Definition of insanity
The GOP has once again swept our state, continuing the dominance it has demonstrated for the past 10 years. How can you tell? Check your children's test scores. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
As James B. Sawyer said in his recent letter to the editor, "Ignorance may be bliss, but it is not a virtue."
JOEL SEAMAN
Lakeview
They just don't care
All the undecided voters riding the fence about how they should vote should have considered what Mitch McConnell said when asked what are his policy plans are. Answer was he would let us know when we get control. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy didn't have any qualms to say they would shut the government down and cut Medicare and Social Security so they could balance the budget.
Republicans have been after these benefits forever and have never come up with a plan to take the place of these plans as they apparently don't care about the middle class of America or the great democracy that we have fought and died for for hundreds of years, and tens of thousands of Americans who have been killed on this soil and foreign countries to defend democracy!
CARL ANDERSON
Hot Springs Village
Against our interests
People are way too prone to vote against their own interests, sadly, and much of this is brought on unnecessarily by an unwillingness to self-educate. It's hazardous to let others tell you what to think. There are people who take advantage of this to get what they want, which may keep you from getting what you need or want. Some time ago I suggested that judging a book by its cover is a bad practice. Doing homework by investigating reliable sources and thinking things through will pay off much better than following a group or basing a decision on what a person looks like or from where they hail.
Tricks are pulled, like redefining what is middle class. How many people in the so-called middle class are terribly worried about taxes on capital gains? How many of this group could easily withstand cuts to Social Security or health-care coverage? Who is really looking out for people in the middle class? And whose philosophy or religion advocates are ignoring those who suffer the most? Really?
In the Land of the Free, how much should we be told how to live? How best can we protect quality of life for future generations? These and other issues matter too much for anyone to casually vote for leadership candidates. And I expect honesty above all else from any of them. What about you?
KAY CARPENTER
Little Rock
Attempted mischief
Dear General Assembly: Thank you, Republicans, for your three proposed constitutional amendments and the message we sent you. You live in a bubble and seriously misread even your own voters. A supermajority in the Legislature, and they all failed with voters.
How about something we can all rally behind? In keeping with the spirit of what you submitted to voters in failed Issue 2: First, a constitutional amendment allowing the General Assembly to propose only one constitutional amendment but require at least 60 percent of the vote to even refer it for a vote. Second, a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote to override a veto, even with Sarah Sanders as governor. A majority dilutes the governor's power. We know you want it diluted. Voters probably don't.
As to Issue 3, I was actually looking forward to it passing because, as a constitutional lawyer, I'd already imagined about 25 scenarios to drive the courts, General Assembly, and state and local government crazy with litigation based on your attempted mischief. It would have been fun. "My firm religious belief is offended by [whatever, make something up]."
Alas; maybe later.
I won't even say "nice try." It was unbounded arrogance on your part.
JOHN WESLEY HALL
Little Rock
Real causes defined
The Nov. 2 edition's Business and Farm section plainly states causes of inflation.
Oil companies are making grotesquely excess profits by gouging the customers like never before. Corporate profits are also higher than they've been in decades. Wages were gained by essential employees who had to risk their lives to work. Employers raised product prices to recoup those costs.
ArcBest trucking realized a 39 percent gain in third-quarter profits in spite of higher fuel costs. And several meat producers were fined for collusion and price fixing.
We have Republicans in office and who were running for office who blame this on Joe Biden when this Republican-leaning newspaper plainly tells them the causes, and it's not Biden! Lack of integrity may allow them to say what they do, but assuming we that can and do read are that stupid is really insulting.
If the worshipful Waltons were actually selling at the lowest prices they could, how come so many of them are either billionaires or millionaires? The rich generally get richer by exploiting the working poor, with a few exceptions. How many folks have any concept of the tax advantages that accrue to the "foundation donors" and the good will it buys them?
Republicans swear that the government is the problem in this country--then they get elected and proceed to prove the saying correct as long as they're in control. A person who doesn't read is no better off than the one who can't read. And if a reader doesn't question why a preacher or a publisher feels a need to say "Trust me" in a little box, he is way too gullible.
KARL HANSEN
Hensley