Passing on the Sushi
Steve Duin of the O tells us today why he would never vote for Susheela Jayapal for Congress. I'm with him all the way on that one, and on this:
And I’m sure I’m not the only Powell’s regular who contemplates Jayapal’s run for Congress, or another woebegone mayor’s race, and wonders whatever happened to the vibrant community in which a fair number of talented, engaged and creative workaholics ran for political office?
You should read the whole thing here. The Paywall of Pity is not up, at least not yet.
He nails it!
ReplyDelete50, 60 years ago I felt comfortable engaging local and state politicians with meetings and conversations about things I could do help our community.
ReplyDeleteI feel alienated by the currently active politicians.
Back then, you had to listen to people to get elected. Nowadays it's all a game show, conducted on TV and the internet, with thinly veiled bribes galore paying for it all.
DeleteWell, yeah, but we still got Goldschmidt.
DeleteThat’s when things turned to ——
DeleteWhy would anyone decent run for office in Portland? You're subjected to constant hate – and not just "I hate politicians" hate, but people showing up at your house and work hate, extreme venom hate, by a public that is far *too* engaged in the political process to let the Grown Ups make decisions.
ReplyDeleteAnd so we get amateurs like Sushi and Jesse Cornett and Dan Ryan flailing, which makes people even angrier and diminishes trust even more, which further scares away anyone worth a damn from trying to run for office. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I thought the same thing for a long time - even thinking it would be pointless for a decent person to run because of the vast incompetence and corruption of the machine (what could one good elected politician even do within such a broken system?). Then Rene Gonzalez ran. I've known Rene for over a decade. Pretty normal small business owner. He's limited in his ability to be super effective, but he's like the single source of optimism I have. Hopefully he inspires more reasonable people to run.
Delete"...the easy problems in the region were long ago put to bed."
ReplyDeleteBingo.
He’s generally right. But, Kotek was a tyrant in the house and a disaster as my district’s representative. When I think of Portland voters and lawmakers I think of those who read of the Hamas horrors and then gave a small affirming nod and think to themselves, “They had it coming.”
ReplyDeleteBlumenauer is a wretch without equal.
Portland will not be getting its head out of its keister till around 2035. Meanwhile, it’ll writhe like a damp earthworm on a hot skillet. Not a thing I would normally wish to see. But, the town deserves every degree Fahrenheit and every agonizing second.