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Recent Posts: Transformational Citizenship
Author Archives: Bennett Minton
‘Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it’
So wrote Jonathan Swift in 1710. (The Web says so, according to Freakonomics.) Also: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes,” a variation attributed to Mark Twain, who may have … Continue reading
Posted in Oregon taxes, taxes, Uncategorized
Tagged estate tax, Kevin Mannix, Oregon Legislature, taxes
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Oregon’s legislative session: defeats, modest wins and one total victory
In my decades in D.C., I interviewed members of Congress daily as a reporter, met with staff and occasionally members as a lobbyist, and dug deep into policy as an analyst. As a citizen in Oregon, I do all three. … Continue reading
Three strikes never looked so good
The image, from an Oregon Legislature committee hearing, represents what I’m thinking most times I testify about some poorly designed bill that would give away taxpayers money. Generally I try to look more dignified. Actually, last week I testified in … Continue reading
Posted in Oregon Legislature, Oregon taxes, Oregon taxes, Tax, Uncategorized
Tagged Opportunity Zones, Oregon Opportunity Grants
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Democracy is work
This is Dylan and Nick, students at Oregon State and Oregon. We had just testified in the Capitol on a bill that, as I recommended be amended, is the next step in securing more efficient funding for the state version … Continue reading
Posted in Oregon Legislature, Oregon taxes, Uncategorized
Tagged estate tax, Oregon Legislature, Tax Fairness Oregon
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The House GOP’s stalemate
The House Republicans’ conundrum won’t end with the selection of a speaker, whether Kevin McCarthy or someone else. Their problem is fundamental to their narrow majority, and its origin dates back more than 30 years. I became a professional congressional … Continue reading
Oregon’s 2022 report card: what voters said
Oregon’s polarized election results reflected those of other states but with the twists that typify the state’s distinctions, seen in four ballot questions as well as contests for office. From them I infer our political values and democratic health: we … Continue reading
Posted in slavery, Thirteenth Amendment, Uncategorized, Voting
Tagged "Greater Idaho", 2022 elections, Christine Drazan, gun control, Harney County, involuntary servitude, Multnomah County, Portland OR, Thirteenth Amendment, Tina Kotek, Voting
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Portland’s Ritz Carlton (with its tax breaks) nears completion
The other day I took a tour of Portland’s Ritz Carlton, the 35-story, five-star hotel and condo to be completed next spring. The condo units, on the upper floors, are selling from $1.3 million for one-bedrooms to $10 million for … Continue reading
The Oregon Trail in 63 photos
To complement the narratives I posted here over the fall, I selected 63 shots from my drive east from Portland to Independence, Missouri, sometimes more and other times less following the Oregon Trail, in reverse. The Trail, which branched into … Continue reading
Three presidents and forks in the road: two steps forward and . . . .
On a sunny afternoon in November, I walked up to the Lincoln Memorial and felt a lump rise in my throat, as it has on this transcontinental trek in other places that represent human triumph and suffering: South Pass in … Continue reading
Posted in Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, slavery, Thirteenth Amendment, Thomas Jefferson, Uncategorized
Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln Second Inaugural Address, Monticello, slavery, Springfield Race Riot, The 1619 Project, Thomas Jefferson
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Pilgrimage to Montgomery
In Charlottesville, I happened by a bright blue plaque on what was until recently Jackson Park, named for Stonewall Jackson. Also until recently, the park featured an equestrian statue of Jackson, installed 100 years ago, after Paul Goodloe McIntire deeded … Continue reading
