Certainly as cranky
Surely I'm not the only one who has noticed the stunning similarities between President Biden and Jeff Dunham's ventriloquist dummy Walter. They could almost be twins. One main difference, however, is that I'm not sure who the puppet master is for President Biden. I do have my suspicions, though.
Reflecting on how President Biden has handled the southern border crisis, Afghanistan, energy independence, gas prices, the supply chain and inflation, just to name a few, I'm pretty sure that Walter would have done a better job.
MICHAEL BERGER
Hot Springs
What we can expect
Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" was published in 1957 and is still in publication today. It is a long, sometimes boring, book. Update the infrastructure from train to modern times, and I believe it will explain what to expect under the Biden administration.
I had the good fortune of reading this book while I was in college in the 1960s and I had the following quote from the book always on my college room wall: "I swear by my life and my love for it that I will never live for the sake of another man or ask another man to live for mine."
JOHN CRAMM
Hot Springs Village
Taking responsibility
When an individual purposely takes on debt and refuses to pay it when it comes due, they're called a deadbeat. When this same action is taken by some folks, they're called Congress. Some in Congress refuse to take responsibility for their actions and should not be re-elected.
WILLIAM POLK
Conway
Maybe check it first
Re proposal for banks reporting transactions $600 and a greater: If memory serves, there is requirement in place for reporting $10,000 and greater.
Perhaps we should consider how effectively this existing information is being used before requiring additional data.
GORDON S. BYRD
El Dorado
Disenfranchisement
Your writers recently wrote an editorial about the presidential primary process, and in it explained that the Constitution says nothing about the primary process. That is because the process of nominating an individual for an election is not a government process.
A primary election is supposed to narrow down a group of nominees to just two for the general election. You pointed out that in the Iowa caucuses, only party members can participate in selecting a nominee for the party. That is how it should be. Why should nonmembers of a political party participate in the selection of a party nominee?
We hold 50 different state elections for president in America, according to the Constitution, and the current partisan primary system perverts the process even more.
First, someone who wants to vote for candidates in different offices and from different parties is not allowed to do so. There is no reason for this, and not being allowed to vote for all the candidates a voter wants to vote for is disenfranchisement. Republicans, concerned so much about election integrity, should fix this.
Second, a primary election allows the citizens to select the individuals to be on the general election ballot. But if the people winning the election in some states do not become the nominee of the national party, the winner in a state primary election is replaced by the decision of voters from other states. This also disenfranchises the voters in the individual states.
Your editorial staff correctly says We the People can change the system, if we only would. And we should change it to remove the voters from being disenfranchised by two private political parties.
EDWARD SMITH
Farmington
When they get covid
Re people who don't want to get covid shots: When they get covid, I think the hospital should turn them away and tell them to go see the witch doctor.
My friend the witch doctor will teach them what to say: "Ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang."
BOB MASSERY
Little Rock