Trickle-Down Eugene

Thanks to Paul Nicholson’s Viewpoint on the lack of democracy in Eugene (“Voters Should Matter,” 1/2). I moved here 10 years ago, not feeling particularly political. Frankly, the city’s abuse of power has radicalized me.

I became aware with the manipulative “green stamping” of our road bond in 2017. Now I shake my head at the false logic of MUPTE, or the privatization of tax dollars flowing into River Front, or the fact that underserved communities continue on a downward spiral while tax dollars benefit landowners in the “Urban Renewal District,” also a Trump “Opportunity” Zone.

The majority in Eugene doesn’t support the persecution and eradication of the poor. They don’t support empty environmental rhetoric.

In fact, the foundational assumption of Eugene’s policies seems to be “trickle down economics,” a self-serving theory concocted by the conservative ideologue Milton Friedman. This enrichment process is led domestically by victimizing the poor through Broken Windows Policing, designed by another conservative ideologue, James Q. Wilson. For a deeper understanding of this control mechanism, read into Terror Management Theory (Solomon, Greenberg, Pyszczynski).

What we experience in Eugene is a vertical system, not the false frame of “left” and “right.” City Council, the mayor and the city manager are nice enough, but an “in-group” who dutifully serve their masters, either willfully, through silence or ignorance.

I hope we will demand democracy in 2020 and elect the next Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Kshama Sawant. 

Otis Haschemeyer

Eugene