Judged by outsiders
I enjoyed the well-written piece by Gabriel Lodge in the Monday edition of this newspaper. For those of you who missed it, Mr. Lodge wrote of meeting people out of state who knew nothing about Arkansas.
I got three main points from his piece, and I hope to do justice to the article. He didn't want his new acquaintances to judge all of Arkansas by him. He loves Arkansas and its diverse citizens. In fact, he might love Arkansas because of its diversity. We can appreciate the good people here (like the diamonds at Murfreesboro) while recognizing there are also many bad ones.
I agreed with everything he said, with one exception: I would be perfectly happy if outsiders judged us by this man.
VICKI FEWELL
Sherwood
Model bill dangerous
A "republic" is a government that allows its people to elect representatives who make their laws. However, this now may be up for grabs. At the recent meeting of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) a "model bill" was submitted that would repeal the 17th Amendment, which gives the people of a state the right to choose their U.S. senators.
At a time when gerrymandering (the manipulation of district boundaries to favor one party over another) in states like Pennsylvania has allowed Democrats, who won 54 percent of the vote, to only take five of the 18 U.S. House seats (28 percent) in 2012. In 2014 the Republicans won 55 percent of the vote, but they got 13 of the state's 18 seats (72 percent).
How did district boundaries become so lopsided to allow such a flagrant thwarting of representation? It's because these boundaries were drawn by the state legislature controlled by, you guessed it, Republicans.
According to ALEC's model bill, these same state legislatures will be the ones to pick our U.S. senators. Republicans had found the way to skew congressional district lines to win more House seats than they deserve, but they were stymied by the U.S. Senate where senators are elected statewide. Now, if they are successful in promoting this "model bill," they will be able to guarantee themselves majorities in the Senate as well.
Let's not let this happen!
AIMEE CROCHET
West Fork
Full of deadly poison
Every kind of beast, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison.
As America and the world watch Donald Trump blame Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for his "I do not know how to run a country" tactics, he seems to get worse instead of better. Donald Trump had a hissy fit because Obama took a week's vacation. Now that he is taking 17 days to hit a little white ball, he is OK and no one should question his do-nothing tactics.
People keep saying Donald Trump is a racist. Does anyone care if he is a racist? I believe Satan is the father of all racists. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
JULIA RANDLE
Jacksonville
Politics and oligarchy
There is a popular misconception about that needs correction. Many people think that GOP stands for Grand Old Party. I believe they are wrong. GOP actually stands for Greedy Oligarchs' Property.
In a similar vein, if what we are seeing is how businessmen run things, I want professional politicians back.
JAMES B. SAWYER
Fayetteville
Bipartisan movement
Believe it or not, there is a growing bipartisan movement in the House of Representatives whereby Republicans and Democrats are talking to each other and working together to enact climate-change solutions.
Since the beginning of the year, the bipartisan House Climate Solutions Caucus has more than tripled its ranks and recently achieved the impressive milestone of 50 members when California Republican Steve Knight and Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur joined.
In February 2016, Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) formed the caucus to depoliticize the climate issue by bringing in members from both sides of the aisle to engage in constructive dialogue. From the start, they designed the caucus to be truly bipartisan, insisting new members come aboard two-by-two--one Republican and one Democrat at a time.
The hope is that eventually the caucus will draft and introduce major legislation to significantly reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions.
One promising approach that enjoys support in conservative circles is to place a rising fee on carbon-based fuels and return the revenue from that fee as direct payments to all households. The fee corrects the market failure underpinning fossil fuels so that we can accelerate the transition to clean energy. Giving revenue from the fee back to households prevents economic fallout from rising energy costs. Add a border adjustment tariff to imports from nations that don't price carbon in an equivalent manner--thereby protecting American businesses--and we have a win-win-win for everyone.
At a time when the partisan divide in Washington seems insurmountable, the caucus provides a model for reaching across the aisle to tackle the big problems that bedevil us. We used to say, "If we can put a man on the moon, surely we can do anything." I can hardly wait to find out.
CHARLES SISCO
Fayetteville
Dad was a better man
Recently one of my brothers reminded me of something our dad always told us. He reasoned that if a man said nothing about religion or politics, no one would know how little he knew about those two subjects. Of course I think my dad was right about that, as he was right about most things.
He also said he usually voted Republican for governors and presidents, but voted for Democrats in Senate and House elections. He theorized that strategy would help to keep either party from doing too much harm to the country. I often wonder, if he was still here today, how he would view what emerged from the stable in the last presidential campaign. My guess is that he would have an opinion, but probably keep it to himself.
My dad was a good, quiet, decent and smart person. As far as I know, he had no enemies and no one spoke disparagingly about him.
He was a better man than I am.
RANDY BLAKEY
Cabot
Editorial on 08/11/2017