Jeb Bladine: Government mixes weaknesses with strengths

Government isn’t bad, we keep reminding ourselves. It protects our property, educates our children, and builds our roads and bridges. Government arrests and prosecutes criminals among us, and writes laws to regulate fair play in social, cultural, economic and political activities.

But government also can be confusing, threatening and foolish. Examples abound, and here are a few.

The federal government distributes huge sums in grants to programs serving victims of crime and abuse, including the most vulnerable of children. This month, federal officials threatened to withhold those funds from any organization refusing to provide “unrestricted access” to those children and families by immigration enforcement officers.

Yes, of course, what better treatment for a sexually abused child than to provide ICE officials a clear path to detention and deportation of his or her family members?

Whatchamacolumn

Jeb Bladine is president and publisher of the News-Register.

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Locally, Juliette’s House has launched a major fundraising campaign in anticipation of losing hundreds of thousands of federal dollars. The state of Oregon, on behalf of all victim-service organizations (and others), has responded to the federal government that Oregon will resist and refuse such threats.

American institutions, including state and local governments, have become so dependent on federal grants that they face agonizing decisions in blackmail scenarios that have become everyday politics. It’s a full employment world for the legal and judicial systems that must arbitrate the abuses of power and the rights of citizens, and even non-citizens.

Stepping back to simple confusion, there has been considerable discussion about actual taxpayer cost for the recreation bond going onto McMinnville’s November ballot. Here’s a hypothetical comparison that might help explain the situation.

In 2018, Fred got a five-year car loan from City Bank of McMinnville with monthly payments of $700. In 2021, after getting a raise at work, he decided to buy a new house. Fred’s loan officer said buying the house would cost Fred just $750 more per month than he was already paying for debt. In 2023, after two years of tight budgets, Fred made the final payment on that car loan.

If you haven’t already guessed, Fred’s loan officer handed over the vehicle title along with the news that his monthly payment would be continuing at $1,450 for many years to pay off that house loan.

Those municipal bonding stories can be confusing, so hopefully this helps.

Last up, moving to foolishness, my now-retired friend receives a monthly letter from the Oregon Employment Department repeating the claim that Oregon overpaid him by $414 in Covid pandemic unemployment benefits. It’s a classic “I’m the government and I’m here to help you” message.

Oregon reduced his alleged debt to $180 and declares monthly that repayment is voluntary, but threatens that if he doesn’t pay now, any future unemployment benefit for the 78-year-old will be reduced by $180. One can only wonder how long those monthly missives will continue.

Who knows how many of those messages are efficiently produced and mailed each month? It was Eugene McCarthy who once said, “An efficient bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty.”

Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.