The Hon. Asa Hutchinson, governor and chief architect of the coming year's legislative agenda, has given us a peek at his priorities. Some of those priorities can't help but appeal to those of us inclined to favor what has worked in the past and disfavor those that haven't.
Other of his recommendations would be far more suitable for some holiday other than New Year's--like Halloween. Because they're less hopeful than downright scary. Like spending still more on higher education so a multitude of high-paid administrators can keep on proliferating. Even those of us with the best of intentions must admit that the governor's proposal to separate the celebration of Robert E. Lee's birthday and Martin Luther King's will have to be accepted--or postponed till the Second Coming, when all of us can adopt each others' heroes and shout Hallelujah! together.
In the in-between times, let's cheer those of the governor's ideas that are worth cheering and boo those that aren't. On the plus side of the ledger there are his proposals to (a) let state government and private business join in supporting the continued growth of industries that specialize in technology, (b) help pay the cost of community colleges--there may be one near you! (c) use $8.5 million from the state's tobacco settlement to cut the backlog of patients waiting to be treated for their handicaps, (d) set aside $5 million more to house the state's mentally disturbed before they harm themselves or others rather than after they do, (e) restore the funds used to run the state's libraries and centers for old folks, and (f) get rid of a lot of advisory boards and commissions that clutter up the state's Table of Organization and Equipment--such as the Arkansas Authority on Financing Hospital Equipment and the state's HIV-AIDS Minority Task Force, for who needs 'em besides the usual placeholders in state government and their fellow special-pleaders?
It's way past time to clean up state government's table of organization and equipment instead of making it ever more complex, like some living Christmas tree that's sprouted off in all directions and now threatens to topple over and collapse on some innocent passerby. As if the poor guy or gal didn't face enough problems in the face of all the high winds out there this time of year. Simpler remains better.
Sure, those of us who want no part of this country's and this world's culture of death have our own decided preferences, "I ran for governor as the jobs governor," he says in his defense, but that "doesn't mean I'm less pro-life, that I'm less concerned with other issues." Let's give the Guv a chance to take his place in the batting order and hit a few over the fence when he gets the chance. Or just having second and better thoughts about some of his worst ideas, like what's been mislabeled as the Merit Election of Judges to replace the voice of We the People, better known as the popular vote. For the man remains open to reason, and even to those legislators who seem moved by anything but.
Even those of us who may be critical of the governor from time to time can't help but admire his patience and fortitude even under the most tense of circumstances, as when he had the sense to do nothing and do it exceptionally well. While hotheads all around were yelling for him to do something even if it was the wrong something. No, he simply bided his time and let nature and God's mercy take their course.
Asa, if I may refer to him by his first name, which may be the surest sign of a politician the people of Arkansas have come to love and respect, once donned his FBI-issued flak jacket and strode calmly into the compound of a bunch of crazies in the Ozarks. Once there, he began negotiating with them till their leader surrendered to the proper authorities. In the meantime, all the women and children had been evacuated to a nearby motel where they were put up at the government's expense. Now there was a pro-life decision for you.
And so it goes and surely will go so long as Asa Hutchinson is governor and, who knows, maybe U.S. senator-in-waiting after that, for my crystal ball isn't in working order today or any other day. But so long as Tom Cotton is being talked up as a presidential possibility down this long trail a-winding known as the future, hope and pride are far from dead. On the contrary, this third rock from an obscure sun is abuzz with life and color all around. So let's wish each other a Happy New Year and pause to praise He who has granted us life, sustained us, and allowed us once again to reach this most festive season of the year. Let your little light shine wherever and whatever you are. L'chaim! To Life!
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Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Editorial on 01/04/2017