Voters will remember

This is a letter I sent to Arkansas’ two senators. Other readers might be interested in reading it and encouraged to speak up to those who represent us in the Senate.

I realize how difficult it is for most Republican members of Congress to oppose the program of President Trump and the congressional leadership in pursuing the the president’s promise to Make America Great Again. True leadership requires courage, integrity, imagination, and a mind that can go beyond clichés and slogans to find and embrace the truth. Our present-day politics could not survive if many men and women fulfilled those requirements. That is why most politicians are followers rather than leaders. Voters can only hope that the leaders are going in the right direction and that the rest will have the good sense to follow them. And that when the leaders are going astray, someone else will call them out on it.

Fortunately for the Arkansas delegation, other members of Congress have already taken the lead in opposing the contents of the Senate bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. You need only go along with those who have taken that first step. They have stuck their necks out. I believe you have a better chance of surviving if you follow them instead of hanging back, ignoring the interests of your constituents and of the country. Follow those leaders and announce your opposition to the bill and work for a health-care law that will address the needs of all citizens at a cost they can afford.

I think the voters will remember what you do.

ETHEL C. SIMPSON

Fayetteville