News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Those who are looking forward to a “return to normal” post-election may be in for disappointment. If it ends up as close as the pollsters and prognosticators think it is, the presidential election may not be called for a few days after November 5. And our national political culture will likely be roiled for a long time after that.
Anxiety is running high as voters are continually confronted with the assertion that this election is the most consequential of our lifetime. In the past week I have talked with people from across the political spectrum who express significant fear — their term — about what the outcome of the election will bring. On one side is the specter of America sliding into socialism or communism under Kamala Harris; on the other the conviction that a second Donald Trump presidency will bring on the horrors of fascism.
A scene from HBO’s “Rome” — a great Clan Cornelius favorite — comes to mind. This gritty, street-level take on the last days of the Roman Republic centered around two legionaries mentioned in Julius Caesar’s “Commentaries on the Gallic War.” Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo were real historical people, but nothing is really known about them, so “Rome” was free to create fully realized characters who are also archetypes. Vorenus is a serious, pious, duty-bound Centurion, saddled with Pullo, who is a hedonistic, devil-may-care rogue.
Scouting in advance of Caesar’s legion after he has crossed the Rubicon, Vorenus and Pullo approach the great city, to find it undefended. Vorenus is appalled.
“This can only mean that the Republic has fallen,” he cries.
Pullo glances about and says, “And yet, the sky is still above us and the earth still below. Strange.”
Our own Republic is getting threadbare, and there are cracks in many edifices that hold the noble experiment in self-government up — but it is not poised to collapse because of this election. Then again, nothing lasts forever. Yet, even when the USA as we know it is gone, the sky will still arch above us, and the earth will still abide below our feet.
Close to home, a highly contentious — and frustrating — sheriff’s election will be resolved November 5. Voters will have chosen between Sergeant Kent Vander Kamp and Captain William Bailey, both of whom have served Deschutes County well for decades, but who also have significant debits exposed by the campaign. Sgt. Vander Kamp has been — unnecessarily and oddly — not entirely forthcoming about the nature of his reserve work in his younger days in California. While his acknowledged youthful missteps are in the distant pass, his failure to remember them accurately and to address them forthrightly from the beginning are in the present. That’s disconcerting. Captain William Bailey seems stubbornly unwilling to acknowledge that there are real culture and morale issues in his agency. He keeps asserting that those concerns weren’t there before his opponent entered the race, which clearly isn’t true. That’s disconcerting, too.
But regardless of who is elected on November 5, the deputies and other staff of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office — including the solid cadre of deputies that serve Sisters — will suit up and hit the road to do the job entrusted to them.
Our Republic will continue to face serious threats and challenges on many fronts. Central Oregon and Sisters will continue to grapple with growing pains, a crisis of affordability, and the threats that come from the potential of loving a place to death.
Living in an ongoing state of heightened fear, anxiety and anger won’t help us tackle any of those challenges. In fact, it will make things worse. When we arise on November 6, it would be well to recognize that the sky is still above us and the earth is still below. And that, for all our differences, we are still neighbors living together under that same magnificent sky, and walking that same beloved earth.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
Reader Comments(0)