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People not getting right set of choices
Published Jan. 26, 2004
By Jim Barr
Guest columnist
I have read with interest articles in the paper concerning the tax issue coming up for election. We have been given the idea we can choose a means of dealing with the shortfall we now find ourselves in in the state of Oregon. But we aren't really being given a choice.
We're being deceived, led to believe it is our choice because we will vote on the issue.
Let me explain: Two friends of mine, Bob Laflin and Terry Jensen, wrote a book called, "Duped." The book deals with methods of deception. One method is called, "Equivoque." They explain that "equivoque" creates a predictable future and features the principle of offering only wrong choices while at the same time keeping us unaware that the best choice, and certainly the right choice, is never offered as an option.
The two choices given in this election are to allow our taxes to be raised, supposedly for a short time, or to cut needed services crucial to the well-being of people in our state. These are two bad choices.
Those services being cut rightly bring the argument that services are needed and people will suffer - schools, police, medical needs. Others are saying, "The state gets enough of my paycheck, and the state's mismanagement got us here to begin with." Does anyone believe we want crucial services cut? Do people really want to pay more taxes? I don't think either is a good choice, nor is either the correct choice.
But who established our choices? The governor and Legislature. They excluded a choice they don't want to deal with.
If you as a business or private individual had more bills than you had money, what would you, or should you, do? You would evaluate your priorities and first cut back the areas that are least crucial, or un-needed. You wouldn't contact your mortgage lender, utility district, the Internal Revenue Service or some other needed service provider and say, "Hey, my salary has been cut 5 per cent, so I am paying 5 per cent less on all my bills."
You wouldn't be allowed to do that, would you? No, a business or family could do what the state is doing. The state doesn't have to make the hard choices a business or family has to make in the same situation.
So now we argue over two options - cut crucial services or raise our taxes, while the real solution is not presented as a choice. Public officials knowingly and intentionally withhold the true solution. That is "equivoque" - making choices without a real choice. It is deceit and manipulation.
While we become divided, throwing verbal insults at each other, both the cause of the problem and the real solution sit in Salem just waiting for us to "decide."
If we vote for the tax, we will give more taxes to a body that has shown it doesn't know how to manage the taxes, either philosophically or practically.
If we oppose the tax, it will make us pay by cutting crucial services we all agree are needed the same amount as budget items that aren't needed at all. And they in Salem, from the governor down, will blame the voters again as they have done in the past.
But what has really happened is equivoque. We are required to choose from their manipulated choices. We are in a lose-lose situation, and state government is in a win-win scenario.
What happened to it being "a government of the people, by the people and for the people?"
What happened to "civil servants?"
Oregon, along with many other states, made errors in judgment and spent more than it had. State officials shouldn't now compound a mistake with intentional deception because the governor and Legislature don't want make to the tough choices - choices almost every business in Oregon and many of the citizens of Oregon have had to make themselves.
We don't have to cut crucial services - if our government cuts were made by priority rather than by 5 per cent across the board. We are being duped. As in a shell game, we are being required by our elected officials to vote on an issue where the people lose no matter what they decide.
Those who are responsible for the problem and are able to really do something about it refuse to do their job, which is to represent the people, in the people's best interest. If we tolerate this, we'll deserve what we get.
By Jim Barr
Guest columnist
I have read with interest articles in the paper concerning the tax issue coming up for election. We have been given the idea we can choose a means of dealing with the shortfall we now find ourselves in in the state of Oregon. But we aren't really being given a choice.
We're being deceived, led to believe it is our choice because we will vote on the issue.
Let me explain: Two friends of mine, Bob Laflin and Terry Jensen, wrote a book called, "Duped." The book deals with methods of deception. One method is called, "Equivoque." They explain that "equivoque" creates a predictable future and features the principle of offering only wrong choices while at the same time keeping us unaware that the best choice, and certainly the right choice, is never offered as an option.
The two choices given in this election are to allow our taxes to be raised, supposedly for a short time, or to cut needed services crucial to the well-being of people in our state. These are two bad choices.
Those services being cut rightly bring the argument that services are needed and people will suffer - schools, police, medical needs. Others are saying, "The state gets enough of my paycheck, and the state's mismanagement got us here to begin with." Does anyone believe we want crucial services cut? Do people really want to pay more taxes? I don't think either is a good choice, nor is either the correct choice.
But who established our choices? The governor and Legislature. They excluded a choice they don't want to deal with.
If you as a business or private individual had more bills than you had money, what would you, or should you, do? You would evaluate your priorities and first cut back the areas that are least crucial, or un-needed. You wouldn't contact your mortgage lender, utility district, the Internal Revenue Service or some other needed service provider and say, "Hey, my salary has been cut 5 per cent, so I am paying 5 per cent less on all my bills."
You wouldn't be allowed to do that, would you? No, a business or family could do what the state is doing. The state doesn't have to make the hard choices a business or family has to make in the same situation.
So now we argue over two options - cut crucial services or raise our taxes, while the real solution is not presented as a choice. Public officials knowingly and intentionally withhold the true solution. That is "equivoque" - making choices without a real choice. It is deceit and manipulation.
While we become divided, throwing verbal insults at each other, both the cause of the problem and the real solution sit in Salem just waiting for us to "decide."
If we vote for the tax, we will give more taxes to a body that has shown it doesn't know how to manage the taxes, either philosophically or practically.
If we oppose the tax, it will make us pay by cutting crucial services we all agree are needed the same amount as budget items that aren't needed at all. And they in Salem, from the governor down, will blame the voters again as they have done in the past.
But what has really happened is equivoque. We are required to choose from their manipulated choices. We are in a lose-lose situation, and state government is in a win-win scenario.
What happened to it being "a government of the people, by the people and for the people?"
What happened to "civil servants?"
Oregon, along with many other states, made errors in judgment and spent more than it had. State officials shouldn't now compound a mistake with intentional deception because the governor and Legislature don't want make to the tough choices - choices almost every business in Oregon and many of the citizens of Oregon have had to make themselves.
We don't have to cut crucial services - if our government cuts were made by priority rather than by 5 per cent across the board. We are being duped. As in a shell game, we are being required by our elected officials to vote on an issue where the people lose no matter what they decide.
Those who are responsible for the problem and are able to really do something about it refuse to do their job, which is to represent the people, in the people's best interest. If we tolerate this, we'll deserve what we get.
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| If 30 fails, try consolidating districts | Instead of differences, let's look at what parties have in common |
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