The editorial board had the honor of speaking to U.S. representative candidates for Oregon’s fourth district, Republican Art Robinson and Democrat Peter DeFazio, on various issues and their intentions as representatives of Oregon in the federal legislature.
While they obviously have their differences, their concerns were the same, and many of their goals were identical.
We are accustomed to the good old Democrat versus Republican showdown, but neither wished to continue the polarization of D.C., and both of them took pride in their independence.
DeFazio and Robinson were not happy with the current state of America — the bailouts, the decline of our education, the Wall Street ordeal and America’s inability to produce goods.
“How can you be a great nation if you don’t build things?” DeFazio said.
Both he and Robinson spoke of improving our trade policies and bringing jobs from overseas back to America.
For some reason, manufacturing has been abolished in pursuit of a knowledge-based education — even though only 33 percent of our nation has a college education.
“What are we doing for the other 66 percent?” DeFazio said.
Robinson is focused on making the private economy more viable. He thinks businesses have an “unfavorable regulatory environment,” and that the private sector needs to be able to do what it needs to do to generate wealth among communities.
“It’s harder and harder to do business,” Robinson said.
Though he is a proponent of decreased regulations for business, Robinson clarified that it doesn’t mean he wants to deregulate Wall Street. He said he would have to be an expert to understand what happened there. We would expect him to become one.
The largest concern many have with Robinson were the statements he made about the public education system.
At a discussion in Maine several years ago, Robinson said, “I think the public schools should be abolished.” This enraged many students and community members who call him a “nut job” or “crazy.” But in our interview with him, he clarified he said that in frustration, and he doesn’t really want that.
Rather, Robinson believes that schools should be locally governed, and that the only place the government should have is ensuring that the funds are allocated evenly through public schools across the nation.
This actually makes a lot of sense. A community would be much more capable of knowing where to allocate its funds and how to govern its schools than the federal government would. Every school has very unique circumstances and very different focuses, and a federal government in charge of these things tends to treat every school as though it is the same.
Though both candidates had similar talking points, DeFazio has political experience and he had more of an in-depth analysis on the present state of D.C.
He has been more visible on campus and more receptive to our concerns, while Robinson’s appeal leans towards business owners and elder people.
Both have respectable views, but DeFazio is much more likely to bring about the changes we want to see.
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