Parties don't matter
I am one of the radical leftists that voted for former Gov. Mike Huckabee over Mark Pryor many years ago, but never have I regretted that decision more than the last few weeks. The former governor implied that, unless the 2024 presidential race goes in favor of former President Donald Trump, this would be the last election decided by a ballot instead of bullets. This statement was beneath the office of a former governor, and not conformative to the calling of an ordained Baptist minister.
The laws that President Donald Trump is accused of violating were in plain sight before the whole world as a witness. Right is right and wrong is wrong, it makes no difference who commits it. We all in the very near future will have to answer to our creator, who holds no party affiliations.
This would serve our present governor well if she would would take the same approach as we did in the military and become a servant to all the people in the state of Arkansas. I was a combat medic in Vietnam; when someone on the battlefield was wounded and called for help, I risked my life to save theirs. We never asked what race, nationality, religion or party affiliation. Become the governor for all Arkansans, whether left or right, red or blue, and history will be kind to you.
JAMES JACKSON
Pine Bluff
No one above the law
Do you believe in fair play? Same rules for both teams?
OK. Evidence is beginning to show that Hunter Biden broke American laws. Republicans say he should face judgment. Democrats don't offer any exaggerated excuses for him, and he has offered none for himself on social media. So far, evidence hasn't been made public, but some Republicans have already publicly condemned him. His crimes--if he is guilty--did not affect America. They simply enriched him. He may have used his family position for personal profit (something Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump himself would never have stooped to doing). But if he broke the law, he should pay the penalty.
Also, evidence is beginning to show that former President Donald Trump may have broken American laws--several American laws. Democrats say he should face judgment. He has endless, shifting, loudly proclaimed excuses. Republicans say he should be excused because some of those bringing charges are Democrats. It seems that if a Democrat charges a Republican with a crime, the Republican should be excused because it is "politically motivated." I have seen no Democrat, including President Biden, claim that Hunter Biden should be excused because his prosecution is "politically motivated."
And Trump's are serious crimes--if he is guilty--profoundly affecting all of us and the democratic system we live under. They are not just the crimes of someone who wants to be richer. They are the crimes of a man who thinks he's special, who thinks the laws do not apply to him. (What do you think would happen if you were caught on tape with a Top Secret document, bragging about it and waving it around?)
Even if you like his speeches, admire his character, and agree with his Christian principles, Trump must not be above the laws which the rest of us must obey. Nor should Hunter Biden.
BARBARA TRUESDELL
Hot Springs Village
Good, bad and ugly
I actually saw Jackie Robinson play. That tells you how old I am. Things are quite a bit different now. History will show the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you google the question "How many genocides and wars have there been since 1900?" the list will be long. So anyone studying history will confront nightmares. The value of studying history is to learn how not to repeat the mistakes and horrors of the past but also to see how men and women found the solutions to these, sometimes requiring great bravery and sacrifice.
Studying the American Civil War would reveal complexities. Slavery was common throughout the world. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" revealed the horrors of slavery. Perhaps in the American grain, the seeds were planted deep for abolition in that approximately 50 percent of white colonials between 1630 and the Revolution (1776) came as indentured servants with terms of four to seven years and conditions similar to slavery. Considering it was a biblical nation, perhaps a line from Deuteronomy actually sunk in: "Remember, you too were once slaves in Egypt."
As it says in the preamble to the Constitution, "to form a more perfect union." Racism has never been monolithic, and motives in history have frequently been contradictory. General William Sherman militarily freed thousands of slaves, treated them well personally, but also held personal beliefs consistent with what today would be categorized as white supremacy.
That said, history should be taught, maybe not to the specs of an AP course with an ideological bent, but pain will be present nevertheless. The question for educators then becomes how to use that pain to uplift people. How about compare and contrast Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address and Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in their respective times?
CHARLES VERMONT
Bentonville
Warrants attention
After reading that a student was hit after being dropped off at Pulaski Heights Middle School, I would like to vent. I have lived on Lee Avenue for 30-plus years. Have witnessed so many wrecks and speeders. Pulled out recently and someone passed at probably 40 mph in the wrong lane with a double line. A friend was T-boned a few years ago turning into my driveway this exact way.
I look at speed checks every day in the Democrat-Gazette and I assure you there has never been a speed check on Lee Avenue. I once was told Lee will never have a speed bump or stop sign as it is some sort of emergency evacuation route. Not sure about this, but I am certain it is so heavily traveled it warrants attention, and ironically many of the speeders are school buses.
PRISCILLA GRAY
Little Rock