New Year Resolutions
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