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..

Deep Read of the Month for September 2022

This week’s article focuses on the Christian right; however, it can be a guide for all of us—right, left, and in-between. The Founding Fathers spoke often and eloquently of the necessity for a virtuous populace to uphold the Constitution and, thus, the newly established Republic. To these men, virtue meant moral excellence—the willingness to place the common good before one’s own interests. Michael Gerson offers religious historic perspective and a blueprint for moving forward with “due regard for our shared dignity.”

Trump should fill Christians with rage. How come he doesn’t?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/michael-gerson-evangelical-christian-maga-democracy/
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/9/16/deep-read-of-the-month-for-september-2022.

Short Read of the Week for September 8, 2022

This morning we discussed six great articles, two of them on the subject of education by the same author (Anya Kamenetz), and ultimately decided to recommend this powerful and important piece as the one thing you should read this week if you don’t read anything else:

Education in America: School is For Everyone
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/opinion/us-school-history.html
[our copy here]

Why is this article so important? Just read into it until you get to this passage, and you will know: “Buchanan intuited that if rich white people could be convinced that they were justified in no longer paying for public schools, it opened the door to resist all taxation, all public goods.”

We also chose to recommend this:

Evangelical Group Releases Climate Change Report, Urges a Biblical Mandate for Action
https://wordandway.org/2022/08/29/evangelical-group-releases-climate-change-report-urges-a-biblical-mandate-for-action/
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/9/13/short-read-of-the-week-for-september-8-2022.

Short Read of the Week for September 1, 2022

This morning we discussed eight articles, and chose one of them — an article in Fortune by the president and CEO of Tillamook County Creamery Association — to recommend as the one thing you should read this week if you don’t read anything else:

‘Preserve’ your culture at your own peril
https://fortune.com/2022/08/20/tillamook-co-op-culture-fixed-mindset-success-leadership-patrick-criteser/
[our copy here]

We also recommend this:

The Biden Whitehouse is finally acting like it gets it
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/biden-white-house-action
[our copy here]

Why? The writers at Teen Vogue have an eye for what’s effective. For example:

“When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said it’s “completely unfair for the government to just say your debt is forgiven,” the White House Twitter account responded succinctly: “Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $184,504 in [Paycheck Protection Program] loans forgiven.”"


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/9/13/short-read-of-the-week-for-september-1-2022.

Short Read of the Week for August 25, 2022

This morning we discussed six great articles, and from them we chose two that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week, both related to Betsy Johnson’s campaign for governor:

Oregon's next Governor could be a machine-gun toting darling of GOP mega donors
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/oregon-next-governor-could-machine-133000311.html
[our copy here]

Two Candidates for Governor Turn Over Their Tax Returns. Betsy Johnson Declines.
https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/17/two-candidates-for-governor-turn-over-their-tax-returns-betsy-johnson-declines/
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/8/26/short-read-of-the-week-for-august-25-2022.

Short Read of the Week for August 18, 2022

This morning we discussed five excellent articles, and from them chose one, unanimously, that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week:

Why Political Bravery Is in Such Short Supply in America
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/opinion/liz-cheney-lisa-murkowski-primary.html
[our copy here]

We also chose to recommend this:

What About Embryos?
https://www.creators.com/read/froma-harrop
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/8/24/short-read-of-the-week-for-august-18-2022.

Short Read of the Week for August 11, 2022

This morning we discussed six articles that were suggested by Tillamook County Democrats during the week, and from them chose one that we recommend you read even if you don’t read anything else this week:

Yes, the Inflation Reduction Act Is a Big Effing Deal
https://newrepublic.com/article/167332/senate-passes-inflation-reduction-act
[our copy here]

This was the most truly-significant thing that our government has accomplished in a long, long time. We need to know how to talk about it. This is a short punchy article that shows exactly how.

We also chose to recommend this:

Longtime legislative staffer for Betsy Johnson repeatedly voiced hateful views online toward Black, Muslim and LGBTQ people
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/longtime-legislative-staffer-for-betsy-johnson-repeatedly-voiced-hateful-views-online-toward-black-muslim-and-lgbtq-people.html
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/8/24/short-read-of-the-week-for-august-11-2022.

Short Read of the Week for August 4, 2022

This morning we discussed seven articles, and from them chose two very short ones that we hope you will read if you don’t read anything else this week:

What would a WWII vet think today? Reflections on my dad’s 100th birthday
https://suzettebrooksmasters.medium.com/what-would-a-wwii-vet-think-today-reflections-on-my-dads-100th-birthday-179c89492b3
[our copy here]

20 Reasons to be Thankful in 2020
https://suzettebrooksmasters.medium.com/20-reasons-to-be-thankful-in-2020-yes-thankful-a79d5fbfa6b2
[our copy here]

We also chose to recommend the article below:

Southern ministers are trying to change minds about the climate crisis
https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/southern-ministers-trying-to-change-minds-climate-crisis
[our copy here]

It describes a religious movement in West Virginia's coal country focused on the climate crisis. A growing number of southern Black ministers are bringing people into climate work by using a "ladder" approach which gets them invested in small initial ways and then moves up the ladder to deeper involvement.


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/8/6/short-read-of-the-week-for-august-4-2022.

Short Read of the Week for July 28, 2022

This morning we discussed six articles, and from them chose one that we suggest you read even if you don’t read anything else this week:

Try to Resist the Call of the Doomers
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/opinion/climate-doomers-possibility.html
[our copy here]

We also chose to recommend the article below for its reminder that our youth have a lot at stake and a lot to offer in solving environmental problems:

Youth offer water solutions
https://www.mailtribune.com/education/2022/07/25/youth-offer-water-solutions/
[our copy here]

And we chose to recommend the article below because the "God Gap" that David French is talking about is driving non-white voters away from the Democratic party. There's good evidence here that he's right, and that it could be hurting us in Tillamook County.

The God Gap Helps Explain a 'Seismic Shift' in American Politics
https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-most-important-religious-divide
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/8/6/short-read-of-the-week-for-july-28-2022.

Deep Read of the Month for July 21, 2022

This morning we discussed an article about the consequences of civic disengagement in a particular small town: What Croydon, a ‘Live Free or Die’ Town, Learned About Democracy [our copy here]. In Croydon, it took a crisis to wake up the citizenry to the reality that democratic self-governance can produce awful results when most people assume that someone else is paying attention. But the story is actually full of hope. A renewal of civic engagement, with good results for the whole community, resulted from the crisis. An extremely high level of participation DID NOT have the results that Republicans apparently fear: it did NOT trample individual rights and did NOT hand control of the town over to the Republican’s favorite boogeyman: the “woke mob.”

Will it take a crisis for our community to learn fully the value of engagement? What about our nation? How can we get there without going off the cliff?


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/7/24/deep-read-of-the-month-for-july-21-2022.

Short Read of the Week for July 14, 2022

This morning we discussed seven great articles, but in the end settled on one clear recommendation. If you don’t read anything else this week you should at least read this:

After initial success, #TimberUnity has splintered
https://www.dailyastorian.com/news/local/after-initial-success-timberunity-has-splintered/article_9f0f20c8-e378-11ec-9dbf-2becea0e9713.html
[our copy here]

Why? Because it helps all of us, no matter how conservative or liberal we are, understand that Timber Unity lost its way when it got taken over by professional right-wing politicians and big-monied industrial interests. Timber Unity’s original founders have started a new group (Oregon Natural Resource Industries) focused on the long-term needs of working rural Oregonians — very much the people we stand with as Tillamook County Democrats — and not on the short-term needs of big businesses to report higher profits on every quarterly financial statement, or on the needs of cynical politicians to stir up anger and fear.

We also chose to recommend this article, full of hope and courage:

Climate change will affect the church. What if the church takes the lead?
https://www.christianitytoday.com/better-samaritan/2022/july/climate-changes-will-affect-church-what-if-church-takes-lea.html
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/7/14/short-read-of-the-week-for-july-14-2022.

Short Read of the Week for July 7, 2022

This morning we discussed seven articles, and in part because it points to well founded hope and optimism that many of us badly need right now, we chose one of them that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week:

Women Will Save Us
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/opinion/women-midterm-elections.html
[our copy here]

We also chose to recommend this short reminder of how an unfair law, antithetical to the values of our democracy, continues to prevent working people from participating fully in the economic and political life of our country:

The Law That Poisoned Labor: Taft-Hatley Turns 75
https://nwlaborpress.org/2022/06/the-law-that-poisoned-labor-taft-hartley-turns-75/
[our copy here]

Will you join us next week?


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/7/7/short-read-of-the-week-for-july-7-2022.

Short Read of the Week for June 30, 2022

For this morning’s discussion we read eight interesting and important articles, but after a week of brutality and disappointment from the Supreme Court, one article stood out for its clear answers to the question “What are we going to do about it?”

The Path Forward
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/the-path-forward
[our copy here]

And for its balanced information and its relevance to an issue currently under consideration by our County Commissioners, we also chose to recommend this:

Plan for logging Oregon’s state forests while protecting imperiled wildlife moves forward
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/03/24/plan-for-logging-oregons-state-forests-while-protecting-imperiled-wildlife-and-moves-forward/
[our copy here]

When you read something in the coming week that you think other Democrats might benefit from reading, would you add it to the list at https://tinyurl.com/TillcoDems-short-reads?


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/7/3/short-read-of-the-week-for-june-30-2022.

Short Read of the Week for June 23, 2022

We had a near unanimous decision on the one article every Tillamook County Democrat should read this week if you don’t read anything else. It’s a terrific letter to the editor of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, written by Wayne Spletstoser, a retired teacher of chemistry and mathematics:

Thoughts from a distraught former Corvallis teacher and hunter
https://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/as-i-see-it-thoughts-from-a-distraught-former-corvallis-teacher-and-hunter/article_528da1cf-99b3-5a4f-b41f-ac29c46934bd.html
[our copy here]

After you read it, look at the data in Who Stops a Bad Guy With a Gun? How can anyone honestly say that our gun laws make sense?

We also chose to recommend this report from the Oregon Health Authority:

Climate change disasters affecting youth mental health, report shows
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/ORDHS/bulletins/31c233e
[our copy here]

This problem is real, and it is with us right now, not something that may happen some day. If it makes you feel helpless, join the club. But by that we mean something a little less cynical than it sounds. Join US. There is no better place to be in the fight.


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/6/26/short-read-of-the-week-for-june-23-2022.

Deep Read of the Month for June 16, 2022

For this morning’s discussion we read an article published in the Huffington Post about a month ago:

Living With The Far-Right Insurgency In Idaho
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/far-right-idaho_n_628277e2e4b0c84db7282bd6
[our copy here]

Is this real? Could it happen in Tillamook County? We heard abundant evidence from knowledgeable people this morning that the answer to both questions is yes. It’s real, and it’s already happening here.

So what do we do about it? Do we follow suit and begin to embrace some form of the “Confrontational Politics” playbook that Republicans are using? Do we begin ranking our legislators according to their consistency in voting for liberal policies? Do we try to use the same deceptive techniques for taking over the Republican Party that they are attempting to use for infiltrating ours? Do we begin cultivating that “deep desire to dominate without mercy” which is apparently the up-front and explicitly-stated ethos of the America First Political Action Conference?

We would like to hear your answers to those questions, but those of us in this morning’s discussion were unanimous: we will not use the tools of “Confrontational Politics,” even if they are effective. We will never “dominate without mercy” and we are appalled to hear declarations of this sort as any part of normal political discourse.

We do recognize the need to be the “loudest voice in the room,” but by that we do not mean “loud and angry.” We mean to be the most visible, most firm, most consistent, and most inexhaustible representatives of voters in Tillamook County who share our values: good and sensible people who make up the majority of our county, by far.


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/6/16/deep-read-of-the-month-for-june-16-2022.

Short Read of the Week for June 9, 2022

This morning we discussed eight interesting articles that had been suggested during the week by Tillamook County Democrats, and for the much needed optimism and reassurance it contains, we chose one of them that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week:

Your Kids Are Not Doomed
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/opinion/climate-change-should-you-have-kids.html
[our copy here]

We also chose to recommend this:

Against Gun Idolatry
https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/against-gun-idolatry
[our copy here]

If you have intelligent friends whose views are anywhere close to the middle of the gun debate, would you share this article with them and tell us how it goes?


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/6/9/short-read-of-the-week-for-june-9-2022.

Short Read of the Week for June 2, 2022

At this morning’s meeting we discussed five great articles, and because of its local origin and its matter-of-fact presentation of the research, without judgment, we chose this article that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week:

Arming teachers – an effective security measure or a false sense of security?
https://theconversation.com/arming-teachers-an-effective-security-measure-or-a-false-sense-of-security-183909
[our copy here]

And because so many Oregonians don’t realize what will happen if Republicans take control of our legislature, we also chose to recommend this:

States pursue extreme restrictions in crafting post-Roe abortion law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/16/abortion-republicans-supreme-court/
[our copy here]

Republicans will take away more than the right to a safe abortion. They will take away Plan B contraception, too.


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/6/5/short-read-of-the-week-for-june-2-2022.

Short Read of the Week for May 27, 2022

The one article that every Tillamook County Democrat should read this week, if you don’t read anything else, is this:

My Lunch With President Biden
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/22/opinion/biden-trump-republicans-democrats.html
[our copy here]

Friedman: ”For all you knuckleheads on Fox who say that Biden can’t put two sentences together, here’s a news flash: He just put NATO together, Europe together and the whole Western alliance together.”

We also chose to recommend this:

School shooting survivors, families react to the massacre
https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-no-no-no-not-005956022.html
[our copy here]

Of course there have been countless articles about the most recent school shooting, but this one stands out because it begs for a gun control solution at the end. We Democrats have to start talking about this. There have been 27 (YES 27) school shootings in 2022, and it's just May.


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/5/30/short-read-of-the-week-for-may-27-2022.

Short Read of the Week for May 12, 2022

For this morning’s discussion we read six great articles — so much good reading, in fact, that we split evenly on our choice for the one thing you should read this week if you don’t read anything else. Here, then, are the TWO articles that every Tillamook County Democrat should read:

Americans differ on what’s to blame for inflation
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/11/business/inflation-cpi-report-april/inflation-consumer-prices-survey
[our copy here]

The takeaway? Americans DO NOT blame Biden for inflation, nor should they.

In fact, we were tempted to recommend three articles because so much has been written about the Supreme Court’s apparent intention to overrule Roe v. Wade and end the notion that there is a right to privacy guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, but the article below edged out a close contender by one vote:

Democrats are making the abortion debate about more than abortion. Here's why.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/05/05/npr-heres-why-democrats-are-making-the-abortion-debate-about-more-than-abortion
[our copy here]

Would you share these articles with your friends, please?


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/5/12/short-read-of-the-week-for-may-12-2022.

Short Read of the Week for May 5, 2022

Today we discussed seven great articles, and from them chose one that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week:

There's No Choice in the Midterms. The Democrats Are the Only Side Defending Democracy
https://www.newsweek.com/theres-no-choice-midterms-democrats-are-only-side-defending-democracy-opinion-1702290
[our copy here]

We also chose to recommend this, for the compelling idea that cross-partisan support could be enlisted for a push to Make American Government Responsible and Accountable:

To get beyond red vs. blue, let's try MAGRA
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/10-opinion/539089-431675-opinion-to-get-beyond-red-vs-blue-oregon-lets-try-magra
[our copy here]


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/5/11/short-read-of-the-week-for-may-5-2022.

Short Read of the Week for April 28, 2022

In this morning’s meeting we discussed seven great articles, and settled on one that you should read if you don’t read anything else this week. Pay attention to what it says about who, at long last, is doing something about this problem:

Why rural communities struggle to bring in much-needed federal grants
https://www.hcn.org/articles/economy-why-rural-communities-struggle-to-bring-in-much-needed-federal-grants
[our copy here]

We also chose to recommend two others:

Rise in mental health concerns among young Americans tied to politics and the media
https://thefulcrum.us/mental-health-awareness
[our copy here]

Biden signs order that goes to the heart of Oregon's forest politics
https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/04/biden-signs-order-that-goes-to-the-heart-of-oregons-forest-politics.html
[our copy here]

This last article contains one paragraph of particular note: “Many environmental advocates and academics believe mechanical thinning projects, unless surgically applied, are an ineffective, expensive, Sisyphean solution that damages forest soils, removes carbon and needs to be regularly revisited as smaller trees and vegetation grow back. They believe such treatments actually increase fire risks by opening up the canopy, drying out the soil and allowing wind driven fires to spread faster. They say federal funding would be best spent on helping make homes more fire safe and launching defensible space projects in at-risk communities“


Direct link to item: https://tillcodems.org/whats-on-your-mind/2022/5/4/short-read-of-the-week-for-april-28-2022.