Thanks for support
Dear Editor:
I want to first thank all of those who assisted, supported, volunteered, donated and voted for me in the Okanogan County Commissioner District 2 primary and general elections. The amount of support I received is truly humbling.
I also want to thank Andy Hover for running; I am pleased that we both ran clean, civil campaigns, sticking to the facts and avoiding mudslinging. The number of candidates that ran in this election clearly demonstrates that democracy works; there was some disagreement about how matters were being handled at the county level, and voters voted to change the leadership.
Regardless of how the final vote turns out, I am proud of my campaign team and honored to have received so much support.
Ashley Thrasher, Twisp
Get involved now
Dear Editor:
As Bill Clinton so rightfully said in his campaign years ago against G.H. Bush, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Why have the Clintons lost sight of that?
Out of all this craziness, hopefully the message is clear. The middle class, small businesses, retirees and working poor are not happy being left behind in the Great Recession “recovery.”
They have been promised to be taken care of better, for decades, by administrations in D.C. and haven’t seen it. They are scared, mad and want real change.
Look at the voting maps by county in this election. The rural, retirement and working class areas “Trump(ed)” the “big city” Clintons.
Trump’s and Sanders’ “basis” message was not that far apart — the “little guy” has been getting left behind — though their rhetoric and approaches were way different. This basic massage won out over the “trust us,” “stay the course” of the Clintons.
Clinton was painted by Trump as a D.C. crony. Eisenhower warned of the “cronyism” in D.C. as he left office. Teddy Roosevelt busted up the ‘”cronyism” in D.C. with corporate America. It’s back.
Also, if you look at what the pollsters say, it was men. Working class, uneducated and educated men that Trump(ed). The glass ceiling is still not broken yet.
The closed-minded political extremes, to the left and right, locally and nationally, have caused separation and stagnating too long. The message here is clear: It is time for real change and the forgotten majority to be respected. All we hear is “me” nowadays. We need to turn “me” upside down to “we.”
This will take a long-overdue overhaul of both parties. Unfortunately it will be messy, as anything that has gone on way too long is when you try to change (fix) it.
My prayer, if you believe in equal rights, is that gender, race and social class get involved like you have never done before.
When you get discouraged, just look at the social progress of this nation and the world in the past 100 years. Change is dynamic. Keep positive and keep progressing!
The hero is “we!”
John Willett, Poulsbo/Mazama
Same old, same old
Dear Editor:
For the second time in five elections, a Democrat won the popular vote and a Republican won the Electoral College. We need to abolish the E.C. and institute ranked choice voting in my opinion, but there is a more pressing concern now.
For the last 40 years the Democratic Party leadership turned their back on middle class workers to cozy up with Wall Street and corporate donors. The Republicans do it, why not us? We need the money to compete, it’s nice to be rich, and I can always be a lobbyist if I lose my seat.
However, the populist wave that is sweeping the world is done bowing to pro-corporate policies. Bernie and Trump both saw this, but the DNC backed the most establishment politician possible, instead of Bernie, now the most popular politician in America.
Trump’s rhetoric centered around “draining the swamp,” taking back the government from corporate lobbyists and special interests and raising up the middle class that lost jobs through trade deals such as NAFTA. Trump’s not a politician, he claims. He will stand up for the working man, he says. But Trump doesn’t understand what it is to be a working man. Since his birth he has only traveled within inherited circles of wealth and power. Look into his history as a businessman, and witness a failure and con artist. His supporters are about to find out they are his greatest mark yet.
Trump’s transition team includes energy adviser Michael Catanzaro, a lobbyist for Koch Industries and Walt Disney Company; adviser Eric Ueland, a Senate Republican staffer who previously lobbied for Goldman Sachs; and transition General Counsel William Palatucci, an attorney in New Jersey whose lobbying firm represents Aetna and Verizon. Rick Holt, Christine Ciccone, Rich Bagger and Mike Ferguson are among the other corporate lobbyists helping to manage the transition effort. His Social Security Administration team includes Mike Korbey and Dorcas Hardy, both of whom have fought for the privatization of Social Security.
Seems like the swamp creatures are just being swapped and it’s politics as usual from the dock I’m sitting on.
Kyle Northcott, Twisp
Great Loup event
Dear Editor:
Many thanks to the Loup for hosting one of the long-standing traditions of starting ski season — the TGR ski movie! Also, thanks to the volunteers attending to the baked goods and wine/beer tables. North Cascades Heli donated many amazing raffle prizes, including a pair of skis and a snowboard. It was awesome to see North Cascades Heli and the grandeur of Washington Pass in the movie as well.
I do hope more people attend next year (I assume there will be one next year). The Methow Valley Community Center is a great place for events like these. Attending this event was a great way to support Loup Loup Ski Bowl. These movies are always a good time with folks that love to get outside and play!
Kat Werle, Winthrop
Impressive performance
Dear Editor:
Re: the Brittany Jean concert last weekend. Wow! We were really impressed by this young lady, her songs, her poise and her performance.
We were very disappointed (and actually embarrassed) by the scanty audience. The Merc was only about one-fourth full. And this for a fundraiser for the fire recovery effort. I’ve never seen such a poor showing in the Methow for a good cause — to say nothing of the tremendous performance we got.
I only hope Brittany Jean will come back to the Methow soon.
Bill Karro, Winthrop
Some options
Dear Editor:
James Watt was only a single right wing political appointee, but he’s often credited with doubling the Sierra Club’s membership. The backlash this time could be massive, both politically and legally. So if you don’t feel inclined to join the street protests, what are the options? Earth Justice provides legal help to both environmental and social justice groups, and I can only recall disagreeing with them once.
Their birth from the landmark Mineral King (proposed ski area) Supreme Court case is perhaps why they have such a good record of picking genuinely worthy causes. That too was initially a defeat, but Washington’s own Justice William O. Douglas wrote the dissenting opinion that was so eloquent it stimulated Christopher Stone’s classic book, Should Trees Have Standing, and many subsequent case law victories. That tree question has become central to the now very problematic survival of the human race.
Many organizations deserving progressive support can be found through Earth Justice, because they have to choose those where their legal work has the best chance of success.
Eric Burr, Mazama
Rigged? Yes, for Trump
Dear Editor:
Well, Trump was right. The election was rigged. Hillary won the popular vote, but the archaic Electoral College will make Trump president.
There is another irony. The original purpose of the Electoral College was a distrust of true democracy. The founders feared that a popular vote could result in an incompetent person being chosen.
As Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers, the Constitution was designed to ensure “that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” Electors were expected to look at “the sense of the people,” while ensuring that a president is chosen “by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”
No matter now that most Republican leaders, even on the far right, agreed that Trump was not competent to be president. Yet those people would be outraged if the electors now chose the one clearly competent candidate, Hillary Clinton, even though she received the majority of the vote. Instead, they will choose Trump, and Republican leaders will bow down to him.
The election was also rigged by numerous state governments. They created severe impediments to African-Americans, Latinos and poor people voting. Officially they claimed they were fighting voter fraud. It didn’t matter that there was never any evidence of voter fraud. As noted in a recent, unanimous Federal Appeals Court decision, “The new provisions in [North Carolina] target African Americans with almost surgical precision” and “impose cures for problems that did not exist … Thus the asserted justifications cannot and do not conceal the State’s true motivation.”
Cases to protect voters’ rights have been brought or supported by the U.S. Department of Justice. I fear that will change, since Republicans have shown a determination to deny voters’ rights. It will be a sad time for democracy.
Randy Brook, Twisp
