[Vision2020] Former Gov. Kitzhaber

[Mark Solomon]

This from former Oregon Governor Kitzhaber's 
speech saying he would not run for governor, 
instead to focus on health care issues:

     Š our politics today have become largely 
transactional - "lower my taxes and I will vote 
for you;" "give me prescription drug coverage and 
I will vote for you." And it works the other way 
around as well - "vote for me and I will cut your 
taxes;" "vote for me and I will fund schools 
first." The problem is that these transactions 
are all about "me" - and have nothing to do with 
"us." They are all about what I can get, not what 
I can give. They neither foster a sense of the 
larger public interest; nor do they do advance 
the common good.

     And the fact is that we cannot solve the 
crisis in our health care system - or in our 
school system or in our economy or our 
environment - through this kind of transactional 
politics because they erode any sense of common 
purpose and foster the belief that if we can just 
elect a new governor; a different legislature or 
a different congress - all our problems will be 
taken care of. And that is simply not true.

Words well worth thinking about.

Mark Solomon
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