Paper highlights city
Editor, The Commercial:
These last few months of receiving your paper within my Democrat-Gazette subscription has enlightened and educated me about your city. Thank you for doing a good job of accentuating the positives within your community.
I have had little contact with Pine Bluff since the late 1980s when the bank holding company that I worked for did a substantial amount of business with Simmons Bank.
In the intervening years, we have had the perception that the city has deteriorated into the moniker of "Crime Bluff," and in some regards that is probably true. I hope that I am not being Polly-Annish, but it does seem that your star is rising again, or at least that the decline is arrested.
The thug trade between LR and PB must be crushed, and I would encourage the Hussman papers to lead the way in that regard, for the benefit of both cities.
My respect to you and to Jesse C. Turner for the excellent guest column published May 11. His perspective is refreshing and probably very accurate. Though both of you may face some blowback for publishing this viewpoint, it needs to be said.
Indeed, in a country where "common sense has left the building," the path forward must be led by moderates who see the big picture, who learn from history and who value the worth and equality of all people.
Kent Hendrix, Taylor-Hendrix, LLC,
Hope
Filibuster unneeded
Editor, The Commercial:
There's so much being written about the filibuster these days, but in all the articles I read I feel like this important point gets lost: The filibuster isn't mentioned in our Constitution. Not even one time.
Despite what some in the Senate might imply, the filibuster is just a procedural measure that can be changed at any point, like when Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump put Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
That's why it's so ridiculous that the filibuster still stands in the way of almost every single progressive priority on the Democrats' docket. The Biden-Harris administration clearly has their eye on passing necessary reforms, like comprehensive climate legislation and raising the minimum wage, but the threat of the filibuster continues to throw the future of their legislative agenda into question.
Luckily it doesn't have to be this way. I'm putting my faith in the Senate to get rid of the filibuster as soon as possible. We can't let a minority of senators continue to block the progress a majority of Americans voted for.
Sheila McCool,
Woodlawn