The mandate crowd
John Brummett can try to dress it up the best he can, but in his inarticulate way he finally let it slip that "stuff happens requiring government [sic] authority." That apparently summarizes his and the mandate crowd's approach to covid: They want the government to tell everyone what to do. Us proles and rubes are simply not to be trusted to look after ourselves and our children.
I hate to remind them that, like it or not (and they clearly don't), the Legislature is the pre-eminent body that sets state public policy. You can Google "legislate," and it says "to make or enact law."
I believe the notion that the ban on mask mandates impairs the governor's exercise of his inherent authority is so patently absurd that it hardly justifies comment. The governor has emergency authority because the Legislature granted it. Go read the governor's emergency declaration. It states, "... under the authority vested in me by Ark. Code Ann. §§ 12-75-101, et seq., and Ark. Code Ann. § 20-7-110 ..."
There you have it. The answer for the mandate crowd is to stop whining and go win some elections.
MICHAEL EMERSON
Little Rock
Can lose subscribers
I have subscribed to the Democrat-Gazette for many years, and I've always read the political cartoons.
Monday I was irked by the fact that both of your cartoons were by Michael Ramirez, who is as far right as possible and whose cartoons typically lack any subtlety or understanding of the qualities of humor. You publish Ramirez quite often, but you usually offer a more progressive/reasonable option for the second cartoon.
Apparently, you are trying to alienate your progressive and moderate readers with conservative bombast rather than political humor. That's a good way to lose subscribers.
GARY GUINN
Siloam Springs
He merited mention
I very much enjoyed the recent pieces about Stone County, Mountain View and the Folk Festival.
I do regret, however, that no mention was made of John Quincy Wolf Jr., a professor of English at both then-Arkansas College in Batesville and Southwestern at Memphis. Dr. Wolf traveled the Ozarks with his tape recorder "discovering" the musicians of the area, and bringing them to light. It is my recollection that he found Jimmy Driftwood well before Chet Atkins did.
SAM HIGHSMITH
Little Rock