Roll up for the magical mystery tour, folks. Step right this way! The long and winding road of presidential transformation lies ahead—for the USA and for BWNA.
On the national level, a divided nation holds its collective breath in anticipation of what a Trump administration will mean for the country and for the world. But should things go south, don’t blame the eligible voters who actually voted (43% of whom didn’t), because the overwhelming majority in Portland voted for Hillary, as did a solid majority in the state, as did the nation by more than two and a half million votes! Trump’s win came not because he received a majority of the popular vote and not because it was a “rigged election” and not because of a “biased press” (recall those incessant Trump mantras during the campaign), but because both sides abided by the established rules of the game: a winner-take-all-in-each-state electoral college system, with its political roots firmly embedded in the Constitution, courtesy of the founding fathers. That said, if the American people want to ditch this byzantine 18th-century curiosity of a “democratic” system that has resulted in five presidential elections in which the candidate who won the most votes lost, that process could be begin today—either via constitutional amendment or via agreement by the states to require electoral college electors to cast votes in proportion to their state’s popular vote (already done in Maine and Nebraska). But here’s the Catch-22: a victorious Republican Party is not about to kill the electoral goose that laid the golden egg.
Political polemics aside, elections have relevance for a local newsletter as well. Although neighborhood associations are prohibited by the city from making political endorsements, coverage of partisan debate is fair game, as long as it’s inclusive. That being the case, why the absence of any articles or Letter to the Board editorials relating to political candidates or ballot measures in our newsletter during the 2016 campaign? Short answer: practicality. Myriad pro and con ballot measure arguments and candidate positions on issues easily could have dominated limited newsletter space, not to mention monopolize discussion at neighborhood association meetings. It’s a Pandora’s box that BWNA has chosen to avoid, deferring instead to focus on community political forums and mainstream publications that have the wherewithal to responsibly accommodate the broad spectrum of election discourse.
Of internal electoral import for the newsletter is the current BWNA leadership transition resulting from President John Sandie’s midterm resignation, along with two earlier resignations by at-large board members, most recently Dave Whitaker. Such is the cyclical nature of the volunteer pendulum. Déjà vu: it’s 2014 at Taste of Beaumont elections, and John Sandie has risen to the occasion to assume the presidential reins from me, followed that evening by six other civic-minded B-W residents who step up to fill all of the vacated at-large board positions, resulting in the first full 14-member board roster in years! But fast forward to 2017, and the pendulum has swung back again, with vacated leadership positions in need of filling. Déjà vu “revisited”: reliable Bill Markwart (profiled in the last issue) is called on to steer the BWNA ship in the interim (not Bill’s preference, but a duty as VP).
The newsletter will certainly miss John’s folksy, from-the-heart, inspirational President’s messages. But most of all, we applaud John for his congenial leadership style and steadfast diligence at the BWNA helm, the perfect fit for our vibrant neighborhood. Vexing as election cycles may be, Beaumont-Wilshire will roll on.