Editor’s Corner: Odds, ends from the editor’s desk

Welcome to the fall/pre-winter of our discontent.

Welcome to the fall/pre-winter of our discontent.

As I write this, living in these United States nearing the end of September 2016, I realize we are all facing a monumentally tough choice in the coming weeks. There will be debate. There will be wringing of hands. There may even be gnashing of teeth. At some point, we simply must choose and move on with our lives.

The question put before us, of course, is this:

Can you live with a smartphone without a headphone jack?

Yeah. Seriously. In the middle of a presidential election, this subject — and all things iPhone 7 — was a banner headline on several major media sites. For longer than it should have been … which is to say, any amount of time.

Don’t get me wrong — I found it a nice distraction from the roiling vitriol of the national campaign, one that has most Americans fearing either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will actually be elected in November.

Consider: An Associated Press poll notes that 81 percent of Americans say they would feel afraid following the election of one of the two major party candidates.

Further, as the New York Times pointed out in early August, about 60 of 324 million Americans vote in the primaries, and less than half of those voted for someone other than Clinton or Trump. That means about 9 percent of Americans were enthused enough by one of these two to cast a ballot for them.

Columnist Mel Robbins put it succinctly in her piece, “We are getting exactly the presidential campaign we deserve.”

“I don’t like either candidate,” Robbins writes. “Neither does my husband. Our relatives, who run the gamut from hardcore Republicans to raging liberals, feel the same. And I believe that when the vast majority of Americans think about their choices this November, they agree with that sign (popping up everywhere): ‘Everybody Sucks.'”

(She also goes on to mention a Twitter poll that has Clinton at 6 percent, Trump at 4 percent and a hard-to-open pistachio at 90 percent).

Alternatives? Sure, we’ve got them. On your Clallam County ballot this November, besides the aforementioned super-candidates, you will have these presidential hopefuls to pick from: Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party, Jill Stein of the Green Party, Darrell L. Castle of the Constitution Party, Alyson Kennedy of the Socialist Workers Party and Gloria Estela La Riva of the Socialism and Liberation Party.

If none of these candidates seems to inspire, you are not alone. The latter three candidates don’t even get a mention in national polls and folks are so uninterested in Johnson’s and Stein’s candidacies and parties that they didn’t meet a 15 percent polling threshold to be included in the first presidential debate (Sept. 26). It seems they will have little chance to qualify for the other three.

Professor/author Alan Dershowitz notes that, “It would be a real tragedy and an insult to democracy if the election were to be decided by those who fail to vote, rather than by those who come out to vote for or against one of the two major candidates.”

Considering our voting apathy even before this election, is there any other outcome than exactly that?

I’m not sure any of this got better after Monday’s debate, although the terrifying reality that yes, these are the best candidates we could find to lead our country, is finally sinking in.

(On a side note, I lost a wager with my colleague Matthew Nash, who won the chance to attend a Sequim City Council meeting rather than be home and entirely without excuse to watch the first presidential debate. Dutifully, I tuned in … and lasted 15 minutes. I suppose I have a weak stomach.)

The frustrating part for me is that, despite the inroads that Trump and Bernie Sanders and other have made (purposefully and otherwise) to try to avoid this exact situation — feeling like one is forced between the lesser of two evils, rather than the championing of one virtuous, dedicated servant-leader over another — ours remains embroiled in the two-party system.

Instead of actually shaking things up and running as independents, viable candidates who lost out on their party’s nomination simply shrunk back behind party lines, presumably for fear of either handing the election to the other party or to make good with their respective party in order to position themselves for a 2020 run at the White House.

Other potential candidates who never bothered to run could have changed everything. I thought of this while reading about former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s recent stark criticism of both Trump and Clinton. While I understand the comments came from Powell’s hacked emails, that he wasn’t going around telling people what a bad choice either would be, it made me wonder, “Mr. Powell, why aren’t you running?” As a viable third choice from the Thank-Goodness-You-Decided-To-Run Party, he’d be polling at about 300 percent right now. Give or take the margin of error.

Either way, I would encourage folks to, despite whatever they feel about their presidential candidate options, to actually vote this November. Also on our ballots will be a few important races, like U.S. Senator and U.S. District 6 Representative, governor, lieutenant governor, Washington’ secretary of state, state treasurer, state auditor, state attorney general, commissioner of public lands, state superintendent of public instruction and insurance commissioner.

Oh, and District 24 state senator and two state representative positions, a Clallam County Commissioner position, a county supreme court judge and others, plus six state initiatives.

About those advisory votes

One of the more confusing items on our ballots each election comes in the form of advisory votes. I’m not alone; last November, when for some reason several acquaintances were asking my advice (these were people who didn’t know me too well, clearly), noted this section and more than one asked, “What the heck are these?” and “I just leave them blank.”

Understood. This time around we have two nonbinding tax advisory votes for us to express support or opposition to revenue measures approved earlier this year by the Legislature, explains Brian Zylstra, deputy communications director for the Office of Secretary of State.

Advisory Vote No. 14 focuses on House Bill 2768, which extended the insurance premium tax to some insurance for stand-alone family dental plans.

Advisory Vote No. 15 deals with Second Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2778, which imposed certain limitations on the retail sales and use tax exemptions for clean alternative-fuel vehicles.

These nonbinding measures ask voters whether they think the Legislature should “repeal” or “maintain” revenue-generating bills that lawmakers passed this year, Zylstra says.

The Legislature, however, is not obligated to act on the results of the advisory votes. The Legislature used these revenue sources to help balance the supplemental operating budget.

FYI: Advisory votes came from a little-noticed provision of Initiative 960 that was approved in 2007. This, for those who don’t recall, was a measure that required a two-thirds vote in both chambers of the Legislature to raise taxes. (Voters went on to pass I-960 but the State Supreme Court later threw out the two-thirds requirement as unconstitutional.)

2012 was the first year that advisory votes appeared on Washington’s statewide ballot.

On to other things …

If you’ve lost some of your faith in humanity, do yourself a favor and check out some highlights from the 2016 Paralympic Games, held Sept. 7-18 in Rio. Seriously.

Read about archer Matt Stutzman, a Guinness Book record-holder who once hit a target with no more than his feet and shoulders from more than 900 feet away. Or Barbara Niewiedział, who face-planted at the finish line in Rio’s 400-meter race, only to discover her fall helped win her a bronze medal. Or Tatyana McFadden, who spent the first six years of her life in Russia walking on her hands; she won six medals from seven events in the 2016 Games.

Perspective is a good thing, yes?

New sports for 2020

The International Olympic Committee has added several sports to the next edition of the Summer Games, slated for Tokyo in 2020: karate, surfing, baseball, softball, skateboarding and sports climbing. The committee obviously had to consider the growing “dude” audience factor. Actually, it’s a great move and capitalizes on the popularity of the X Games.

Tax-ease

According to a recent study from SmartAsset, a New York-based financial technology company, Sequim is one of the most tax-friendly places for retirees in Washington. The most friendly, actually.

Based on the company’s Retirement Tax Friendliness Index, which takes into account property, income, fuel, sales and Social Security tax data, Sequim rates a 73.68, topping Toppeninsh (72.86), Chehalis (72.70), Centralia (72.57) and Battle Ground (72.55). Bainbridge Island was ninth (71.95) and Gig Harbor 10th (71.83).

This “study” is, of course, a teaser to get someone to mention their company and website (smartasset.com). So, there you go.

Housing market bump in Clallam, across the state

Across Washington, home prices are rising faster than in any state in the country — and it’s the first time that’s happened in about 25 years.

Washington prices are growing at a rate nearly double the national average, and beating out second-place Oregon (up 10.3 percent) and third-place Colorado (up 9.5 percent), according to the data firm CoreLogic.

And it’s not just in Seattle and other urban hubs: According to the Runstad Center, Clallam is third among counties in percentage of median retail price increase (02.4 percent, to $259,500) in the second quarter of 2016.

First is Jefferson County at 24.3 percent, second is Skagit at 21.6. King County saw a 14.7 percent increase.

Pokémon Stop!

A new study indicates Pokémon Go poses a significant hazard for younger drivers. The Journal of the American Medical Association released a national report earlier this month that tracked 14 Pokémon Go related crashes over a 10-day period in July. When researchers linked drivers’ tweets with crash data found on news reports, they found 18 percent of tweets indicated a person was playing and driving (one text read “omg I’m catching Pokémon and driving”), 11 percent indicated a passenger was playing (“just made sis drive me around to find Pokémon”) and 4 percent showed a pedestrian was distracted (“almost got hit by a car playing Pokémon GO”).

It may seem like a cute problem, but here’s the thing: According to the Department of Licensing, nearly one-quarter of young drivers involved in Washington fatal crashes were driving “distracted” in 2015, up from 18 percent in 2008.

That’s why the Washington State Patrol is urging drivers to put the brakes on using Pokémon Go or other apps while behind the wheel.

It’s also why we media wonks get press releases with this kind of verbiage:

“The WSP urges gamers to consider safety over their high score. Below are safety tips to consider before attempting becoming a Pokémon master:

• Do not trespass! Please don’t be poking out of bushes at WSP facilities or anyone else’s private property … especially at night as it will most likely trigger security or cause police to respond.

• Please don’t catch and drive, it’s more dangerous than texting while driving.

• If you’re on your way to a PokéStop, know your surroundings and pay attention to where you’re going and who’s around you.”

Reach editor Michael Dashiell at editor@sequimgazette.com.