The thinking in Arkansas has changed over years
My Granddaddy, Fred Harvey Switzer, in addition to being an "agriculturalist," was an Arkansas state representative from Ashley County back in the 1930s and '40s. When I was but a little tyke in the late '40s and early '50s I would, upon invitation, ride to town with him in his big, old, black Pontiac. He would often take me by the hand and sort of drag me into the various local spots he frequented every day ... to make certain he could see as many of his former constituents and ol' buddies as possible.
I don't pretend to remember their conversations, but there was, in fact, one comment made by at least one of those elderly men every day. The words, now quite prophetic, were seared into my memory. Each day these fellows would talk about the "goings on" in the county and in Arkansas. And, inevitably, when talking about how bad something in Arkansas happened to be -- whether it was "soybean futures," the cost of gasoline, or corruption in politics -- some wizened old soul would inevitably cap that particular discussion with these simple words: "Well, there's always Mississippi." Meaning, of course, that no matter how bad we had it, we were OK since those folks on the other side of the "Big Muddy" always had a lot more to complain about than did we.
As I now sometimes drop by a particular coffee shop here in Rogers, I often overhear some quite similar conversations about the state of affairs in our state and nation. Lots of people, for example, share the opinion that U.S. Sen. John Boozman is a "good ol' boy," but that Sen. Tom Cotton is way too "big for his britches" for being no more than a "puppy lawyer." And everyone is upset with the Highway Department. But the old comparison with Mississippi seems to have disappeared. These conversations, understandably, always get around to major national issues, including the latest either "courageous" or "unholy" and "righteous" or "disgusting" action taken by the current occupant of the White House. But in recent weeks I have noticed that more and more folks are expressing worry about negative "fall-out" seemingly resulting from his often manic "over-the-top" behavior.
And it is that fact which reminded me of those old visits around town with my granddaddy. But the necessary conclusion is that Granddaddy and his "buds" -- with their old "feel good" crutch of knowing we are at least better off than Mississippi, is gone. It has been replaced by the knowledge that those other "good ol' boys" on the other side of the big river are sitting in the very same worm-eaten, leaky row boat as are we.
Don Switzer
Rogers
Commentary on 03/11/2018