on infrastructure, and investing in education—the three kinds of capital, and tireless efforts to attract private investment to build on what the state has to offer, not what it might want to offer.
The Rule of Law isn’t just a nice phrase—it’s a cornerstone of our democracy. Rich Vial reminds us of the value of judicial independence and identifies how we can safeguard this branch from the negative partisanship that’s affected the other two. Read the full post here.
As rancor within the two political parties heats up, their increasing willingness to “win” at all costs continues to seep into all of our society. The two-party duopoly of our political system controls our public dialogue and turns what should be collaborative concerns into divisive debates. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the discussion about judicial independence.
To watch:
Did you miss Civic Saturday? That’s OK - watch Cyreena Boston Ashby, Alexandria Goddard, and Kevin Frazier here:
To quote:
I shall give every ounce of devotion I have to the interests of this state, fearlessly working, as I see the galaxy of states that the world has ever known. I declare myself the people's Governor, and I ask for the continued support and friendship of the people of Oregon, without reference to past affiliations, political or social.
Governor Pierce