Northwest Arkansas Democrats were a levee holding back a rising Republican flood springing from their region for 30 years, with precious little help from anyone else.
They earned the respect of Democrats and Republicans alike for their dogged, utterly heroic fight against odds that seemed hopeless at times - and often really were hopeless.
Arkansas could easily have gone the way of the rest of the South in the 1980s and become majorityRepublican then, but neversay-die Democrats from here kept voting. They made all the difference in as many state and district races as they could.
They kept the margins from Northwest Arkansas close enough to let Democrats win overall. Even those frustrated by their resistance had to admire it.
And how’s their loyalty rewarded by the Democratic majority in the state Legislature, after the levees everywhere else burst at the first real rush of water?
The heart and the greatest remaining strength of the party in this region could be ripped out. The pieces could shore up a south Arkansas Blue Dog’s re-election chances. The filling of the gap that’s left would improve the odds for an eastern Arkansas conservative Democrat someday.
This is the real tragedy of gerrymandering of Fayetteville into the 4th Congressional District, a threat that now appears to be real.
Today we’ll let others debate the ins and outs of this redistricting plan. Note the for-and-against columns on the next page. What we’d like to know is: What genius thought the way to get Fayetteville to agree to this was to spring it on us?
You may come from Northwest Arkansas and support the move. You may not. It makes no difference. You weren’t asked. You didn’t even find out about this from your own Democratic legislators. The news only slipped out after the deal was cooking.
Former Sen. Blanche Lincoln lost Benton County against Fay Boozman in her first Senate race. Yet she won more votes losing there than she did winning Saline County. Now Benton County Democrats could be left isolated in their own district.
Fayetteville Democrats, you may be represented by the most outspoken Democratic opponent of your party’s healthcare reform package.
It’s “just politics.” Cynics would say we’re naive to hope people would be treated with respect - or at least some regard or interest - in such a momentous decision.
Perhaps we are naive. If bleak cynicism’s wisdom, though, we’ll hang on and prize our naivete.
We prefer to give our loyalty to people in places who return it. This region will remain a region whatever lines the partisans draw. We think this stunning land grab will strengthen that unity. This could even create real Northwest Arkansas unity for the first time.
We are not just a string of towns centered along and branching off of I-540 any more. If we keep acting like we are, we’ll continue to get picked off, one by one, not just in politics but in everything else in life.
No one - Republican, Democratic or anything else - will ever be free to treat any of us the way lawmakers have treated Fayetteville in this matter. The redrawing of legislative districts, for instance, will now get our early, constant and alert attention.
We’re awake now.
We don’t do revenge, but if this gerrymander passes we shall get back what’s taken from us. That would take at least 10 years. It may take 20 or more. But the growth of this region and the decline of the countryside are driven by forces that cannot be reversed, no matter how hard today’s General Assembly tries to stall the consequences.
A long memory is a powerful thing for those who have time on their side.
Opinion, Pages 14 on 03/27/2011