Strange Bedfellows is an interesting term that does not apply to too many things. However, to politics and media, they seem to have a dysfunctional relationship. They seem to dislike each other, yet they can’t live or be successful without the other existence. Without politics the media could be forced to do stories on 100 year old senior citizen’s birthdays, lost dogs reunited with their owner, or other kinds of useless human interest storys. Without the media, politics could not work as it was designed to and not all the people would be heard.
Students and staff of LBCC had the pleasure of listening to Robert Sahr, Hasso Herring, and LB’s own Rob Priewe on politics and media. Robert Sahr is a political science instructor at OSU, Hasso Herring has been the editor of the Albany Democrat-Herald newspaper for over 30 years and Rob Priewe is a journalism instructor and advisor to the LBCC Commuter newspaper. Rob has been with LBCC for about five years.
Mr.Sahr said that even though we probably have just about the best form of government on Earth, the three things that really mess things up are politics, special interests groups and political parties. Sahr claimed that since Wallace in 1968, there have been three third party candidates that have or come close to, or deciding the election. Sahr also mentioned about a group known as No Label, which is a group of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and anyone else who just wants the government to work.
Sahr also showed the relation ship between the Electoral College vote and the popular vote. Just because a candidate wins the popular vote doesn’t mean the election is won. He also mentioned a web site called americanselect.org, which virtually helped Americans pick a president.
Rob Priewe claimed that many times during our country’s history many people would say that if a particular candidate isn’t elected then the United States “end”. He said it takes time for everything in our country. Change comes slowly in America, and that slow change will keep the country from collapse.
Rob credits social media and the use of the internet for Obama’s defeat of McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Obama boasted of being on Facebook and sending emails, however, McCain had claimed that he didn’t even know how to send e-mails.
The “cancer” of Super Pac, as Rob puts it, is transparency. “Lobbying is legalized bribery”, Rob proclaimed. Having a lot of money is not the problem, not knowing where is comes from or what it is spent on is. Rob loves the debates. It gives the media the change to really vet the candidates and ask them tough questions.
Hasso Herring spoke of how close the politicians reflected the community in Oregon. He mentioned how some cites in Oregon, because of the residents, may not change political leadership for quite sometime. The larger cites seem to be more liberal or Democrat while the smaller towns and rural areas take on a conservative ad Republican way of thinking. Mr. Herring gave a slight biography of the current congressman and senators from the area and even spoke of some that are no longer in the public eye.
According to Hasso, one of the most important things a politician can do to keep constituents happy is “be in tune with the district”. He spoke of two different politicians who did two different things is office, yet remained popular with their district. While one would do exactly what the constituents wanted, the other would vote in a way that was how he felt was right. That gained support of the people who liked the idea.
All three speakers did a wonderful job at sharing their ideas, and although a few of the audience members left early, they seemed to speak as if it was a full house. The questions seemed to be answered fully and adequately. I am looking forward to the next Democracy in Action presentation.
