Avoiding extremism
Dear editor:
The former president keeps appearing in the news, but not for anything positive. The items focusing on Mr. Trump are usually about how his company is being investigated or how the ones using his endorsement in the recent primaries lost. Of course, we saw such ambiguities during his four years as president. He appointed many to different cabinet positions and later fired many of them when they openly disagreed with his actions.
Several he got in were folk of high moral standing and positive reputations, and those were the ones he quickly fired. Others, we learned, were of dubious character from the beginning -- and for the most part, they stayed.
Now Mr. Trump is supporting another questionable person. He has endorsed a woman running for the Michigan state legislature who wants to ban contraception, and "impose the Christian moral order." Jacky Eubanks, according to an article in Rolling Stone magazine, said abortion and gay marriage lead to chaos and destruction, and that "contraception gives people the false sense of security that they can have consequence-free sex."
Is this woman in her right mind? If my history is correct, contraception devices have existed for a very long time, and for very good reasons.
I should think her proposal would not get very far because her very thought of it is far-fetched. Also, her proposal of imposing the Christian moral order is a continuing echo of such far right-wing thinking that suggests we create a theocracy to replace our democracy.
Ms. Eubanks, and others like her, need to be reminded that our Constitution was created as a secular document, not a religious one.
The strong Christianity of the majority of the population one cannot deny.
But one must remember that our break from England was over "taxation without representation" and over a powerful church supported by the state of England. Once the colonies were organized, all but one soon adopted a colony church. Rhode Island was the exception, allowing total religious freedom.
We have in our history experienced one period of theocracy. The founding fathers fought hard to avoid a repeat, thus making certain that our Constitution itself does not contain even the word "God." I suggest that Ms. Eubanks, as well as Ms. Greene -- a persistent proposer of far-fetched ideas -- reread their American History and let it soak in. The GOP would do well to avoid promoting such folk who exhibit such extremism.
John W. "Doc" Crawford
Arkadelphia
Jazz Society event
Dear editor:
I was fortunate last night that I decided at the last minute to attend the Hot Springs Jazz Society's event at the Garland County Library. The entertainment for the evening was Hot Springs' own Jonathon Van Houten and his band, Blackstrap.
What a treat it turned out to be. Jonathan is a superb multi-instrumentalist, and the two members of his band are superb. Jonathan led the group through jazz, pop, rock, and blues numbers on guitar, bass, saxophone, flute and vocals, delighting the crowd with his versatility.
Thanks to the Jazz Society for its ongoing efforts, and be sure and catch Jonathon and his group at your first opportunity.
Doug Calloway
Hot Springs