Fear can be a powerful and paralyzing thing, as Gov. Asa Hutchinson might attest.
Circumstantial evidence suggests that the governor knows better than to yield to the contemporary right wing, once extreme and now mainstream, but fears it.
It's not clear what Hutchinson has left to run for after term-limited in January 2023. Maybe his fear is more generic.
He refers to Joe Biden not as president-elect, because his right flank would not like that. He calls him the vice president and the person he expects to be the next president, which is courageous itself in Newsmax land.
But he stresses that Donald Trump has the right to file frivolous lawsuits, though regular people don't have that right by prevailing Republican thinking, to try to disenfranchise more than 6 million Americans and overthrow American democracy.
Asa stresses that one of Trump's 30-plus suits, a Pennsylvania case not affecting the outcome, raises a worthy question. That's one way of saying the others don't.
Hutchinson told Biden in a meeting last week that the president-elect--or the man he expects to be the next president--needs to understand that states differ. He said a governor can issue a mask mandate but that, in some states--meaning his--"people have their own ... there's just a different culture there."
He's telling the president-elect--or the person he expects to be the next president--that there are people back in his state with whom he just can't do a thing.
Hutchinson might have mentioned, but didn't, that three local law enforcement people in his remote province got so upset by their belief in the corruption of Biden's victory that they went on social media to recommended violence or insurrection.
In an interview with "Talk Business and Politics" and KATV, Hutchinson pooh-poohed a letter he received from more than 300 Arkansas physicians pleading for stronger activity restrictions to combat the coronavirus. He said he did the mask mandate--OK?--but enforcing it "was not within my capacity."
He's said enforcement is up to the local government and the local police.
He's not going to Marshall or wherever to tell the town cop that either he puts on a mask and forces the townsfolk to put on masks or he'll do it himself.
It's safer to tell the president-elect of the United States that you'd best not mess with some of these countryfolk in Arkansas.
I understand. It's easier to pound this keyboard about another's fear than to drive up in the hills and tell an armed right-wing extremist to put on a mask. I've seen "Deliverance," and I ain't going up that river.
But a governor has more leverage, a bigger bully pulpit, more protection and more command of public safety agencies. And, by the way, more direct responsibility.
When he was in his 30s and the federal prosecutor for the western district of Arkansas, Asa personally donned bullet-proof wear and negotiated with the under-siege Baptist-outgrowth militant group called the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord.
He's was young and wild and free. But now he'll be 70 in a week. It's not in his capacity.
No one wants to get cold-cocked for his big seven-oh.
I asked the governor in an email Sunday if there was anything he could do on mask-wearing beyond saying enforcement is not within his capacity. Per usual, he replied promptly and thoughtfully. I'll quote the meatiest part:
"I have brought in extra enforcement teams from ABC to inspect on public health guideline compliance. These agents focus on restaurants and bars. They have issued citations, warnings and engaged in education efforts. Our public health enforcement teams are also responding to complaints and issuing cease and desist orders as needed. I have coordinated with the Arkansas Municipal League and pushed our chiefs of police and mayors to push compliance."
"In terms of a public address," which was something I specifically asked about, "that is always under consideration."
A televised address could make the point that only universal mask-wearing might keep the state economy universally open.
By the way, Hutchinson further pooh-poohed the doctors' letter by saying it would be "wrong as wrong can be" to tell guideline-compliant restaurants to restrict themselves for a second time to take-out, curbside pick-up and delivery.
Indeed, it would be hard to tell hardworking restaurant people that they must draw down, especially since the preposterous second-place and Russian-endorsed president isn't lifting a microscopic pinky to try to get passed any targeted federal relief money for them.
But "as wrong as wrong can be?"
If you failed to do all you could to restrict virus-spreading activities and the hospitals overflowed into makeshift units, and a guy with a medical emergency couldn't get the timely help he'd have received otherwise ... that'd be pretty wrong, too.
John Brummett, whose column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is a member of the Arkansas Writers' Hall of Fame. Email him at [email protected]. Read his @johnbrummett Twitter feed.