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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Smart Bombs: Change is inevitable, or not

A trip through the newspaper’s archives shows how some issues have changed, while others haven’t budged.

Seventy years ago this week, The Spokesman-Review published an editorial excoriating the idea of a state lottery, denouncing the “pious purpose of this profane proposal.”

“Why stop there?” the editorial said. Why not “legalize and make a state monopoly of the sale of narcotics?”

Like raising revenue off formerly illicit activities would ever fly.

Sixty years ago, an editorial urged productive talks between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and visiting British Prime Minister Anthony Eden on a variety of issues, especially the tension between Arab states and the relatively new nation of Israel.

Well, it was a start.

Fifty years ago, an editorial called for Congress to review the “unusual” 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which essentially gave President Lyndon Johnson free rein to prosecute the Vietnam War.

Since then, waging war without a formal congressional declaration is the norm.

Forty years ago, an editorial urged the state Legislature to reject a plan that would allow citizens to register to vote by mail. The editorial board was concerned that the “nonchalance” of doing so may increase vote totals but not the number of informed voters.

Today, we can register online and most of us vote by mail. Voter turnout in the 2012 general election was 2 percentage points lower than in 1976.

Thirty years ago, an editorial about a possible teachers strike began this way: “Washington’s schoolteachers have good reason to feel frustrated with the Legislature’s failure to fund education adequately.”

It could’ve been written yesterday.

LANE CHANGE. “Local control” is a drum politicians like to beat, but they’re just as apt to discard it when inconvenient.

The idea is that decisions made closest to the people will best reflect their wishes. It’s why we have statewide education standards and funding (in theory), but nearly 300 school districts.

But what if this sovereignty produces an undesirable result? What if, say, the Spokane City Council passes a sick-and-safe-leave ordinance that chaps your hide? Then you turn your back on local control and introduce legislation that limits the power of city councils.

Enter Sen. Michael Baumgartner’s bill that would prevent city councils from placing more mandates on businesses. To which Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart replied, “Maybe he should run for City Council if he wants to be a city councilman.”

Baumgartner is hardly alone among politicians who struggle to stay in their lanes. Spokane City Council members like to debate resolutions on issues outside their control, and the Spokane Valley City Council recently caught the fever, introducing a resolution that calls for the repeal of a state rule on bathroom use for transgendered people. Rep. Matt Shea can’t resist federal controversies in other states.

Must be frustrating to be limited to one office at a time.

VOICE OF REASON. Last Wednesday, the East Oregonian, the closest daily newspaper to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff, published a thoughtful editorial on how democracy is supposed to work. An excerpt:

“We all have our problems with this country, and everyone has a list a mile long of things they would change. So we vote for people we like and we think will make things better. We convince our friends and neighbors to do the same. And if we’re being mistreated or not being heard, we have the courts and we have marches down Main Street.

“We do not arm ourselves to the teeth, take things that are not ours, intimidate and harass those we disagree with. We especially cannot allow that to be the status quo for the difficult slog of public lands management, which will forever be a contentious issue.”

Associate Editor Gary Crooks can be reached at garyc@spokesman.com or (509) 459-5026. Follow him on Twitter @GaryCrooks.