April 18, 2023
When the U.S. Senate passed my Clean Energy for America Act last year as the centerpiece of the Inflation Reduction Act, I had to pinch myself after the floor vote. After all, Big Oil and other powerful special interests zealously guarding their precious and outmoded privileges don’t get defeated so resoundingly and deservedly every day back in Washington, […]
January 13, 2023
The Law that Enabled the Print Makers A remarkable thing happened in Oregon in 1973. At the urging of then-Governor Tom McCall and state Senator Hector Macpherson, both Republicans, the Oregon Legislature enacted the bi-partisan Senate Bill 100, establishing the nation’s first statewide land use planning program (1973). Governments and professional planning organizations were wonder-struck. […]
March 24, 2022
Recently, the Supreme Court heard arguments in West Virginia v. EPA, a case challenging Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) long-standing authority to address climate pollution from power plants. Two decades ago, in the Whitman v. American Trucking Association case, Justice Scalia wrote for a unanimous Court affirming EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act (1970) to […]
July 20, 2020
“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” –Abraham Lincoln UPDATE: With the coronavirus affecting voters’ ability to vote in person, and restrictions slowing down the US Postal Service, it’s important […]
February 19, 2019
We at Open Spaces asked Senator Ron Wyden to share his thoughts on principled bipartisanship with us and our readers. We appreciate his willingness to do so. They are presented here. A phrase that Oregonians attending my town halls in each of our state’s 36 counties each year will often hear is “principled bipartisanship.” As I […]
April 16, 2017
No constitutional office of the United States is bestowed by the formal approval of fewer people than federal judge. The President, with a bare majority of the Senate, may appoint to the position anyone he chooses. The entire process requires the concurrence of a mere fifty-two individuals. Picking a judge may seem easy, but its […]
I have been campaigning for the retention of the Federal Estate Tax. Some would wonder whether the repeal or retention of a tax which is currently only a modest part of total federal revenues merits discussion among the profound subjects which are treated in this publication. My view is that the issues test some fundamental […]
March 22, 2017
The newspaper you read this morning, the television show you watched last night, the movie you are going to see this weekend, the computer software you use to prepare your letters or send your email, the music you listen to in the car on your way to work: they are all copyrighted. Copyright permeates our […]
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