Join us every Thursday morning to hear fellow Democrats share good news and recommendations. What good things have you seen or read or heard or experienced lately? What’s On Your Mind lets you connect with friends and influence progressive leaders in the community, week after week..
The Enemy Within: an article by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, that seems to garner agreement from thinkers on both sides of the political spectrum.
Tim Hall’s resignation from his position as mayor of Garibaldi.
Nicholas Kristof’s latest article, about Loneliness.
A Ballotpedia article on Ranked-Choice voting.
A chapter of Bernie Sanders’s book It’s Okay to Be Angry About Capitalism.
Here’s what we talked about today:
Learning to talk to strangers.
The taxing authority of the Tillamook County Transportation District.
A recent Robert Reich article: The Five Elements of Fascism: And how Trump and much of today’s Republican Party embrace them
ACE scores for understanding trust in human relationships.
Shemia Fagan.
James Hollis’s writing on the issue of turning points in life.
The astonishing spectacle of a major political party actively working to undermine public trust in the institutions that help guarantee the rule of law.
Here’s what we talked about this morning:
Jim Heffernan’s first meeting as a member of the Tillamook County Transportation District Board.
Measure 114 ruled constitutional!
Political lawn signs. Are they separating us from other people when we display them outside of election season? Is there no place for countering the obscene language on Trump flags that are flying around the county? What’s the difference between letting our neighbors know who we are, and where we stand, as opposed to virtue signaling?
Jeff Merkley’s annual Oregon barbeque at the Forestry Center on July 30th.
Update of the county’s Short Term Rental ordinance that tries to balance strongly opposed interests. The lawsuits and threats of lawsuits that govern so much of our civic life. The need for other ways to solve problems
Here’s what we talked about today:
Measure 114 implementation waiting for decisions in two court cases, one federal and one state. See https://www.lifteveryvoiceoregon.com/implementation-updates. Research showing that high-capacity magazines are used for self-defense in only 0.02% of the cases in which they are used for aggression..
The feelings associated with the need for having a gun.
Doughnut Economics – a 2017 book challenging the idea that economic progress has much to do with survival-of-the-fittest. Cooperation has more to do with survival than does competition. Myth of the rugged individualist.
Mysterious confluence of certain streams of information influencing some of our friends and family members, based on readiness for “when shit hits the fan.” They seem to think they are preparing for civil war. Desire for automatic weapons driven by fear that single-shot weapons require too much skill - ability to aim.
Lewis Powell’s 1971 memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which laid a foundation for paranoia about threats to the “free enterprise system.”
The need to be less tribal, more human, in our communications about matters of civic importance, especially in conversations with friends, family, and neighbors.
Here’s what we talked about today:
A recent episode of OPB Newshour about Braver Angels.
A recent Braver Angels event in Washington County that one of our members attended with a few other people from Tillamook County.
The difficulty of convincing people - especially those who have strongly partisan views - to get outside their comfort zones enough even to talk to people with different views.
A conversation that one of us had in the community recently about the labor shortage in our area. It started with sound bites – repetition of standard partisan talking points – but progressed to respectful and mutual pondering of the real factors that get in the way of employment, assisted by real stories about real people, and by the history of real accomplishments in solving problems.
A letter from Laree Johnson published in today’s Daily Astorian listing some of Biden’s accomplishments and concluding that Biden is a “producer, not a performer.”
Here’s what we talked about today:
The general perception that our June Dairy Parade entry was welcomed more warmly than in years before, and some speculation about why. Might have had something to do with fading of COVID concerns.
How and why we lost the spirit of community and sacrifice which allowed polio to be eliminated.
The problems we face in dealing fairly with RFK Jr.’s campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
A book by Yuval Levin.
Alienation from political conversation: communicating who we — the party of reason and cooperation and good government, not the party of every-man-for-himself — is more important than winning arguments.
Here’s what we talked about today:
The last library board meeting: great example of civil communication on both sides.
Braver Angels: a handful of TillcoDems are attending a chapter meeting tonight in Hillsboro. Main challenge is that we need conservatives to join with us if we want a local chapter.
Performative Politics: Senator Tommy Tuberville’s obstruction of military promotions, as one example, and the difficulty of having real conversations in larger groups. Finding the best size for working groups.
The meetings that Tim Borman has been having with Cyrus Javadi about once a month, particularly where they address efforts to build cross-partisan understanding and conversation.
The possibility that the culture of Performative Politics has resulted from Fox News, reality TV, right-wing talk radio, and Trump himself.
The joy and pride that some of us witnessed in TBCC’s recent graduation ceremonies, particularly among hispanic families celebrating graduation of their family members.
Here’s what we talked about today:
Good news that Oregon’s wetlands protection laws remain fully intact despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision last week which undermines federal protections.
Opportunity to express appreciation for law enforcement as part of a broader expression of support for all those who keep the rule of law in place.
Opportunity for Tillamook Democrats to get behind National Night Out events on August 1st.
Efforts to improve funding for first-responders in Tillamook County by prioritizing them in allocations of Transient Lodging Tax revenues.
Concerns that Tillamook County right-wing extremists might be organizing a protest against the county library’s Pride Month display.
New revelations concerning the years-long pattern of right-wing harassment of the Nestucca Valley School District’s excellent superintendent, Misty Wharton.
Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny.
Here’s what we talked about today:
Outdoor projects we are enjoying in this good weather.
Efforts to improve the Tillcodems Facebook presence and to involve more people in managing it.
Welcome news that CNN’s leadership is changing.
Republicans hiring a social media manager in Tillamook?
News that 7.1% of the general population identifies as LGBTQ+, and that LGBTQ+ married couples vote at higher rates after marriage, but straight couples vote at lower rates after marriage.
The disturbing trend toward obstruction as the predominant mode of conducting politics now.
The vehemence of anti-trans feeling among many of our conservative friends, and evidence that these feelings are being driven primarily by the return of QAnon believers to Twitter, spreading hateful lies there that they call “red pills for normies.”
The dismay that several of us feel over Jeff Merkeley’s and Suzanne Bonamici both deciding to vote against the compromise that lifted the debt ceiling and preventing global financial collapse. Disturbing trend toward “performative politics.”
A suggestion that Biden focus more in his second term on fiscal responsibility, connected with the pride we feel in remembering Clinton’s success in balancing the budget and the general history of Democrats in being much more the party of fiscal responsibility than Republicans have been.
Here’s what we talked about this morning:
Headed into the Abyss - a book that Jim says is not particularly good, but that makes a good point: we need to talk to each other more.
The relief we feel over Joe Biden’s successful, competent, bipartisan handling of the debt-ceiling crisis.
The county’s signing of a lease for Care to begin building homeless shelters in downtown Tillamook.
Trump’s most recent inadvertent admission of guilt, apparently of zero interest in conservative circles.
The need for something like a Braver Angel’s coalition on the coast to promote dialog between Democrats and Republicans.
The opportunities we’ve found for connecting with neighbors in good weather, and the surprising power of just listening without sharing our opinions.
The school board race in which our candidate is behind by only one vote.
Love of Place as a way to build connection with neighbors who may disagree with us on other subjects.
The work of Braver Angels on reducing polarization, particularly as it has been done in nearby counties, and the possibility that we might be able to start some kind of ongoing forum to address it through Tillamook Bay Community College.
Hope that the energy and ideas of younger people could be especially helpful in reducing polarization.
Attempts in Texas to suppress political activity of college students.
Fly-fishing as a way of building connection and establishing credibility. The power of “just being neighborly.”
Here’s what we talked about today:
High school graduates who make us proud and grateful..
Ron “DeSaster”
The pattern of losses in this past election for candidates who ran on “culture war” issues.
Good Democratic turnout and the very apparent power of our Party and the power of TREAT, judging from election results in the most conservative parts of Tillamook County.
The likelihood that some of the races tipped in our favor because people in South County simply admire and respect the embattled superintendent of the local school district (Misty Wharton), and the likelihood that they are sick of right-wing negativity.
The success that one of us had recently with convincing a Trump-Supporting neighbor to “flip.”
An article that Traci Bean suggested: Can Americans Talk About Their History Without False Antagonism?
The demonstration in Tillamook against our state senator’s refusal to attend floor votes so as to shut down the work of our state legislature, attended by several of us a few days ago.
A movement in Louisiana to close all public libraries and to turn them into church-run Christian libraries.
The prospect of global financial meltdown, infuriating because Trump appears to be pushing for it as a campaign tool.
The power of a “softer message” and high-quality candidates in winning elections at the local level.
The troubling Supreme Court ruling on wetlands protection.
Whether our Republican representatives who aren’t going to work might be doing it with ulterior motives. Rumors that Suzanne Weber is relying on a “doctor’s excuse” for refusing to attend Senate votes.
Hope for good resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis that some of us have found in previous debt-celing battles.
The need to be steady through rocky times, especially those that affect smaller cities in the county.
An upcoming hearing on short-term rental ordinances that will most likely be volatile.
A recent good experience that one of us had with county workers responding quickly and effectively to a road-maintenance problem. Good government is a precious thing.
Here’s what we talked about on 2023-05-18:
Gratitude to those who ran for local offices and board positions.
Turnout - problem of little information about candidates causing low turnout. Regret that the DPO appears not to have delivered the tool that was supposed to allow us at least to look up the party registration of .
Lack of balanced participation in candidate forums: Republican forums much more heavily attended by conservative candidates, and forums hosted by more liberal organizations (AAUW for example) more heavily attended by progressive candidates. Hugely positive feedback received by AAUW and MooVoter forums. Positive impressions some of us had about how the Republicans ran theirs. Desire not to give up on more balanced participation from both candidates and voters. Is there any chance we could co-host a candidate forum with the Republicans next year? That would surely be affected by whether Trump is actually at the top of their ticket because of the extremism and possibly even violence that might somehow flow out of that.
This example of mutual respect and valuable/insightful conversation between people who disagree on fundamental issues: the classes taught jointly by Cornell West and Robert George.
Races in which we still don’t have an outcome, due in part to new rules about counting ballots postmarked on election day. Amazingly close results in some. Very good results for us overall.
Tim Borman’s very generous appreciation for Joe Carr’s victory in the Neahkanie School Board election.
Jim Heffernan’s involvement in Braver Angels, and the enormous de-polarizing benefits of showing up in places where we aren’t expected.
Community Conversations that Laura Swanson is organizing, and whether they can improve the community’s understanding about basic issues of how government works. Her recent conversations with Betsy Johnson, who might be able to help with reach-across-the-aisle efforts, but who needs a lot more persuasion on HCP issues. Betsy is apparently very focused on open-primaries; consensus among us that we could only support that in combination with ranked-choice voting.
Worrisome news that our friends at the DPO are coming under fire over reporting of a large contribution.
Here’s what we talked about today:
The joy connected with hearing young musicians perform.
The surprising experience of having fun while campaigning for local office.
The good experience our people had with attending a candidate forum hosted by mainstream Republicans last week - surprise at how moderate they were, compared with the We The People crowd.
A local business (Fred Meyer) that started inviting donations for people who don’t have lunch.
The difficult example we’ve seen recently in Clatsop County of the damage that turmoil on a Community College Board can cause.
The consensus achieved recently on the Tillamook County sheriff’s office budget, and the good transparent democratic process that got us there.
The importance of good stable productive boards running local organizations, schools, and service districts.
Here’s what we talked about today:
Better and faster broadband is coming to our county!
Local Democrats are signing up for GOTV work!
So many good Democrats have chosen to run for local offices this time, and more young people all around the country are getting politically involved.
What a wonderful, beautiful place Tillamook County is. What a great place to live.
The atmosphere at the South County Candidate Forum.
The contrasting and overwhelmingly positive atmosphere for our candidates at the Tillamook Home & Garden Show.
The importance of being more vocal about our wins and our accomplishments.
The Queer Prom. Lots of experience reported with support for it in the community, and outrage everywhere (in restaurants and coffee shops, on the streets, in the grocery store checkout lines) that there is so much opposition to it among extremists in our county. Discussion of how our people might support the prom (donations to its organizers?) and reports that the Swiss Society is losing members because of its decision to deny the Swiss Hall venue to organizers of the Queer Prom. Clear indications that the Queer Prom organizers have no plans to sue over that denial, just because the organizers want to build community, not damage it. Discussion of safety at the event. The organizers do feel very supported. Lots of security will be on hand; reason to believe it will be safer, in fact, than the Tillamook Prom. General agreement that it is heartbreaking to see that there is so much opposition to this event in 2023. DOJ has opened an investigation related to attacks on the organizers.
Watershed protection. One of our members strongly urged us to write Governor Kotek in support of a strong habitat conservation plan (HCP) and the long term need to find alternative funding sources for rural coastal counties so that water resources can be better protected and we can help mitigate the climate crisis by sequestering and storing more carbon by growing more trees longer, and so that our state forests can truly meet the "greatest permanent value." When you write, please cc Geoff Huntington, her natural resources advisor, and Karin Power, her climate policy advisor.
Very encouraging evidence in some candidate forums that even some of the conservative candidates for school board have shown concern for water quality in our schools.
Concern about Oregon House Bill 2772 – something to do with Domestic Terrorism, but sponsored by Democrats. Its reliance on a broad standard of “intent” could grant too much power to prosecutors and negatively affect our rights to peaceful protest.
Evidence that the other side’s negative messaging is helping us in general.
Interesting news that the Tillamook Transportation District will be responsible in some way for administering funds that have been allocated for emergency medical transport in Clatsop County. We have such an impressive transportation district board. Great campaign for a position on it being run by Jim Heffernan, who has already become a member of their budget committee.
Good question from someone new to the county: what is the Tillamook County Pioneer? Consensus answer: the best source of local news in the county.
Good news that the Headlight Herald has refused to publish slanderous letters from a couple of the county’s main right-wing organizers. Thank you Will Chappel!
Evidence that the success of the Queer Prom will help to reduce bullying and intolerance, and will help to create an environment in the high schools that will encourage marginalized kids, including those now in middle school, to stay in public schools.
Wouldn’t it be great if a lot of straight kids showed up in support of the Queer Prom?
Importance of showing up in general. The book Love Your Enemies ends with five rules, the last of which is “Go where you are not expected.”
MooVoter candidate forums will be an additional resource for voters. Thanks to TCP for publicizing them.
Here’s what we talked about today:
Feedback we are getting from precinct-oriented GOTV efforts – how do we hang onto it, how much of it do we want to share?
Jim Heffernan’s bus-oriented campaign for the Transportation District Board.
Several of us noted their encouragement in seeing all the signs for our candidates around the county.
Impressive efforts from TREAT, and just in general, this may be the most effort we’ve seen in Tillamook County for a Special District election.
Washington State’s ban on assault weapons - admiration for their legislature and their governor’s courage.
104th Birthday Party for Erella Chadwick - a retired Tillamook County teacher who wants us to know how grateful she is for her long and good life in Tillamook County.
Apparent increases in civic engagement broadly.
Repurposing of old lawn signs for elections, modeled by our own Constance Shimek - good for the environment and reduces costs of campaigns.
Sociological evidence (described in Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt) that discrimination against marginalized groups happens far less often when members of those groups are introduced personally to members of the dominant group. Shows a way in which it’s important for us to show our faces at events hosted by our political opponents.
The Republican candidate forums. Appreciation for those willing to participate so as to make sure our candidates have support.
The legitimacy and possible wisdom in avoiding social media for self-protective purposes, but the importance of balancing that avoidance with other forms of civic and social engagement.
Reactions to Biden’s announcement that he is running for re-election.
A lawsuit that has been filed recently by some organization that is suing the larger Oregon counties over vote-by-mail. Expectation is that these lawsuits will soon be extended to smaller counties too. The intention behind these lawsuits appears to be bald-faced vote-suppression.
Our experience that people we meet in person are much more likely to be in the middle. Extremists don’t seem to be out in public talking to others in coffee shops.
Apparent lack of election-coverage in the Headlight Herald. No election-related Letters To The Editor are being published, it seems, and the paper doesn’t seem to be writing about any of the issues at stake, or any of the candidates or candidate forums.
Voter turnout in Tillamook County: how can we nudge it up in off-year elections?
Here’s what we talked about this morning:
Emerging strength among local young people: Juntos, for example; a new high school intern at Tillamook County Pioneer; LGBTQ community promoting a Queer Prom in May.
Braver Angels - a citizens' organization uniting red and blue Americans in a working alliance to depolarize America. One of our members is now a Braver Angels Ambassador!
Political signage around the county.
Gratitude that people around the county are waking up and offering support to the candidates we support. “Many, many people apparently care about the upcoming Special District elections!”
Recent well-attended house parties for our candidates.
Thank you to journalists doing such a great job lately, under great stresses including direct threats. Stories mentioned: multiple investigations of local issues conducted by Willamette Week, including one that led to the Portland Police Bureau taking some much needed action downtown; multiple investigations of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas; a story about an Oklahoma sheriff who talked about killing journalists; and ongoing great work by Tillamook County Pioneer.
“Parents rights” being used as code words for intolerance in school board races all around the state.
Tides of Change celebrating Forty Years of Service to Our Community, with an event featuring True Survivor’s Stories this weekend.
A South County candidate forum that April Bailey is organizing. Can we count on this forum to be conducted as a well moderated, neutral venue?
Jim Heffernan’s campaign for Tillamook County Transportation Board, which he is conducting primarily by engaging fellow bus riders in conversations.
A quotation from Howard Zinn’s 2002 autobiography You Can’t Be Neutral On a Moving Train:
TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
Here’s what we talked about this morning:
People running for election locally.
The difficulty we face in keeping our volunteers involved and motivated when so many social forces tell them that civic engagement is all about conflict, that their own isolation is normal, or that others in the community are better situated to help.
Why someone running for office in our county would decline our endorsement.
An article about why Republicans have begun to give up on democracy, and how “minority authoritarianism” has become respectable or even orthodox among them [our copy here].
Here’s what we talked about this morning:
Conversations we are having with activists on the other side of the political spectrum here in Tillamook County. One comment stood out: “What seems to be working is kindness. They seem to be completely unprepared for it – just nothing in their playbook for responding to kindness and humility on our side.”
An upcoming Community Conversation about Community Safety. Most of us were interested in attending, and some hoped that the topic might appeal to our right-wing neighbors, but with apprehension that if they do show up, they might approach the subject by demonizing marginalized people.
The great work being done by the Tillamook County Pioneer to bring voices and opinions from all sides into the ongoing conversation our community has via letters to the editor and articles submitted by Tillamook County residents.
The gratitude we feel in knowing that, at least as of today, no one in our country is completely above the law.
Here’s what we talked about:
School shootings, and the school-safety legislative package that Republicans in the Oregon House of Representatives have offered as their solution to the problem.
The “we’re not going to fix it” attitude of Republicans nationwide, their apparent decision to avoid the problem by giving up on public education altogether, and the question whether there really is any conceivable way of addressing the pervasive mental, emotional, and spiritual sickness that drives mass shootings.
The cultural phenomenon of AR-15 ownership, the rampant paranoia that appears to be driving even our own family members to purchase these weapons in preparation for killing other human beings when things get bad in some unspecified way.
The disappearance of conversation in much of American life.
Braver Angels, and our ongoing effort to promote conversation between Democrats and across party lines as well.
The Right-Wing Zealot Who Wrecked the Budget Process and Made Washington Dysfunctional
Secession is here: States, cities and the wealthy are already withdrawing from America.