Acronyms abound in the political arena.
Some make sense and some are silly.
Some are short and easy to remember, i.e., PAC (Political Action Committee) and FOB (Friends of Bill).
Down through the decades, Hot Springs residents have certainly seen their fair share of how acronyms are applied to various grass roots political groups that support one cause or another.
Unfortunately, a number of these AWBFC (Asserting What's Best for Community) organizations take great pleasure in opposing what city government or some other local entity is doing or has done and in protesting rather than participating in problem-solving efforts.
For instance, in July 1990, a group that called itself SOC (Save Our City) and was against the city manager form of government filed suit in Garland County Circuit Court to force a vote on the issue prior to the Nov. 6 election date set by then-Mayor Melinda Baran.
As The Sentinel-Record pointed out in its July 21 editorial, "SOC is following in the footsteps of its older cousin, REACH (Retain Equality At City Hall) whose representatives or 'friends and associates' twice went to court in 1986 over the election to change from a strong mayor/alderman form of municipal government to the present city manager administration."
The newspaper went on to say that "rather than argue the merits of its campaign against the present city of government, SOC prefers to litigate the matter, forcing the city to waste critical dollars in defense of its position," adding that "supporters of SOC or REACH of whatever the anti-city manager contingent of the time chooses to call itself, espouses this philosophy: we refuse to join them, we can't beat them, so let's sue them."
Later that month, the newspaper commented that "Save Our City or SOC has been hung out to dry," noting that the citizens' group "has disbanded, declaring victory in its purpose for being -- to petition and call for an election on changing the form of government in the city of Hot Springs."
And let's not forget that in 2013, a true and widely diverse coalition of concerned citizens and supporters of good government and economic growth for Hot Springs "crushed" yet another ballot proposal to change our form of government back to a mayor/alderman system.
The Hot Springs electorate rejected the measure by a margin of 92 percent to 8 percent or with 2,720 saying "Nay" and just 242 voting in the affirmative.
Even so, we can always expect individuals who have axes to grind or bones to pick with the city or with a particular sector of our populace to continue to try and "SOC" it to us.
Meanwhile, I guess we new day GOGs (Good Ole Gals) and GOBs (Good Ole Boys) will have to muster on and speak out for the home TEAM (Tested, Energized And Mobilized).
Editorial on 02/01/2016