Celebrating the good will still alive and well locally

For many people in Yamhill County — including, perhaps, most of the 49% who opposed presidential re-election of Donald Trump — the first few weeks of his new term have proven a disaster on social, economic and political fronts.

In tandem with billionaire Elon Musk, President Trump seems well on his way to trashing our federal agency network, a globally dominant economy, our nation’s foundational separation of powers doctrine, and our historic mutual respect with a Democratic Europe and its NATO self-defense system.

Since we cannot reverse those actions in the short run, we would do well to take solace in the little acts of local kindness, charity and good will, hoping to buck a national tidal wave of ill will in our own small but meaningful ways.

Just a few examples:

The McMinnville Kiwanis Club is planning a revival Sept. 27 of its heralded Kiwanis for Kids dinner auction. The community’s landmark Stratus Village affordable housing venture is running well ahead of schedule. Local grassroots agencies like the McMinnville Fire District and Chemeketa Community College McMinnville Campus are taking important strides to better provide vital community functions, and Yamhill County is in the process of reversing a decades-long intrusion into affordable McMinnville neighborhoods.

Cultural mainstays like Gallery Theater are pressing on with ambitious local contributions. Linfield University is also embracing important new endeavors, bucking a national trend of growing ideological, intellectual and financial repression in the halls of higher education.

Serving agencies like the Soup Kitchen at St. Barnabas, Yamhill Community Action Partnership and Lutheran Family Services are persevering despite threatened loss of federal support.

Maintaining that local focus will be challenging as national concerns continue over alienation of the loyal North American allies on our north and south borders; erosion of meaningful congressional partnerships in forging policy; loss of balancing power in our once fiercely independent Supreme Court; injury to individual freedoms granted us in the Bill of Rights; and breakdown of vital regulatory agencies and national security apparatus.

The United States appears to have abandoned Democratic Ukraine to ruthless Russia and has announced plans to seize friendly Greenland and Panama because it fits our short-term interests. There’s talk of privatizing the U.S. Postal Service and taking actions that could undermine America’s Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security networks.

Opposition to an autocratic takeover of the federal government has been limited largely to the bully pulpit and street demonstrations, both of which have been threatened by the Trump administration’s apparent willingness to quash even constitutionally protected free expression opposition.

Where does that leave us? Again, hopeful for a return to political sanity and balance, and thankful for the democratic power to help maintain quality of local living. Everywhere in Oregon, helping agencies are preparing to fill some of the void as the federal government eliminates vehicles of traditional American humanitarianism.

Locally at least, we can keep the torch of good will brightly lit by supporting appropriate reductions of government waste while we continue to nurture a hallowed American tradition of championing services for those in need.