Letters

Responsible for acts

Re letter from Edward Chevallier: Mr. Chevallier questions a person's age, as when to drink alcohol. I don't understand his exact intentions, but I believe anyone, regardless of their ability to join the armed forces, is responsible for their own actions, and age is just part of that process. Parental responsibility plays a huge role in educating our children to become caring, responsible adults.

There are different avenues to help change, if he wants change, and I suggest he try to investigate them. Thank you.

ELAINE BURKS

Little Rock

Alternative on ballot

Vote them out! Ah, the battle cry of the very irritated and the disenchanted. I recall this sentiment several years ago--vote them out being the prevailing attitude and the demand of the voters. So vote them out was accomplished and now Congress and our elected officials have a lower approval rating than previously. Vote them out necessitates the voting in of someone, yet I suppose this part of the equation is forgotten.

Therefore, may the Grill Party suggest a solution? By the name of each candidate is a Yes or No option. This allows for the voting out of an incumbent yet, if the opponent also receives a No vote, then that position is unfilled. Void. A vacuum created by voter demand.

This option allows for the Vote Them Out segment to be satisfied while those who wish to vote someone in also achieve their purpose. Win-win all around. And then we can all move on to the truly important matters of life, such as the non-use of turn signals while driving and cars which cannot park in a single parking space.

As always, slow down and grill.

DAVID KELLEY

Fort Smith

Check voting records

State Rep. Clarke Tucker is anointed as the "best" of the candidates by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the Democrat nomination in the primary for 2nd District U.S. Congress. He is the only candidate with a voting record that we can unpack to see how he might vote as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives on the protection of life.

During the 2015 session Tucker supported two pro-life bills, the Right to Try and the Disposition of Fetal Remains acts. The pro-life legislation he voted against or didn't vote on at all were parental consent for minor abortions, informed consent of women before the abortion procedure, the bans on webcam abortion, and a ban on funding of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. He also voted against safeguards on the abortion-inducing drug protocol of women who choose a chemical abortion procedure.

In 2017 his support included the issuance of fetal death certificates, disposition of fetal remains, protection and treatment of an infant born alive after an abortion, and the creation of civil liability for wrongful birth litigation. That same year, he voted against or didn't vote on the ban on dismemberment abortion, safety of abortion clinics, ban on sex-selection abortion, and the collection of abortion tissue samples of minor girls up to 15 years who may be victims of sex traffickers or sexual predators.

Tucker's no vote on HB1032, The Arkansas Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, clearly indicates that he supports abortion--even the gruesome and horrific dismemberment of living unborn babies to their death, in the name of reproductive rights.

Regardless of who wins the Democrat nomination for 2nd District Congress--pro-life voters will be voting in November for the only candidate who has a 100 percent pro-life voting record, Republican Congressman French Hill.

ROSE MIMMS

Little Rock

Lessons from history

Gun enthusiasts are a diverse group, only some of whom are members of the NRA. Membership in the NRA itself is diverse, but one component consists of disgruntled war veterans, white supremacists, neo-Nazis and their sympathizers who have morphed into a united front that advocates armed resistance to enemies home and abroad. It's particularly vocal in protection of right of access to military-style weapons.

Militarization of the country began in the 1960s and grew thereafter with racial reorientation in the civil rights movement, global resistance to communism in the Cold War and subsequent war on terrorism, national humiliation in the Vietnam War and the indecisive wars thereafter, class inequalities that grew with Reagan's New Right policies and the triumph of neoliberalism, economic dislocations with the advent of globalism, and the national elite's indifference to the ensuing dystopia. The current administration rode into office on that dystopia and appears--rather mindlessly--supportive of those arming themselves to address it.

As the right and left militarized for violent confrontation in 19th century Russia, the poet Nikolai Dobrolyubov lamented: "Eternal is the cruel way of life in which generations of mankind live and perish without trace, leaving no lessons for their sons." In fact, history leaves many lessons, but they're often ignored. It may already be too late to resolve the underlying causes of militarization of this country, but it's certainly worth concerted national effort at all levels to try.

DAVID SIXBEY

Flippin

Guaranteed one vote

I believe that anyone who tries to publicly destroy one person's credentials and reputation could be attempting to hide their own poor reputation, trying to make themselves look better. What makes it worse is they won't even use their own name but instead hide behind some organizational name.

So for me, all the ads by Judicial Crisis Network against Courtney Goodson have guaranteed her at least one vote--mine.

DAVID WEAVER

Sherwood

Make, don't break, law

A convicted felon cannot vote in many places, but that same person can run for office. It seems at least five Republican felons have been running for office.

What happened to the Republican values? They go out the window when it comes to getting a vote.

BOB MASSERY

Little Rock

Editorial on 05/17/2018

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