It’s time to change the paradigm

Problem: Reactionary demonstrations in Portland are negatively impacting Democratic Presidential campaign to elect Biden/Harris in swing states as Trump touts law and order while consciously ignoring critical, underlying issues expressed in Portland and several cities across the U.S.

Suggestion: Mayor/Governor/State/Federal Oregon leadership to intersect and dialog with “leadership” of the Portland demonstration. In the absence of identifying leader, create one (group) as representing majority.

Purpose: To first establish 30-day moratorium on demonstrations in Portland to determine the specific list of rational actions that can be taken to address demonstrators’ demands. Realizing the nature and complexity of the current association of related but diverse issues being debated on the streets, seek group consensus of The Problem — forming consensus is not a simple act but in avoiding building one, nothing positive will come of the sacrifices made by so many to this point.

As a point of departure, one needs only to refer to the spread of “labor” issues struck across the U.S. in the 1930s. Left to its own, the loosely associated labor unions and workers were quickly infiltrated by active foreign influence peddlers, drawing off local and regional focus, by introducing draconian behavior which had the effect of militarizing the entire theater and all those players whether they be civil, state, private, or national actors. This process originated in the late 1920s, flagged forward for more than 10 years, interrupted by the invasion of the Hawaiian Navy Base on Oahu late 1941.

The current circumstances in Portland appear to be progressing without leaders on either “side” of the underlying civil actions and initiatives.

Without leadership, demonstrations do not necessarily lead to legislation.

In the absence of a progressive, rational process, potential for unregulated chaos logically follows.

Unregulated reactive action opens the doors not only for Trump to make hay politically, it also opens doors to federal intervention on the streets in Portland and other places in the U.S., blurring the line between legal and unlawful as we continue to do the same thing for the past 90 days expecting different results, with little to show for the massive effort by demonstrators and local/state authorities leaving little to nothing resolved.

Need: Change the paradigm. It is apparent the Trump administration is greatly benefiting from these mostly lawful, mostly non-violent acts in Portland. We need to change the discussion – we need to change the tactic – we need to demonstrate that Oregon can indeed “handle” our own problems.

We get it. We now need to do something that moves the city and the State of Oregon in a direction showing that our State is capable of solving this problem before it grows beyond our means to mitigate the perceived or manufactured damage that otherwise is hand-in-hand linked to our lawful right to peaceably assemble — our constitutional right and responsibility encoded in U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Bill of Rights.

Recommendation: Achieve and announce a negotiated moratorium, stating objectives, emphasizing not only the need to reevaluate state and local policing policies in particular, to also address underlying issues that are extant in Oregon and within the purview and authority of the State Governing Authority, whether statewide, regional or local.

Take, subsequent to 30-day moratorium, immediate action as an act of “good faith,” with promise and plan to continue process as a measure to establish institutionalized state/local ‘facility’ setting regional presence as a working prototype to demonstrate Oregon capacity to resolve Oregon problems without need for external intervention. We only need a federal system when that system is devoted to solving problems we cannot or will not solve on our own.