It's New Year's Day morning, 2017. In a few weeks, Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States. This is almost certain to be a disastrous occurrence for the United States, bringing forth a wave of corruption, greed and incompetence such as has never been seen before. On the federal level, we are sure to see an all-out assault on ecological protections, financial regulations, civil liberties, and notions of good governance and transparency.
This means that, for at least the next four years, any progressive efforts in governing will have to come from the states and counties of the country. Oregon and Benton County both already stand out as being more-progressive-than-not places; my hope is that both will embrace sustainability, diversity, governmental transparency and an ecologically-friendly economy even more in the near future.
All of which, of course, runs counter to the way that things will soon be run in Washington, D.C. This is a point of pride. We can and will do better than the Trump administration in addressing the issues that people in this country, and this county, face going forward. I look forward to being part of those efforts, and starting this blog is just one way I intend to be involved on a local level. Working together, we can make this the best, greenest, most prosperous county in the state, and that can only serve to help make our state more of a beacon to the rest of the country.
We have much to be proud of here. But we have much that is still to be done. There's a saying: "In chaos, there is opportunity." In the coming chaos, we must do all we can to seize the opportunity to lead by example. As darkness descends on our nation's capitol, we will not simply curse the darkness - we will light a candle.
Yours,
Max Mania
Corvallis
This means that, for at least the next four years, any progressive efforts in governing will have to come from the states and counties of the country. Oregon and Benton County both already stand out as being more-progressive-than-not places; my hope is that both will embrace sustainability, diversity, governmental transparency and an ecologically-friendly economy even more in the near future.
All of which, of course, runs counter to the way that things will soon be run in Washington, D.C. This is a point of pride. We can and will do better than the Trump administration in addressing the issues that people in this country, and this county, face going forward. I look forward to being part of those efforts, and starting this blog is just one way I intend to be involved on a local level. Working together, we can make this the best, greenest, most prosperous county in the state, and that can only serve to help make our state more of a beacon to the rest of the country.
We have much to be proud of here. But we have much that is still to be done. There's a saying: "In chaos, there is opportunity." In the coming chaos, we must do all we can to seize the opportunity to lead by example. As darkness descends on our nation's capitol, we will not simply curse the darkness - we will light a candle.
Yours,
Max Mania
Corvallis
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