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On November 8, 1994, Oregon voters narrowly (51 percent) approved a carefully written initiative petition that made physician-assisted suicide legal for terminally ill persons in the state. Implementation of the new law, called the Death with Dignity Act, was delayed by various injunctions, and in 1997, a legislative bill that would have repealed the act was put to the Oregon voters, who turned it down by a large margin (60 percent voted against the measure). Despite repeated efforts by a U.S. attorney general, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Death with Dignity Act, and it took effect on October 27, 1997. From 1998 through 2006, a total of 292 Oregon residents took advantage of the provisions of the act and sought physician assistance with their deaths.

Health care in the United States it is not guaranteed for everyone. In the 1980’s, as the national policy debate on health care focused on the viability of a federally implemented universal health insurance plan, the state of Oregon developed its own unique answer to the modern health care dilemma. The state policy was not without its critics, for the plan provided coverage to more Oregonians while cutting the number of medical services offered to the public.

At first glance, Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon seems to demonstrate the kinds of Democratic beliefs that typify many members of his party: he is in favor of consumer rights and is clearly an environmental advocate. Past opponents, though, have projected his image as being liberal to the extreme, suggesting that he is irresponsible in matters of the economy and the national budget. Wyden himself suggests that despite his strong opinions, he is closer to the political center than his critics maintain, pointing out that he is in favor of capital punishment and strives for bipartisanship.