Hook, line and sinker
The next election cycle has already started. The promises (baits) are starting to flow with an enhanced appeal of bigger and better rewards to come. The embedded fish hook is neatly concealed in the bait, and the line camouflaged.
All the "elites" of a bigger government, bigger business, bigger unions and big media are waiting for you to help them in growing their power. They are betting you will take the bait and then they will set the hook. Next you will be slowly reeled in and then you are headed for a life in their fish pond.
You will be well taken care of (remember the promises) as they pass regulation on regulation, all for your well-being. With each passing election they will grow in power and you will become more docile. A kept generation of peons.
Generations from now those living under the new norm will ask: How could those past generations have done this to us? Why did they sell us out? Why did they mortgage our future? Did they not realize that our most precious gift of freedom would be taken away? Now we will never feel the challenge of our success/failure or be able to grow stronger and prouder because of our endeavors. Of equal importance, we will never be able to help others with the gift of freedom. Peons are now what we are.
Sad.
WILLIAM F. JEBB
Cabot
An essential worker
I read with some curiosity the letter by Michael Crow published on the Voices page wherein he takes the vice president-elect to task for receiving a covid-19 vaccination "ahead of doctors, nurses, the elderly and many others who needed it a lot more than she did."
Did I miss Mr. Crow's similar rebuke to Vice President Mike Pence when he received his inoculation? Might we not agree that the person "a heartbeat away" from the world's most important job is an essential worker?
JEANNIE LEE
Fayetteville
Call from the grave
Don't you know that Richard Nixon is turning over in his grave mumbling, "Damn, I only had my people break into the Watergate and the Republicans made me resign!"
WILLIAM LUNDY
Little Rock
An apology is needed
One of the big losers in the 2020 election is the church establishment. It lost the confidence of attendees and potential attendees because so many used their pulpits as an extension for Trump's campaign. How many times did we hear our supposed religious leaders say Trump is a friend to the evangelical community or that God chose Trump?
Churches got behind and endorsed a corrupt, immoral and often racist person who showed none of the qualities that Jesus taught. In addition, they crossed in a big way the separation between church and state.
I think churches should use their pulpits now to apologize to honest Christians and go back to teaching the Bible. Churches, you were like a shepherd who tells his flock that the wolf is their friend, or a chicken farmer that tells his brood, "Fear not the fox, for he just wants to snuggle."
DENNIS ASHLEY
Searcy
Time to make call
Vice President Pence, rise up and do what needs to be done. The president is obviously under too much stress and has become an even bigger threat to the country than he was before. You have previously claimed that you hear a voice that influences your actions. Please listen closely, for that voice may be telling you that now is the time to pull the 25th Amendment trigger.
RANDY BLAKEY
Cabot
Start with primaries
Even before a new president is sworn in, we have witnessed the steps that some will take to win over the worst of Trump's supporters. Senators Cruz and Hawley pushed false information regarding the 2020 election for political advantage in their failed attempt to stop the certification of the electoral votes.
Unfortunately, there is a possible path to the White House for those that push hate and spread misinformation seeking the Republican Party nomination for president in the primaries. We witnessed it with Trump. In a large field of candidates, if one can get 35-40 percent of the "crazies" that believe your lies and conspiracy theories to vote for you, you can win the nomination for president. It will be the primaries that will decide who will be the next Republican standard-bearer.
I often oppose the Republican Party on principles and policy. I don't hate the Republican Party or dislike those that vote Republican. I have voted for Republicans in the past.
But I do oppose the Republican Party for harboring and coddling extreme radical membership. For years, it has failed to lead, but rather embraced and even worse courted these fringe groups by not denouncing misinformation or divisive speech. Trump did not do this on his own. He was enabled. Few in the party spoke up against his lies and actions.
The Republican Party is no longer the party we knew. It will take tremendous efforts to bring it back to the right or center-right. I fear the far right could be in the driver's seat until leadership and frankly, average Americans, my neighbors, and friends that align themselves with the party expect more, beginning in the primaries.
It is no longer a question of who wins an election; it is a question of maintaining our democracy.
JIM LEWIS
Lincoln