There’s a lot of fear out there. In fact, it’s one of the things that voters have in common. Some fears are real: drought, wildfires, heat domes, flooding. Some are “trumped up,” like the big lie about voter fraud in 2020.
Setting conspiracy dogma aside, the solution to the real fears is action to solve those huge problems.
A hundred years ago, a Republican Oregon legislator, Loyal Graham, proposed a gasoline tax “to get Oregon out of the mud” and build needed roads. Soon most states followed Oregon’s lead.
However, today, for the most part, it’s in vogue for elected Republicans to shun government solutions to problems. The most radical of these would do away with current programs like Social Security, Medicare, environmental protection of our water, air and land and so forth. When the Democratic Party succeeds in passing state and federal legislation that solves our problems, they’re usually forced to do so alone with little or no support from elected Republicans such as happened with the Inflation Reduction Act. And in Oregon, Republicans put party dogma before solutions and simply walked out rather than to even try.
We don’t need to feel helpless about these problems. We need to act to solve them. Please support those running for elected office who are working very hard to solve them.
Today only Democratic candidates work for us to solve our most pressing problems. Please support them with your vote.
Joyce Woods
Ashland
