To explain our title, Corrupticians is a portmanteau of the words “corrupt” and “politician”. Given the state of politics today, we believe Corrupticians predominate.
When confronted by a gnarly problem, there’s always a moment when things become clear. Many times it’s not until after the fact, but even in hindsight things do become clear. That’s the way it is with us and the Republican Party of Arkansas (RPA). We’ve been actively Republican for over 40 years now, and always thought that the Party of Lincoln was the place that people who wanted smaller government, lower taxes, maximum freedom, and who maintained their relationship with God was the Republican party.
We were partially correct. You don’t get any of those things if you put a “D” after your name in today’s world; however, you don’t get them most of the time if you follow those with an “R” either.
Politics in Arkansas is a microcosm of national politics, and our state party, the RPA, is a miniature version of the national party, the RNC. Today, the RPA has managed to make itself into a place where it isn’t what you know, or even who you know, it’s who you’re subject to. If you aren’t obeying the power leaders you don’t count.
We’ve heard stories of how the Governor (and not just this one, but previous heads of the state) “leans” on people to get things done, and how if you don’t fall in line, you get a notation next to your name that you’re not a “true believer.” So Arkansas, though smaller than DC, is still a swamp.
Then they find out they can’t get anything done without being beholden to votes cast by some other politician who will call in the favor when their own bill needs support. All of a sudden, they’re voting for bills they don’t support because someone did it for them. Dishonest, corrupt, power games are the soup de jour, and doing the people’s will is a distant second to not pissing the Governor off. It takes a special kind of person to be a politician, and that isn’t a compliment.
The grassroots have been naive in the past, but we think we finally got the message. Our opinion is RPA has a revolution on its hands, caused by RPA’s own disregard for the people who actually vote them into office. It’s been a long time coming and now that it’s here it won’t be pretty.
At a minimum some party faithful will have to go away. The people, now fighting for control, will either win — with the confusion and infighting that accompanies any revolution — or the people will lose and the Republican party in Arkansas will go back to playing second fiddle to the Democrats.
Either result is not exceptionally desirable, but something needs to be done about the dishonesty of a political system that rewards weak characters by giving them more power, even if that power is only an illusion from the people’s viewpoint. If Regnat Populus is to really mean something, the people must regain control of the political arena now controlled by hucksters, snake oil salesmen, and corrupt lawyers.
It’s time politicians are made to realize that no matter how much money they raise, no matter how many trips they’re “given,” no matter what pressure the Governor puts on them to do things a certain way, without the voters they’re just a bunch of also-rans. It’s time all politicians realize they work for us, the people. It’s time outfits like the RPA realize that their power is derived from us, the voters. And it’s time they’d better find out what we want and get it done.
When a politician goes to Washington or Little Rock, or to city hall, they’re all the same – public employees hired to do our will, not theirs.
They all need to remember, those we hire we can also fire.
The people of Western North Carolina are still without meaningful government assistance. We ask that you continue to do all you can to help them, especially with the current heavy snow forecast.
We recommend Samaritan’s Purse or Mercury One as already on the ground and doing excellent work. Thank you.
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