Glimpse of the future
The people who our current president has spat on and been daily holding up his middle finger at are finally being heard from. See the Alabama senatorial race.
And the Republicans had better be scared, because last Tuesday night was but a small glimpse of what is going to happen in 11 months in November of 2018.
RICHARD MOORE
Little Rock
Without a foundation
What can you build from the top down? Absolutely nothing! It's a flawed concept. No one knows that better than Donald Trump, who is in the construction business. Why is he trying to build an economy from the top down?
If you aren't old enough to remember the 1980s, you're going to learn. The wealthy and big business soared while the rest of us hit the dust. Bill Clinton and others called it "trickle-down economics." It was a trickle, all right. I remember going two years without a raise and the company thermostat was set at 68 degrees. That was cold, even for a young person. We've been there before.
No matter what you think of Bill Clinton (the election of Donald Trump is still a mystery), he understood that an economy is built from the bottom up. He started with low-paying jobs and let it percolate up. He had a solid foundation.
Clinton's and Barack Obama's policies were stable, long-range planning that took time to develop into jobs.
When the instant-gratification policies really kick in, you first will notice it on Main Street and the store closings that are sure to follow, much less the debt our children and grandchildren will have to pay off.
MILLIE FOREE
Bella Vista
Moral, in her opinion
Having read the recent letter embellishing the virtues of Ronald Reagan, I encourage the writer to research her assertion that the 40th president was "a moral man."
Here is what I found. More than 138 officials in the Reagan administration were investigated, indicted and convicted of various crimes, the largest number of any president, including the Nixon administration. The scandals included the Iran-Contra affair, the savings and loan crisis and the HUD grant-rigging scandal, among many others.
My conclusion, madam, is that you are free to state, as you did, "President Reagan was also a moral man and the most beloved president since President Roosevelt," but please preface your sentence with "In my opinion."
Gene Mason and I agree that he was "a wobbly headed senile old actor." In our opinion, of course.
LEE JONES
Little Rock
Fastest draw in D.C.
Donald Trump's response to challenges brings to mind a line that went around our grade school some 70 years ago.
"My grandfather was a gunfighter. People called him the Fastest Draw in the West."
"Wow! What was his name?"
"Toeless Joe."
ROBERT B. NELSON
Little Rock
In pursuit of civility
You know, I'm old enough to remember when Democrats and liberals warned us that the election of Donald Trump would lead to incivility. And what do you know, they were right!
For the past few weeks, there have been a lot of liberals expressing themselves. They've called Republicans and conservatives a few names like "low-class" and "traitor" and "cruel," peddling "snake oil." Even more have called our current president an "orange Cheeto," a "simpleton-in-chief," a "rapist," a "pathological liar," and "Liddle Donny" and have said that we no longer have a democracy.
I can especially remember when the election of Hillary was a foregone conclusion, and that any criticism of Hillary was the result of incivility. "Civility," they cried over and over again. I had long suspected that it was just a tactic to shame those of us on the right side into keeping quiet during national discussions.
It appears that the mental strain of being civil has finally caused some to revert back to their previous ways. For instance, Gene Mason describing former President Ronald Reagan as a "wobbly headed senile old actor." Another example of "do as we say, not as we do."
So for those of you who are puzzled as to how Trump ever got elected, here's a hint. Would you like more Trump? Because behaving the way that you have for the past year is how you get more Trump.
LONNIE HILL
Fayetteville
No reason to withhold
I don't understand all of this uproar about giving homosexual couples a birth certificate with their names on it as the parents.
I adopted a baby and was given a birth certificate with my name on it as the mother and my husband's name on it as the father because we are the baby's parents. I didn't have to sue or anything to get it. This happens in Arkansas with every adoption.
There are problems with some adoptive children finding out about their heritage, and many times their ancestry ends with the names of their adoptive parents. However, I don't think these children believe their birth certificate is just a vanity title of ownership any more or any less than any other child's birth certificate would be.
Preventing homosexual parents from being given a birth certificate for their children is just another example of the persecution of this group of people for no reason.
SALLY J. MAYS
Roland
Standard Clinton set
Congressional ethics and morality will always be measured by the standard set by Bill Clinton, and the failure of the Democrats to condemn or take any action to discipline our perverted president. Clinton was impeached, but not a single Democrat voted for impeachment. Who can forget the disgraceful exhibition by the House Democrats who walked out of the House chambers, after the impeachment vote, to hold a pep rally in support of Bill Clinton?
The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
GARY LEMON
Cabot
Editorial on 12/17/2017