Guest Opinion: A Path Forward
My origin family has been Democrat since my grandmother worked with the FDR administration as one of the country’s first cohorts of social workers. We’re educated, progressive and global. I should be freaking out like the rest of the people in my choir. Trump’s integrity, temperament and many of his policies are a problem. But I’m equally concerned and sometimes disgusted by how misguided and hypocritical “Left” has become — with particular dysfunction reserved for health care, child/elder care, housing/homelessness, education, immigration, the environment and identify politics.
MAGA or not, we are all affected daily by something broken in our system. Among rich countries, we have the lowest health outcomes, worst education outcomes, almost nonexistent child care, lonely old people, the most expensive housing and thousands of sick people roaming our streets. We have millions of permanently disenfranchised cheap labor migrants that we all benefit from. We consume empty rhetorical calories on how appalled we are that a tiny minority of us have to navigate a confused landscape of identity issues; an Orwellian gumbo of words that make no sense. That’s not how Ghandi, MLK or Mandela did it. They advocated for universal human rights.
I’ve reserved my final comments for the Left’s most hypocritical obsession, the environment. Wake up. It doesn’t matter how you flush your toilet. It doesn’t matter if you compost or convince our kids that they are inheriting a dying planet. If you ski, golf, drive a car, get on an airplane, have a fancy water bottle, own more clothes than you need, live in a house that is bigger than you need, buy something new when you could buy something used, you are the same part of the problem. Part of why Trump is president is how tired the MAGA community is of our hypocrisy. Can you blame them? It took the Right 50-plus years to pull this off. It might take that long to change it. We better get started.
The solution in my view? The Left needs to get angry and effective; not self-righteous. We need to focus on our failed health care, education, housing and child/eldercare systems. We need to forget about carving out special language for subgroups and instead focus on universal human rights. It doesn’t matter what the bumper sticker on your Subaru says. The environment doesn’t get better until we collectively decide to consume differently. Changing consumption requires renegotiating capitalism. I don’t see my “progressive” friends willing to sacrifice a meaningful thing in that negotiation. Instead, we need to focus on aligning environmentalism to our sacred American religion, capitalism. Don’t let Bend fool you. It’s a bubble. And that’s why many of you moved here.
Thomas Jefferson said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” Sorry friends. We deserve this.
—Will Warne
Well-Intentioned Hoarding
The recent dog-hoarding case out of Klamath County, Oregon, has many in Central Oregon shaking their heads. How does this happen? Why aren’t there laws against hoarding animals? In many cases, these sad stories are attributed to the best of intentions. Cases like this can result from animals being moved around, in search of homes. An overcrowded shelter in another state has a need for more space for more unwanted animals. A 10-acre property in Central Oregon seems like a great option versus a kennel in an over-crowded shelter, so animals are moved. But if a rescue’s ambitions and resources aren’t equal, conditions can deteriorate. And the animals suffer.
In Oregon, rescues are licensed but not regulated. We’re fortunate to have many excellent rescues in Deschutes County, but how many others lack resources and proper oversight? Good intentions create significant challenges. States enact no puppy mill laws, and laws prohibiting the destruction of animals to make space at shelters. Animals reproduce and people relinquish their unwanted pets to shelters, believing it’s the right thing to do. Shelters get overwhelmed with animals, and struggle to find adopters. Rescues — run by people with the best intentions — accept unwanted animals and seek support and funds to manage these animals. Nobody wants to say no. Maybe that’s what happened in Klamath County. The owner didn’t say no and simply got overwhelmed. Let’s hope the community supports their efforts, and the animals can find forever homes quickly.
—Sean P. Cadden
In Support of Our Libraries
Happy National Library Week/Month to all of the libraries everywhere. I have been a fan for a long time. As a child, I received library books from the bookmobile that came directly to my home. After the new library was built, I went every week with my mom and siblings. It was so exciting getting new books.
As an adult, I took my daughter to library children’s reading programs in Portland and Sisters. She became an avid reader for life. We both take her children to library programs for kids and we all participate in the summer reading programs. Reading over the summer prevents the reading slide when children are not in school.
What a gift to have a place you can gain knowledge, take an adventure, get your book club selection and find community. In a small town, we are known by name and are greeted like a friend when we come in. Please speak out in support of libraries everywhere, especially as discussions begin of libraries losing financial support.
—Joyce Burk Brown
Letter of
the Week:
Joyce, Central Oregon has some incredible libraries and I agree that we must seek to safeguard them!
—Chris Young
This article appears in Source Weekly April 10, 2025.
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