New Year’s wish list
Another year of traveling across and writing about Arkansas begins. Here are things I would like to see happen in our state in 2024:
▪ I would like to see Arkansas voters step up in this election year and rid the Legislature of Know Nothings, those preening men and women who have made the current edition of the General Assembly the worst of my lifetime. Some can be taken out this spring in the primaries. Others will be defeated in November.
With noxious Washington-style politics having fully infected the state Capitol, the time has come for voters to ignore party labels and vote for those who will improve life in Arkansas rather than play divisive national political games. We live in a small state. It’s not difficult to educate ourselves and discover who cares more about advancing Arkansas than advancing their small-time political careers.
▪ I would like to see the governor learn from her disastrous first year in office (in which she earned the highest negative ratings of any Arkansas governor in decades in every poll that has been conducted) and surround herself with wise advisers who have a long history in the state. These must be people who give her the unvarnished truth so she won’t go down as one of the least effective governors in Arkansas history.
Am I optimistic that Gov. Sarah Sanders will do this? No. It’s often said that voters get the government they deserve. For now, Arkansans have to live with the fact that a majority of voters in November 2022 chose a shallow, overly ambitious, paranoid political operative who cares more about getting on Fox
News than she does about governing Arkansas.
▪ I would like to see Arkansas voters make the Freedom of Information Act a part of the state Constitution so future governors and legislators won’t constantly attempt to weaken the law. Government transparency is essential to preventing corruption. I’m too young to remember much about the Faubus years, but last year’s convening of a special legislative session by our governor in an attempt to destroy the law was the most disturbing act in my half-century of keeping up with what happens at the state Capitol. It’s time for Arkansas voters to take things into their own hands and protect their tax dollars from graft.
▪ I would like to see daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, radio stations that still focus on local news, and online news sources thrive. Democracy will suffer without media watchdogs in all 75 counties. We’re fortunate to have one of the few remaining statewide newspapers in the country, but we can’t cover it all. There must be local reporters who keep an eye on school boards, city councils and county quorum courts. Support local news coverage with your subscriptions and advertising dollars. Just ask those who have lost news outlets how much they miss them.
▪ Speaking of school boards, city councils and county quorum courts, I would like to see good people get involved by running for office or working to elect those who do. Too many educated Arkansans have stayed on the sidelines, which has led to fringe characters being elected.
Trust me, the Know Nothings aren’t confined to the Legislature. At school board meetings, you now have members drone on about non-issues such as vaccination mandates and critical race theory rather than real issues such as student achievement rates and budgets. Perhaps they should quit watching cable news and instead get to know actual teachers and administrators.
▪ I would like to see Arkansans rally around their local libraries, which play an important role in this state. Library employees find themselves under attack by extremist organizations (even county Republican women’s groups have been taken over by the fringe in many parts of Arkansas) and clownish legislators such as Sen. “Book Ban Dan” Sullivan of Jonesboro. I travel to all 75 counties and can tell you that the strongest places economically and educationally tend to be those with the strongest libraries. The anti-intellectual forces that have become loud in Arkansas are a clear and present danger. If the type of informed citizens who read the editorial page of this newspaper don’t speak up for our libraries, no one else will.
▪ I would like to see more private landowners become part of quail restoration efforts being undertaken by Quail Forever and the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. Current efforts not only will result in the return of the bobwhite but also will help stem the loss of other grassland birds and the pollinators that are essential to Arkansas farmers. We’re either serious about this being the Natural State or it’s only an advertising slogan. God has blessed us with abundant natural resources. We must do a better job protecting and restoring those resources.
▪ Along those same lines, I would like to see more people get behind the idea of outdoor recreation being an economic driver for the state. We have world-class opportunities when it comes to hunting, fishing, hiking, cycling, canoeing, kayaking, bird-watching, rock climbing, freshwater scuba diving, hang-gliding and more.
Arkansas should be to the central third of the country what Colorado is to the western third—a place for people to get away from major metropolitan areas in order to enjoy outdoor recreation. We’re fortunate to have a large amount of private capital being invested to improve recreational offerings. Additional big announcements are on the way this year.
▪ I would like to see a concerted effort to keep the state’s streams clean. I’ve recently written about efforts to clean Fourche Creek in Little Rock. I’ve also saluted on social media those working to clean up the Saline River. We’ve ignored these treasures for too long. AGFC has a program called Stream Teams that could create an army of volunteers who will adopt creeks, rivers and bayous. In a state with so many miles of beautiful streams, our Stream Team program should be the best of its type in America. That would send a message to those looking to invest in our outdoor recreational economy.
▪ I would like to see us make Keep Arkansas Beautiful the model program of its type. We need dozens of additional chapters picking up trash, planting wildflowers and doing other things to improve quality of life. I relish the natural beauty as I travel this state. But I also notice junk in front yards and trash along the highways. We can do better.
It not only will improve our tourism numbers. A cleaner state also will help convince young talented people to live here. A clean environment is critical when it comes to attracting and retaining the type of people our state must have in order to succeed in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.
▪ While on the subject of young talented workers, I would like to see our governor and 135 legislators realize it’s time to stop starving higher education. We’re not going to make a move in the national rankings when it comes to increasing per capita income until that happens. It’s that simple. We must have far more people with either an associate’s degree from one of the state’s two-year schools or a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctorate from one of our four-year colleges and universities. Refusing to provide adequate resources to state colleges and universities is a recipe for economic disaster in the decades ahead.
▪ I would like to see business and civic leaders realize that quality-of-life amenities are key to economic development in this century. We’re talking revitalized downtowns, improved parks, lots of hiking and biking trails, quality restaurants and craft breweries, historic preservation efforts and more.
It’s no longer just about attracting manufacturing plants. Economic development has changed, but too many folks in Arkansas have yet to get the message. We’re still into the smokestack chasing of the 1950s and 1960s. It’s time to move forward as a state.