Here’s the Real Reason Why a 16 Year Old Article about Garbage Just Went Viral

A sixteen year old article by two writers from an alt-weekly newspaper in Portland, Oregon went viral over the weekend, for reasons nobody really knows. Apparently, in 2002, Portland officials decided it was perfectly acceptable for the government to go through residents’ trashcans. Police Chief Mark Kroeker said, “Most judges have the opinion that [once] trash is put out… it’s trash, and abandoned in terms of privacy.”

But Willamette Week’s journalists Chris Lydgate and Nick Budnick weren’t satisfied with that explanation. They asked, “Aren’t citizens protected from unreasonable search and seizure by the Fourth Amendment?” To put it to the test, they got some rubber gloves and went through the garbage cans of three public officials: District Attorney Mike Schrunk whose office vocally defended the idea that garbage is up for grabs, Police Chief Mark Kroeker, and Mayor Vera Katz.

Kroeker, when he learned what the journalists had done, was fine with it. But his tone changed when they spread out the contents of their garbage dump in front of him: a receipt with his credit-card number, a cigar stub, a newsletter from Focus on the Family, a list of his wife’s investments, an email about a job application, and a super-cringe-worthy handwritten note scribbled on a napkin. There was also a flier from a church with a handwritten note which read: “Mark. Just want you to know one Latin from Manhattan Loves You.”

When asked about these items, the Chief finally said, “You know, it’s none of your business.” Then he stood up and said, “we’re done.”

The Mayor was even less enthused when she discovered the journalists went through her recycling. (Her garbage was right next to her house, and they didn’t want to trespass.) “I consider Willamette Week’s actions in this matter to be potentially illegal and absolutely unscrupulous and reprehensible,” her statement read. “I will consider all my legal options in response to their actions.”

Schrunk, however, laughed when he was told their garbage excursion involved discovering that he threw away clothing from his military service. “Do I have to pay for this week’s garbage collection?” he joked. Then added, “Don’t burn me on that. The Marine Corps will shoot me!”

During their investigation, the writers discovered a five-pound bag of dog excrement, an empty bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label, Chinese takeout boxes, parts of a Thanksgiving turkey, junk food wrappers, notes that indicated the writer was terrible at division, Q tips, used Kleenex, dirty diapers, dryer lint, a TV guide with certain programs circled, remnants of peanut M&Ms, and handwritten notes that made them blush.

So why did this sixteen year old article go viral over the weekend? I think I know. The writers didn’t want to be dumpster divers, they simply wanted to make a point about governmental erosion of privacy. That’s a topic that most Americans are thinking about these days. Writer Elise Herron summed up the appeal of the piece, saying that “it touches on something that the nation is desperately grasping for at the moment: ingenuity when it comes to holding people in power accountable.”

Exactly, but there’s an even more ingenious way to do just that – at the highest levels of government. The Founders of this nation knew that the citizens needed a way to keep powerful elected officials in check, so they gave us Article V of the Constitution. In their prescient wisdom, our Founders knew that politicians would hate to live by the rules they force on regular folks, so they gave states the right to call a convention to make sure the federal government had to answer to its citizens.

Thankfully, using the power the founders gave us in Article V doesn’t require rubber gloves, just a lot of work. The Convention of States Project gives us the ability to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and it’s gaining more and more momentum every day. Already, twelve states have already passed it, and we’re on our way to getting the rest.

That’s the real reason why the dumpster diving article went viral: Americans are sick and tired of politicians who hand down rules from “on high,” without regard to the freedoms we’re supposed to have.

And holding public officials accountable is just a really appealing idea.

Image Credit: By Bidgee (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons