NWA Letters to the Editor

Has MAGA party

become the RINO?

I believe a case can be made for naming the current Trump-led republican (deliberate lower case) MAGA party the RINO Party ( Republican In Name Only) because it is not the Republican party whose beliefs and values many longtime voters have supported.

A number of actions and inactions of the Trump-led MAGA Party since 2016 have had serious consequences. These include the withholding of financial support by dyed-in-the-wool "R" voters; the public disassociation from the MAGA Party by several well-known conservative media personalities; and the ignoring of requests for financial support from conservative-leaning independents.

Other actions contributing to the displeasure are: MAGA Party members voting as a block in the House or Senate; the Senate leadership of the MAGA Party helping members avoid having their positions recorded on bills by refusing to allow debate, much less votes, on partisan passed House bills (even when a bill was one supported by a majority of fellow Republicans); and the failure of the current MAGA Party and its leader to deny recognizing several groups and organizations that would never have been given any consideration by the Republican Party of old.

Illustrations of the major differences between the beliefs and values of the true Republican Party and those of the MAGA Party and its leader follow:

• True Republicans believe being truthful is essential to developing trust, which is a prerequisite for any successful government. In their view, the MAGA Party leader's daily lies, misrepresentations and deliberate misinformation destroyed trust in him and his administration, yet most MAGA Party members and its leaders have continued to ignore this.

• True Republicans believe in strong states' rights but the actions of the MAGA Party leader and his followers have clearly demonstrated a belief that the president should be able to tell governors what to do.

• True Republicans believe in bipartisanship. The vast majority of congressional MAGA Party members consider supporting any legislation passed by Democrats to be treasonous.

• True Republicans believe in the separation of powers between the executive, judicial and legislative branches. Under Trump's leadership, his MAGA Party showed they agreed with him that judicial and legislative branches should be government units with the sole purpose to further the president's wishes.

• True Republicans believe government should be accountable to the people. Trump's actions -- and his MAGA Party's failure to say otherwise -- reinforced his belief that all branches of government were responsible only to him.

The end result of the above growing dissatisfaction with the MAGA Party is that winners of Republican Party primaries may not be able to obtain the support or the votes needed to defeat a decent Democratic candidate in a general election.

Jim Hammons

Fayetteville

Don't stuff people

into crowded jail

I have been made aware of overcrowding in the Benton County jail. My son is there, and where there should only be 40 to a barracks there are 70 or more people. Why are we doing this? Why must we make it worse by putting more people in there and not trying to relieve the guards from so much work and the ones doing time from all the tension as well?

Can't we take the ones who are not violent offenders and place them in rehabs or sober living facilities?

Just a concerned citizen for all involved.

Debbie Nightengale

Bentonville

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