The demagogues reign
Since entering Congress in January 2011, U.S. Rep. Rick Craw- ford has been about as much of a nonentity as one can imagine on Capitol Hill.
The former rodeo performer hasn’t led the way on any significant issues and has never had the courage to speak up to even the worst offenders as his party spiraled into a state of intellectual and moral bankruptcy.
Arkansas’ geographically sprawling 1st Congressional District essentially has been without representation in Washington since 2011.
Following the 2020 election, Crawford was among those who supported a frivolous lawsuit by the ethically compromised attorney general of Texas. The lawsuit challenged election results in four states carried by Joe
Biden. The cowardly Crawford then went so far as to object on the day of the U.S. Capitol insurrection as Congress worked late into the night to certify election returns from Pennsylvania and Arizona.
I wrote in a January 2021 column: “The attack on the Capitol was all too predictable. Here in Arkansas, the saddest thing these past two months was the lack of courage shown by elected officials as Trump and his co-conspirators called into question what was without a doubt a fair presidential election. The faith of voters in a fair outcome is the bedrock of American democracy. Through their silence, Arkansas officeholders were accomplices in the attack on democracy. History will not remember them kindly.
“The worst of the bunch is Crawford, who kept up his attack on democracy through his votes just hours after an invasion by people clearly intent on harming his House colleagues. … I think about the story of Brooks Hays of Arkansas, a congressman and president of the Southern Baptist Convention. As a member of Congress, Hays tried to mediate a standoff between the federal government and Gov. Orval Faubus during the 1957 Little Rock Central High School integration crisis. He paid the price the following year when a write-in candidate, segregationist Dale Alford, beat him.
“To Crawford and those like him, I ask this question: ‘Is an office worth having if being re-elected to that office forces you to sacrifice your integrity?’ Hays knew the answer. It’s an ugly, indelible stain, Congressman Crawford. Arkansas history will record the actions of those in office at this critical period in our nation’s history.”
I had hoped that 2024 would finally be the year when Crawford would have strong opposition. But a guest column last month in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by Rodney Govens of Cabot, the Democratic candidate in the 1st District, made it clear that this won’t be the year. Playing the role of small-time demagogue, Govens waded into the Buffalo River issue, helping spread the disinformation that has been rampant in the Ozarks for months.
As I outlined in a series of columns last year, the Buffalo River debate was a textbook example of how disinformation can spread from social media into the mainstream. Many of the lies came from a conspiracy-riddled site known as the Newton County Arkansas Chit Chat. Unfortunately, prior to my reporting on the issue, normally reasonable conservation groups and media figures were quick to believe the disinformation.
Even usually reliable Arkansas Business repeated the fiction in its end-of-the-year issue, stating that a change in status from a national river to a national park and preserve could lead to state rather than federal control. That’s false. That could only happen if it changed to “reserve” status, which no one has proposed. There’s a big difference between a reserve and a preserve.
Buffalo National River desperately needs increased funding from the National Park Service. Whether a change in status from national river to national park and preserve is the way to achieve that additional support isn’t a question I can answer. We need to be able to have the discussion without overly ambitious politicians fanning the flames of discontent.
As one civic leader in Searcy County told me: “There’s so much misinformation being posted on social media from all political positions, both left and right. There are always some who see an opportunity to sell fear for personal gain. I feel sorry for those who are absolutely convinced they’re on the verge of being forced off their land. They’re scared to death. It’s crazy.”
Govens attended public meetings in Jasper (which isn’t even in the 1st District) and Marshall (which is in the district) and then wrote that “elected officials and wealthy private individuals have been discussing the future of their land without bothering to include the actual landowners in the discussion.”
That, of course, is untrue. The discussions regarded the future of the national river, which belongs to all American taxpayers, not private landowners. One would expect such lies from pseudo-populist demagogues such as state Sen. Bryan King, but not from a serious congressional candidate. Alas, Govens isn’t serious.
Politically, Govens’ decision to focus on this issue makes no sense. If he were serious about beating Crawford, he would be in the Jonesboro-Paragould corridor (the district’s population base), stressing his competence and courage rather than trying to appeal to the Trump crowd in the hills.
Arkansas needs to be a two-party state. I’m glad the Democratic Party is fielding a large number of candidates this year. But if Govens’ guest column is an example of the choices we’re being given, the party isn’t ready for prime time. We already have enough demagogues. The GOP has seen to that.