January/February 2006 Editor's Viewpoint
From the Editor: Values for sale?

Miriam Knight
I suppose one man’s cynical political blackmail is another man’s clever political ploy, but the shoddy tactics used to push ANWR, the Alaskan drilling bill really take the cake. Whatever your view on despoiling one of the precious few untouched nature reserves remaining in this country for the benefit of Big Oil, you would have to agree that attaching it, just before the Senate recess, to the appropriations bill for defense spending and hurricane relief was cynical and arrogant beyond belief. Bravo to those senators who supported a filibuster of the bill, forcing its removal, and bravo to all of our fellow Americans who flooded senators’ mail, and phonelines with protest. It is so enheartening to see American values being upheld by our elected representatives, rather than being hypocritically trampled under in the name of a patriotism that somehow mainly benefits special interests.

Unfortunately, one of our own representatives, Senator Gordon Smith, actually voted against the filibuster, and therefore against the Arctic Refuge on the basis that he couldn’t vote against the defense appropriation. Now to any straight-thinking person, let alone a sophisticated legislator, it should have been clear that the defense budget would be passed once the spurious amendment was removed. Does he think the Oregonian voter is stupid enough to believe his lame excuse for not lending his vote to removing it? I would like to know where his values lie.

No one wants to see our soldiers left in danger without support, although one would like to see where all the money has really gone, since we will be paying it back for generations. Neither would we want to hurt appropriations for the recovery of hurricane victims, though we might point out that it was private citizens’ generosity and open hearts, not the government’s, that provided the first response to the disaster … so much for Homeland Security. But we also don’t want our wildernesses and natural resources plundered or our fish and wildlife decimated for the sake of enriching the few. We don’t want our air and water polluted because of the Government’s refusal to enact or enforce air and water quality laws. We don’t want our food chain polluted by hormones and genetically modified crops that have been banned abroad for good reason. We would like to know why we are so out of step with the rest of the world on measures to rein back global warming.

Can’t those who voted against the filibuster see beyond the next opinion poll or the next campaign contribution to the irreparable damage we are doing to the fabric of our country? The good news is that there were enough senators in Congress courageous enough to stand up and be counted, not only on ANWR, but on the erosion of our civil liberties.

The war on terror is conjured up like a bogeyman to frighten us into unquestioning submission to anything proposed in its name. But I do feel we are growing wiser as a nation, and have begun to ask hard questions, not only of others but of ourselves. What do we really value? What pain and suffering are we prepared to inflict on others in the name of "national security"? What changes in lifestyle are we prepared to consider now so that we don’t leave chaos and devastation for our children and grandchildren?

It is up to each of us to walk our talk, because we will get the government we deserve. I pray, from the bottom of my heart, that as a nation we will be deserving of a government of truth, liberty and justice for all.

--Miriam Knight