This time around we’re not crying about miscounted ballots or other election irregularities but about how unfair it is that Multnomah County, which is where a large portion of Portland sits, has more than its fair share of influence in statewide elections. This sort of stupidness is to be expected on the comment pages of various internet sites, and it’s standard procedure among the right-wing talk shows hosts, whose main job is to demonize public figures they don’t like not by analyzing their legislative records but by giving everyone in agreement implicit permission to be a victim of the politician whose ass happens to be on the rotisserie that day.
Last week it was John Kitzhaber. He doesn’t respect rural Oregonians. He has no regard for people who live beyond the small stretch of state that connects Portland to Salem, which for reasons I do not understand is our capitol.
Since I do not rely on ratings to determine how much my station can charge for advertising, which would in turn determine how much I earn, and since I do not plan to ever run for office, here’s my take on it: If you live in rural Oregon, please shut up. Registered voters in Multnomah County each get one vote. Since there are more registered voters here, there are more votes. In the same way that California sends more people to the U.S. House of Representatives than Oregon because more people live there, it’s simple. It is not a plot against you. It is not a union conspiracy. I have lived and voted in Multnomah County for 16 years, and I have yet to have a “state worker” hold a gun to my head and force me to fill out my ballot accordingly. Though I wish you wouldn’t, if you live in rural Oregon and are feeling cheated, there are plenty of homes for sale in Portland. If you live in rural Oregon, what I really wish you’d do is stop and think a bit before yielding to the directives of the talk shows to regard everyone in Multnomah County as an enemy and yourself, therefore, as a victim. If it weren’t for Multnomah County, the rest of Oregon would have to absorb a lot more people, which would make the rest of Oregon, quite simply, less rural. Your way of life would be “threatened” by new people who would compromise the luxury to which you’ve become accustomed, the one that comes only with the confidence attained when your sphere consists mostly of people who look just like you, good people, people you’ve known all your life. And the government assistance that’s doled out in non-urban settings wouldn’t go quite as far because – here’s another bit of basic, basic math – it would have to be divided among more people.
As I said, I expect this sort of divisiveness to be fueled by professional scapegoaters, but I was truly surprised last week when it seeped onto Think Out Loud, a local talk show on OPB. The guy who called in to whine about the unfairness of Multnomah County was actually from Clackamas County, which may be partially rural but is also partially a part of what’s commonly called Portland. So I’m not sure if his call would be a symptom of the “urban-rural divide” in Oregon, or maybe something new, like the “mostly urban-partly suburban divide.” When it comes to identifying yourself as a victim, I suppose the possibilities are endless.
