Letters

He's merely dreaming

I read Walter Skelton's letter last week. Mr. Skelton is a man of principle and integrity; also, fairly intelligent. The only fault I can find with Walter is that he's a dreamer.

In his letter, he wants those in office to do their jobs, and he wants Washington to quit wasting money and tend to business at home. Walter, you are dreaming. Can you imagine the people in Congress actually doing their jobs, and doing their jobs for the people? Sorry, partner, it will never happen.

It isn't only Congress. You can bring it back to local people as well. Can you imagine why people in authority have to spend $150,000 to bring in outsiders to tell them whether they should play football?

I read that the GOP is nervous about midterm elections. No wonder!

Mr. Skelton is a fine man, but Walter, you are dreaming. Sorry.

ALLAN DISHONGH

Little Rock

Williams missed point

The esteemed economist Walter E. Williams penned a column ("Constitutional ignorance") that deserves a rebuttal: The Constitution was a compromise, and a fine governing document by the standards of its time, but not some civic scripture immune from criticism.

Its most glaring flaw, today, is the excessive power retained by the states. For instance, the Senate is limited by Article I to federal issues, namely, issues that affect all Americans (e.g., immigration, admiralty and bankruptcy laws, just to name a few). Why should Wyomingites have 70 times the power of Californians with regard to passing laws that affect both equally?

Professor Williams' fallacious slippery slope argument regarding the judiciary, however, is outright laughable (made more so by the fact that unanimity is required only for six-person juries and capital juries, both of which are recent developments, while civil petit juries and grand juries are almost always majority rule). It is precisely the courts' purpose to ensure a liberal democracy prevails over an illiberal mobocracy.

Finally, to answer the professor's question, it is neither ignorance nor contempt. Thomas Jefferson famously opined that the Constitution should be subject to revision every generation. Critical thinking and healthy skepticism fuel the movement. Vapid appeals to tradition keep the electoral college in place and underpin the tyranny of the minority.

SPENCER KEITH BERRY

Little Rock

Oh, that coon supper

Since I have been a long-term subscriber to this newspaper, I feel that I need to tell you how much I enjoyed the article by Stephen Steed called "Critter annual star, but beef, pig at meal."

I have read about that coon supper at Gillett so many times, but this is the first time it has been fun--really fun! And so full of information on how it is done. I loved the pictures, the details, the quotes and the final Dale Bumpers quote on how he was so full of coon that he couldn't eat another bite. I handed the newspaper to my husband and he agreed with me. We laughed.

Thanks for publishing it.

BARBARA S. DUNCAN

Searcy

Agency's endangered

Hurricane season wrapped up by the end of November. The last days to file Federal Emergency Management Agency claims for hurricane damage by Hurricane Irma were in November. So now that hurricane season is over, it is time once again for Republicans in Congress to try to cut funding for FEMA before hurricane season starts again at the end of May.

Why do Republicans want to cut FEMA? I believe the main reason is because Republicans hate President Jimmy Carter, the Democrat who ushered in the new agency back in 1979. Republicans hate Carter because his attempt to rescue a bunch of American hostages from Iran was thwarted when one of Carter's rescue choppers hit an airplane. Anyway, the pertinent reason is because Carter expanded bureaucracy by creating another federal agency that wrested control of disaster funding from the hands of Congress.

Why is FEMA so important? Sometimes, legislators such as Tom Cotton vote against disaster relief. Cotton voted against relief for Superstorm Sandy back in 2013. French Hill recently voted against relief for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. FEMA is a more reliable source of relief than Congress. But all good things must end, and so it may be with FEMA. Republicans are hot to eliminate the agency.

Arkansan James Lee Witt said: "As director of FEMA I responded to 350 presidential disaster declarations. Disaster responses are about people, not politics."

GENE MASON

Jacksonville

Affects all Americans

Remember the promise not to touch Medicare and Social Security? It has already begun with "preferred" pharmacies, and Rep. Paul Ryan is making noises about both. You know that means vouchers, which won't provide enough to pay for basic health insurance, and capping Social Security. Of course, it seems that was the plan from Day One.

Budget-cutters always affect Main Street. When stores start closing, it will percolate up to Wall Street. Financial analysts have already predicted a recession in 2019, after a year of instant-gratification laws. The stock market can drop like a huuuge rock. We'll be lucky if we avoid another Great Depression.

As far as North Korea is concerned, the POTUS knows that Russia and China are not going to let him attack North Korea without threatening us. His tweets are just babble, letting off steam, but dangerous. (I wish the media wouldn't focus so much on his tweets and focus more on his policies and what they are doing to our democracy.) If he finally goads North Korea into firing on one of our allies or a territory of the U.S., then what will he do with Russia and China looming in the background?

MILLIE FOREE

Bella Vista

Editorial on 01/20/2018

Upcoming Events