LETTERS

War made our nation

A little bit of history: The War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain (1812-1815) was the war that gave the United States the identity that we know today. It gave the United States world status and national symbols such as “The Star Spangled Banner,” Old Ironsides, “Don’t give up the ship,” Andrew Jackson, free trade and sailors’ rights.

Yet I believe the War of 1812 has been unjustly overlooked: The British see it as a sideshow to the Napoleonic Wars. In the United States, it stands in the shadows of the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. Canadians, however, see it as the making of their nation. In truth, it was the making of the United States as well.

SHEILA BEATTY

Hot Springs Village

Not proof of respect

The flag controversy at Eureka Springs, about lining Eureka’s Main Street with the Stars and Stripes, places the controversy in the world of liberal/conservative. I don’t think it has anything to do with left or right.

My dad, a Navy veteran of World War II and Korea, later worked for the National Cemetery system, so I grew up in soldier cemeteries. Our most important event was Memorial Day. All graves were decorated with small American flags. Special flag displays lined the cemetery streets. Families came out to pay respect. Political leaders came out to “speechify,” in my dad’s colorful language.

I respect the folks who advocate a flag-lined Main Street Eureka, but I believe a 24/7 display lowers our flag to the not-very-special reality of everyday life in a commercial district. It’s being used as an advertising promotion, whatever its other intentions. The flag is diminished to the level and clutter of other anonymous banners and advertisements.

The National Cemeteries are appropriate places to honor soldiers, families and the American flag. There are other good places, too, where its place of honor is crystal clear. Maybe Eureka could host a downtown street Flag Day on Memorial Day. But just running a flag up a pole on any street and on any day is no proof of respect.

JOE NEAL

Fayetteville

To feel more patriotic

Mr. Howell Medders of Fayetteville can pay more taxes if he really wants to. The government uses my tax money for many things that I would not support on my own.

I do not resent paying taxes, but I do resent pork. Not that I have anything against Arkansas Hogs, but a lot of stuff my money goes for is not good for Arkansas nor Hogs.

I have heard that anyone, especially those who think we ought to be paying more taxes, can, on their own, send in more money. I am sure you can give to a political party or person and that might make you feel more patriotic.

Personally, I think more vets ought to run for office. I think they understand the military better and I feel it is patriotic. Just saying. Thanks to all the veterans who have served and are serving, and their families!

RUTH CARNEAL

Calico Rock

What money wrought

What an editorial! Written like a forwarded email, full of superlatives, it had everything except a link to James Cagney singing “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” It praised the latest Supreme Court acceleration of money into politics with all kinds of starry-eyed bring-it-ons, but not a lot of historical perspective on unbridled influences on government of money and the power it wields.

Then we see how much money is being spent on campaigns already. And we are to believe that it’s all about free speech, and none of those high-dollar players want anything for their investment?

In that idyllic Golden Age of the Robber Barons of Old-when children worked as long as grown men, and there was no such thing as a 40-hour week-the rich and the powerful wielded the influence they wanted as openly as they wanted. There were no super-PAC euphemisms like “Americans for Prosperity” with which to be bothered.

It leaves me wondering if we citizens are really as stupid as these “freedom merchants” think we are.When anyone can spend all the money they want getting the people they want elected, who is most likely to be holding the short end of that stick? I think it may be you and me, with our $50 campaign contributions and not the chance of a snowball in a Supreme Court hallway of having anybody in Washington pay any attention to our needs or opinions.

Anyone who believes all that unregulated, unrestricted campaign money is going to get us independent-minded, uncorrupted legislators … there’s a bridge in Elm Springs I’d just love to sell you before I become completely cynical. Because maybe we are just as stupid as they think we are.

DANIEL EVANS

Elm Springs

Not worst by longshot

In a letter to the editor, Dan Arndt said that President Barack Obama is the “worst president … in the history of the United States.” He is not the first contributor to say this.

I disagree and wonder how he came to make that statement. After all, Mr. Obama is not a hard drinker, white supremacist, or anti-14th Amendment advocate like Andrew Johnson (D). He is not as bad as Millard Fillmore (Whig), who signed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. How about James Buchanan (D), who consulted with one of the Supreme Court justices in the Dred Scott decision that said all blacks-slaves as well as free-were not and could never become citizens of the United States?

Then there is Andrew Jackson (D), who ordered the removal of Native Americans from their ancestral home in the southeast. Warren G. Harding’s (R) Teapot Dome scandal and Franklin Pierce’s (D) sympathies for the South and thus slavery place them in various lists of worst presidents.

And then there is Richard Nixon (R), who was the first president in history to resign from office after the Watergate scandal exposed him and his administration. And finally, George W. Bush (R), who got us into a war on false pretenses that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

I believe President Obama has done nothing that comes even close to what the above-mentioned presidents have done. Only time will tell, but I think President Obama will go down as one of the better presidents the U.S. has had.

PATRICIA PHILLIPS

Little Rock