Oregonian Article

Kurt Schrader is the kind of Congressman most people want. Smart, competent, accomplished and scandal-free, he’s forever working across-the-aisle for Oregon. A member of Problem Solvers, a politically balanced caucus in the House, Schrader and his colleagues added to the spending bill a reclassification of forest fires as federal disasters, thus saving the limited funds of the Forest Service. A big win for all western states.

In December, though, his need to please both sides took a sickening turn when he bowed to his rural constituents by signing HR-38, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. If passed by the Senate, this law would force Oregon to recognize the concealed carry standards of every other state, even those with the weakest standards - even those that require no permit at all. Most of his constituents cringed, knowing that more men carrying more guns in more places was not a solution! I decided to challenge his seat.

I studied his record. Basically, he is a bureaucrat who navigates the complex legislative process looking for short-term fixes. Like the Democratic Party itself, he is reactive. He has no vision for our future. Thus, his only options are to resist Republicans’ demands, or to half-heartedly cooperate with them. In either case, the legislation worsens inequality.

By contrast, the Republicans have a vision. Reagan proclaimed, in 1984, that America would be a ‘Shining City on a Hill’. The path forward was through massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich. Wealth would trickle down. The rising tide of prosperity would lift all boats.

34 years later, the vision of a “Shining City” has come true . . . but only for the rich. The living standards and incomes of the bottom 90% have remained flat. The traditional protector of the 90% – the government - has been so weakened by tax cuts that it is nearly powerless to prevent the richest from financially exploiting the masses and decimating the environment.

What both Parties fail to acknowledge is the new reality, which is, humans have filled the globe. There are no new lands to explore, and no enemies to defeat. We are one people on one planet. Which means, the male-dominated hierarchies that had been essential for expansion and conquest become superfluous. Greedy, desperate execs turn their obsessive drive to conquer against the public and Nature. The alpha males carve out ever larger territories for themselves, and Republicans protect them with massive tax cuts.

If we are to thrive far into the future, Democrats must make it clear that humans are also genetically wired for cooperative social structures. Those who sense this can’t articulate it, but they speak with their bodies. The people rise. Minorities rally behind banners like “Black Lives Matter.” Youth declare “Enough” and march for their lives. Women, who make up more than half the population, and who comprise more than half the graduates from law schools and medical schools, join arms one to another and say,” Time’s Up. Hierarchical dominance on a filled-up planet destroys society and decimates Nature. Women have always ruled the village. We’ll bring about a sustainable society. It’s our time.” 

LO Review

Stump Speech / Lincoln County Democrats

I should not be standing here. If the Legislature had acted after Columbine - 19 years ago - 14 teenagers and three adults would most likely still be alive in Parkland, Florida. But they are dead,  so I stepped out of retirement to run for the US House of Representatives on the issue of guns and gun control.

I am Peter Wright.

I am a gun owner, and have been since my early teens. I support the right to bear arms. Confiscation is out of the question. The fear some have of total confiscation is unfounded, in part because it's logistically impossible.

What is possible, however, is a reduction in the frequency of shootings, a reduction in the severity of injuries, and a reduction in the number of shooting victims.

It's as simple as A + B + C = D. A gun plus a shooter plus a human target equals a shooting victim. If we want to reduce the number of shooting victims, then we must reduce one or more of the three factors.

Common sense tells us the way to reduce guns is by making the more lethal guns unavailable. Common sense tells us the way to reduce the number of shooters is by requiring universal, comprehensive background checks on all gun purchases.

For the past decade, the Legislature, the Court and NRA have maintained the opposite position, claiming we can reduce the number of shooting victims by increasing the firepower and availability of guns, and by letting more men carry more guns in more places. It isn't working. People are dying. People are scared.

This election is a referendum on guns.

Peter Wright. Can't be bullied or bought

Pro-Truth Pledge

I Pledge My Earnest Efforts To:

Share truth

• Verify: fact-check information to confirm it is true before accepting and sharing it
• Balance: share the whole truth, even if some aspects do not support my opinion
• Cite: share my sources so that others can verify my information
• Clarify: distinguish between my opinion and the facts

Honor truth

• Acknowledge: acknowledge when others share true information, even when we disagree otherwise
• Reevaluate: reevaluate if my information is challenged, retract it if I cannot verify it
• Defend: defend others when they come under attack for sharing true information, even when we disagree otherwise
• Align: align my opinions and my actions with true information

Encourage truth

• Fix: ask people to retract information that reliable sources have disproved even if they are my allies
• Educate: compassionately inform those around me to stop using unreliable sources even if these sources support my opinion
• Defer: recognize the opinions of experts as more likely to be accurate when the facts are disputed
• Celebrate: celebrate those who retract incorrect statements and update their beliefs toward the truth

signed 4/21/18

Fossil Fuel Pledge

League of Women Voters Interview 4/12/18

To watch the 10-minute interview, click the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK1YllDUx8c&list=PLiyrmdZfV8R-Be6MeOQVVspFfNjK2hfev&t=7s&index=9

Run for Office 3

It’s been five weeks since the race began, and my campaign for U.S. House District 5 grows, in large part because the institutions of democracy – freedom of press and assembly - opened opportunities in print, on TV and in-person. I’ve been able to share my prescription for a healthier America.

First is guns. I am a gun owner and have been since my early teens. I support the Second Amendment, and I oppose outlawing or trying to eliminate all guns. But in order to reduce the number of shootings and shooting victims, I favor strict regulations. To me, it’s simple: a gun plus a shooter plus a human target equals a shooting victim. If we want to reduce the number of shooting victims, then we must reduce guns and shooters. We can do that by limiting access to guns, especially extraordinarily lethal ones, and by reducing the number of potential shooters through stringent background checks on all gun and ammunition sales. I support gun registration. I support Initiatives 43 and 44.

Second, I advocate a universal, single-payer healthcare system. (Skeptics, please note: single-payer is not “government run” healthcare.) Imagine that everything you like about our current healthcare system – private doctors, private hospitals, superior technology, cutting-edge medicine, the freedom to be in charge of your own care, etc. - remained in place. Then add the following: you pay 30% less, you never have to read another insurance brochure, you aren’t restricted to the doctors in your insurance company’s network, you never have a co-pay or bill, every medical ailment is covered, and all citizens receive complete care. That’s what 32 other prosperous countries have done, and there’s no movement in any of them to ‘repeal and replace’. (For a businessman’s perspective, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ZDpYjKVAU)

At every campaign event, I’ve heard mumblings about the incumbent in District 5, Kurt Schrader. While constituents justly praise his across-the-aisle work, they nearly spit venom at his vote for HR-38, the bill that would allow people with concealed-carry permits to carry guns in states that do not allow concealed-carry. This so-called solution to gun violence - give more men permission to carry more guns in more places – demonstrates his across-the-aisle obeisance to the gun fringe. It is the reason I entered this race.

My platform has grown beyond guns to address the political turmoil of our time.

Forces collide. For the first time ever, humans have filled the Earth. The World is ours. We and our products - wastes, chemicals, medicines, toxins - occupy every nook and cranny. We’ve conquered it all. Which means, the social institution essential for expansion and conquest – the male-dominated hierarchy – loses its importance. Concurrently, new institutions rise. The result? A clash of forces.

Dominant males, feeling cornered, fight even harder for relevance. Military strongmen turn their genetic need to dominate against their own people, curtailing freedoms, imposing martial law, stifling the press. Economic dictators guiltlessly pillage the bottom 90%. Politicians bow to these economic overlords with massive tax cuts that barricade wealth from social responsibility forever. Ordinary men, those for whom dominance is essential to male identity, buy guns.

Male dominance collides with the desire for community. If voters acquiesce to male dominance, we’ll end up in a “Hunger Games”-like society, a “MadMax” world. If voters embrace the people’s bottom-up initiatives – Black Lives Matter, Me Too, Enough! – then we’ve acknowledged we are a global village, a community in which all Life matters.