The job of president
I am 68 years old. I've known presidents (not personally) from John F. Kennedy until today. Some were not so good, but honest and plainspoken. Some were eloquent and strove to unite the American people. Others, "honorably," did the very best they could.
I understand that running a country is a different job beyond my imagination. I'm not a smart man, but I am smart enough to know that this guy who occupies the White House is not only an abomination to the office of the presidency, but also an abomination to any clear-thinking, honest, and moral man or woman. God help us!
DOUG NEWLIN
Fayetteville
Support popular vote
The current system for picking the president doesn't work any more. Everything revolves around a few key states, like Florida. The winner should be chosen by all the people in all the states.
The small states (the 13 states with only three or four electoral votes) are the most disadvantaged and ignored group under the current state-by-state winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes. The reason is that political power in presidential elections comes from being a closely divided battleground state, and almost all of the small states are noncompetitive.
The current system actually shifts power from voters in the small- and medium-sized states to voters in a handful of big states that happen to be closely divided battleground states in presidential elections.
The fact that the small states are disadvantaged by the current system has long been recognized by prominent officials from those states. In 1966, Delaware led a group of 12 predominantly small states in suing New York (then a closely divided battleground state) in the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to get state winner-take-all statutes declared unconstitutional.
Under the current system, a vote for president in Wyoming is equal to a vote in California--both are politically irrelevant.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who receives the most votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
KATHERINE ALEXANDER
Hot Springs Village
Waste of city money
I am a retired Little Rock police officer and know from experience how it feels to face life or death. Thankfully I didn't have to shoot. However, in this situation you have split seconds to make a decision to save your life.
I am wondering why the city of Little Rock is going to the expense of hiring a big-time law firm to represent it in the case of Officer Starks when it already has city attorneys on the payroll to handle its legal cases. Looks like they will go to any extreme to save the mayor's face.
BILL JOHNSON
Little Rock
Caution on licensing
A recent opinion piece argued that the Arkansas Legislative Council should recommend scrapping burdensome licensing laws as part of its forthcoming review. While unnecessary barriers to entry may exist for some occupations, I urge the Legislative Council to be cautious and sensible in its review.
I am concerned that the desire to lower barriers for some occupations may inadvertently also lower standards for professions that carry high public impact. As a certified public accountant for 42 years and as the immediate past chair of the Arkansas Society of CPAs, I have learned that Arkansans depend on CPAs as trusted financial advisers to individuals, families, businesses and public institutions. The state and the nation rely on CPAs' expertise to protect the integrity of our financial system.
CPAs rightly view our work as a sacred public trust that is best preserved by continuing our rigorous professional licensing requirements.
MIKE CARROLL
Fort Smith
Climate conversation
Reading the Fourth National Climate Assessment, it would be easy to despair, but I try to remain optimistic in conversations with my children. Of course, there are promising technologies from carbon capture, to improved solar panels, to better batteries and beyond that could help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, but the more exciting development is in the hearts and minds of Americans across the political spectrum who are waking up to the urgency of this challenge.
Whether due to fires and floods or the continuing accumulation of scientific evidence, an increasing majority of our fellow citizens understand that climate change is happening and we're contributing to it. Even in quite conservative Arkansas, a majority of Arkansans believe that the climate is changing and we need to do something about it. Now, many of our friends and neighbors would argue with you if you dared to call them an environmentalist, but if you ask them if they are a conservationist, they will likely tell you about all the wonders the Natural State has to offer and insist that we act to preserve them.
We value some of the same things, if by different names.
At the federal level, the House of Representatives is considering multiple bipartisan bills while the Senate's bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus recently welcomed Marco Rubio to its ranks. Amid the political argument and rancor, taking action on climate change is increasingly an area where people of good will can come together, and some are. So next time you watch the TV weather and worry about climate change, look around and know that more and more of your fellow Americans are also worrying about it and maybe start a conversation.
MARK MULKERIN
Little Rock
Editorial on 12/09/2019