State has governing challenges of its own
There is a great deal of criticism of our government at the national level, yet what is going on in Arkansas is equally distressing. The list of problems is endless.
Requiring proof of work by recipients to qualify for Medicaid benefits is an example of a new law that has a drastic effect on those who can least afford it. Maybe if the poor had the money to hire good lobbyists, things would be different.
The failure of the state to even consider the enactment of reasonable firearm restrictions, such as outlawing ownership of assault weapons, is another black mark against our state. The argument that the authors of the Second Amendment meant to allow citizens to own assault weapons is absurd.
Newspaper articles about criminal investigations of bribery by private and public officials are appearing almost daily. It makes you wonder why there has been such an increase in this type of behavior, as if more people believe that the end result is all that matters, and how you get there is no longer that important. When the Democrat-Gazette reports the chairman of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees has been under investigation by the FBI for a number of years your know these are troubled times.
The university continues to spend more and more money on facilities for our football program while the team continues to struggle, while increases of salaries for teachers continue to have a low priority. I admit this problem has been around for a long time, yet no one in authority is doing anything about it. Teachers know when they select this profession they are not going to get rich teaching, but needing to drive for Uber to make ends meet is wrong.
To increase the revenue at local football games it has become legal to drink certain types of alcoholic beverages out in the open. The school hopes this will help increase attendance and lead to more revenue from sale of food and beverages. I suppose the next move will to have slot machines available, giving you something to do when the game is too dull to watch.
Global warming is recognized by the scientific community as a very serious problem for everyone. Not only do our politicians refuse to take any action to deal with this issue, but apparently deny that global warming even exists.
I don't imagine the Trump diehards will agree to my observations, but I hope the undecided voters will seriously consider them. The only way to solve these problems is through the ballot box. It would be nice if our governor would take the lead in arriving at solutions of these problems, but you know he is not going to because of his ties to Trump. In his years in office he will be remembered as having a nice smile, but that's about all.
Bass Trumbo
Fayetteville
Commentary on 09/02/2019