Ron Wyden met with Phoenix High School students in his 1,101st Town Hall since becoming a U.S. senator.
It took place in a meeting reserved for students and media.
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| Wyden, in front, sitting with students following the Town Hall |
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| Wyden hears the Star Spangled Banner behind the Phoenix Pirates lectern |
Wyden set an ambitious goal when he was elected to the Senate back in 1996. He said he would meet with citizens in every one of Oregon's 36 counties every single year. That promise meant that Wyden -- who lives in Portland and had represented a Portland-centered congressional district -- was committing himself to spending serious time well outside blue metropolitan Portland where most Oregon voters live. He would be hearing from people in lightly-populated rural districts, some of which vote three-to-one, four-to-one, and in the case of Lake County to the east of Medford, five-to-one for Trump. Ron Wyden is a Democrat.
A Wyden Town Hall in July in Medford was interrupted at its beginning by an organized group of six or eight audience members who stood up and began shouting while pacing around the meeting room reading from scripts.
Their message was opposition to American support of Israel, but the primary intent was disruption, since each person was shouting out a different script. I wrote in a post the following day that I thought that after three to five minutes the large contingent of police on hand should have escorted them out. I considered their removal a way to protect free speech. (No one asked for my opinion.) The police did not remove them, the disruptive shouting continued, and the Town Meeting adjourned after a few minutes.
The protesters planned a return. They announced their intention by mass leafleting Phoenix High School on Wednesday and again yesterday prior to the 10 a.m. meeting.
The School District saw the material and considered it disturbing enough that they went into a lockdown protect-the-students protocol that is now commonplace in this era of school shootings. The event was open to students but closed to the general public. I was able to attend. I wore lanyards with MEDIA and UpClose identification. I was granted entrance after going through locked doors and metal mesh gates in hallways that are open and closed by designated officials with coded buzzers. School architecture has changed into defensible spaces since I was in school. The main office for the school is locked, and entrance both in and out of that office requires that the door be activated by a person with a code.
The Town Hall itself was an engaging exchange with a high school audience primarily of juniors and seniors. The questions had an education and jobs focus. What is Wyden doing to help teachers? What are you doing to help young people going to college? What about student debt? What about mental health care for young people?
There were questions, too, about broader public policy. A student asked: What about Israel, Palestine, and Gaza? Wyden said he had deep sympathy for Jewish mothers who lost children in the October 7 attack and for Palestinian mothers who lost children in Gaza. He said he favored a two-state solution.
Wyden is adept at the format. He gives 30-to-60 second answers that directly address the question asked. He makes jokes familiar to people who have attended other Town Halls: his dashed dreams of being a college and NBA basketball star, his threat to give a long opening and closing address, and his request for softball questions. He bantered with audience members and asked a tall young man with a big U. of O. shirt about his plans to play basketball and study engineering. He stood for photos with teachers, students, and school board members.
The threat of disruption demonstrates the fragility of democratic representation. Normally, Town Halls are unguarded and unfiltered opportunities for citizens to see their representatives. They take effort to set up; they are easy to disrupt. A small group of people willing to shout can stop one meeting and intimidate a cautious school district into limiting attendance at another.
This may become the new normal.
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16 comments:
Civility is just using good manners and lawlessness is the ultimate lack of consideration of others. X, Facebook, and the ability to be anonymous has energized an ability to be mean, inconsiderate of others that is leading to a breakdown of our society. More and more our culture is mirroring the culture that exists in prisons. It just makes me sad to write that.
Your description of the security at the school event is so sad, not just because of the protesters but the danger of gun violence. What a contrast to when we went to school! Ours is the first generation to leave our communities less safe for our kids, thanks primarily to Republican gun-worship. Imagine the carnage when some nut invades a school with one of those beloved assault weapons equipped with a bump stock. Gun violence is our children's leading cause of death:
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/guns-remain-leading-cause-of-death-for-children-and-teens
"Wyden is adept at the format. He gives 30 to 60 second answers that directly address the question asked."
As it should be at public and private events.
Ayden has strengths and faults like any other politician. He has had a long public career, and has done many good things for the country. I was able to attend Ayden events when I lived in Oregon. He spoke well to residents despite their political party affiliation.
It's too bad that some cannot represent their residents well enough.
It would be better this election season if candidates could follow that simple operating mode I quoted above; one candidate in particular.
Israel's "genocidal" attacks on Gaza "....since October 7, 2023".
Gosh, I wonder why the leafleters picked that starting date? It's not stated. But they've got their propaganda, sorry, their facts and relevant context, from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Health Ministry and Hamas-co-opted UNRWA.
Gaza is one of the most densely-populated places on earth. Thank goodness the mighty Israeli military with its unchallenged air power is nevertheless woefully incompetent on that genocide business: 40,000 in a year...on the way to 2.2 million?
It's almost as if the intended decedents were combatants, surgically targeted, even if skulking amid largely cooperative human shields in and under schools, mosques and hospitals.
A two state solution, with pre-1967 borders, was offered long ago and refused. Untold billions in Western aid over the years was spent on warmaking (and leadership luxuries).
Yeah, it's Ron Wyden that's the war criminal.....
Of course, I meant "Wyden" above, not "Ayden".
Israel will never accept a separate state because that would mean Hamas won. So, the war goes on.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine over two and a half years ago, they’ve killed an estimated 12,000 civilians. In a little over a year, Israel has killed over 41,000 in Gaza, most of them women and children. It may not be “genocide”, but it isn’t “collateral damage” either. You can’t kill that many people accidentally.
I felt bad for the people I spoke with that went to Wyden's event at the Rogue X who left empty-handed as the event was cancelled. People have all sorts of questions of the things that matter to them, and it was unfortunate that opportunity was taken away from them.
Unfortunately, when my grandkids are my age (think old), there will still be war in the Middle East.
Hamas and its fellow travelers will never except a separate state because that would mean Israel continues to exist as such.
Ukraine doesn't embed its army among women and children as human shields and sacrificial lambs. Calculated damage...
“Accept”, not “except”. Thank you auto-fill. Spelling is a scared cow for me.
LD: The wanton slaughter of civilians is called terrorism, no matter who does it – not “calculated damage.”
Peter, I’m curious your thoughts on Jeff Bezos’ last/minute veto of WaPo’s editorial endorsement authority. I don’t think editorial endorsements do anything, but oligarchs falling in line feels like another notch on the road to authoritarianism.
The calculation—and the responsibility—was Hamas’.
And of course, Hamas would claim it's all the responsibility of Israel. I would say Hamas is responsible for killing those they kill, and Israel is responsible for same.
I stopped by Phoenix High today to drop off the saxophone that my son played many years ago when he went to school there. I was shocked at the locked doors and security measures. As I walked back to my car I was angry. Angry that any civil society would prioritize guns over the safety of our children. Then, I was sad. My son did not have to endure active shooter drills, but my grandchildren do.
What the protestors don't know about Wyden is that he is capable of listening to all opinions. I have heard him field very difficult questions with respect. There is a time and place for protest, this was not one of them.
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