Embarrassing to state

Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address. Her speech was full of hateful accusations, self-serving and embarrassing to Arkansas. She accused President Biden of destroying everything that Donald Trump built. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Trump spent four years fomenting hate and lying to us. Governor Sanders stated the left had started a fight with the Republicans. If standing up to hate and loving our constitutional rights is picking a fight, then so be it.

When she announced her education program on the state Capitol steps, Republican legislators lined up behind her looking like sheep. Her program will do great harm to public education in Arkansas and do nothing to help students excel. Small and rural school districts may be forced to close and their respective communities will lose their sense of identity. Charter school and private school corporations will garner a great many public dollars in profit and do little to improve public education. Sanders’ plan will create segregated schools. Arkansas spent hundreds of millions of dollars over decades to integrate schools. Here we go again.

Recently, on a trip to Helena, she handed out to public school students the far-right indoctrination booklet “Why America Matters,” written by Ben Carson. This book presents his odd view of patriotism which he equates to his religious belief. So much for the indoctrination she rallies against.

Sarah was Trump’s chief spokesperson for a number of years and helped spread his hateful rhetoric. She said in her speech that the choice is between normal or crazy. It is her party that includes a mentally deranged Marjorie Taylor Greene, a dishonest George Santos, a seditious Donald Trump, a preference for autocracy, and an embrace of a bigoted Christian nationalism movement. Where is the normalcy in that group?

JOHN ROLLANS

Little Rock