Letters

Hey, look over there!

It's strange how we get closer to something that will distract from the investigations that are closing in on Trump and the trouble he will have if they are allowed to go on.

It seems the administration has been trying everything possible to stop Congress, and the one thing that will divert more attention than anything will be some kind of military action. He has been beating the drums of war for a long time!

CARL ANDERSON

Hot Springs Village

What founders meant

It seems that Dana Kelley has taken on Trump's persona by apparently referring to individuals who favor abolishing the present method of using the electoral college as dunces. He correctly refers to James Madison as the father of our Constitution and mentions the influence the Federalist Papers had on our Constitution. Then he ignores Federalist Paper No. 68, "The Mode of Electing the President" by Alexander Hamilton, which outlines our founders' thoughts and method for the election of a president by an electoral college.

Hamilton states, "It was desirable that the sense of the people should operate in the choice of the person to whom so important a trust was to be confided. This end will be answered by committing the right of making it, not to any pre-established body, but to men chosen by the people for the special purpose."

Our founders meant for electors to be chosen by popular vote in each state. In the Constitution our founders used the word appointment rather than election. However, Amendment 14, Section 2, made it clear what was meant, by stating, "But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for president and vice president of the United States ...".

With the advent of political parties, state party leaders began to choose/appoint their own electors. No elector election for fellow citizens is held. Now we have a popular vote for president in each state where the party that wins the majority of votes supplies its delegates to the electoral college. In 48 states, including Arkansas, all electoral votes, with few exceptions, are pledged to the candidate that won the majority vote in their state.

The electoral college now bears no resemblance to that set forth by our founders. If conservatives and libertarians actually believe in a traditional interpretation--as our "brilliant founders" meant--of the Constitution, they should also be calling for the dismantling of the electoral college as now used.

KENNETH WEBER

Greenbrier

The Iran that we knew

Our family lived in Isfahan, Iran, between 1976 and '79. We taught children of parents working for international companies. We explored desert and mountains, found where the Zayanda-Rud (River) originated full force from a crevice in sheer cliffs and followed it through Isfahan to where it ends, quietly disappearing into a shallow, salty lake, like a mirage. One time we came upon an isolated ancient caravanserai where tribal families were camped, who offered us sweet melons.

To us, Iran was exotic; the qanat system delivered mountain waters to cities miles away, making them green spots in a brown desert; bazaars with barrels of colorful spices, racks of cloth and carpets; the tapping of artisans hammering beautiful designs into metal plaques; the sensuous blue tiled roof of Isfahan's mosque.

People were friendly, curious about foreigners, and very hospitable. On stopping to ask directions, we often were invited for a meal. Shopkeepers supplied items not familiar to Iranians but which Americans thought they needed. And when the revolution began, Iranians went out of their way to keep us safe. Yet our government was supporting the Shah of Iran, a strict dictator who didn't allow dissent. We were warned that politics was not a subject to be discussed, even in our own homes.

Today, news concerns trade blocks and a buildup of weapons against Iran. We think back to the Iranians we knew and hope our government is now not acting out of revenge, but will attempt to establish a conversation leading to a peaceful agreement.

PAM STEWART

Jasper

About that food waste

Nita McKelvey of Bella Vista said that farmers would not waste food because "it costs them money." On the contrary, modern agricultural practices automatically create a certain amount of waste. We all know that mechanical harvesting leaves some corn in the fields. Lettuce, another example, is picked by hand, but workers leave in the field any heads that are less than perfect since those would be rejected at the shed and docked from the picker's quota.

To hire farmhands to go back and handpick miles of cornfields would be outrageously costly, and a commercial market for imperfect heads of lettuce is almost nonexistent. It therefore costs less money to waste these products than it would to salvage them.

The corporate farms that provide most of America's food are worlds apart from the farmers markets mentioned by Ms. McKelvey. In his book American Wasteland, Jonathan Bloom explores the trail of food waste from these farms to the grocery store to our kitchens. It is an eye-opener.

PATTY BESOM

Fayetteville

Editorial on 05/17/2019

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