Mediaboss Marketing

Time is running out

I just read the article titled "Still no relief deal." I am very distressed that the last benefits expired on July 31 and there is still no relief in sight.

When I was much younger, there was a saying that half a loaf is better than none. Even though, as a newly converted Democrat, I'm disgusted by the mingy and mean-spirited Republicans led by Mitch McConnell, who are afraid to give "too much" to those who have nothing, I would encourage the Democrats to get anything they can out to those who are in desperate need, even if it means going back to the well later.

I understand that this is not the show of strength that Ms. Pelosi and the Democrats would prefer, but people need to be housed and fed, and time is running out.

RON JACOBS

Little Rock

On liberty and justice

The selection of judges should not be political and should be a nonpartisan process. Judges should not be influenced by political biases and appointed by elected politicians. To perform their constitutional duty, judges have to answer to the law and the Constitution--not to political pressure.

Depoliticizing the bench is as old as this nation. Alexander Hamilton said, "there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separate from the legislative and executive powers." If judges had to depend on the executive or legislature to keep their jobs, Hamilton wrote, judges would have "too great a disposition to consult popularity" instead of consulting "the Constitution and the laws," and we could not expect the "inflexible and uniform adherence to the rights of the Constitution, and of individuals, which we perceive to be indispensable in the courts of justice."

Governing our nation and administering laws and justice is not a game to be influenced by bias, prejudice, and outside political forces. It should be based on fairness and legal justice. The Constitution and laws of this nation were set up to reduce bribery and corruption out of its political offices and judges. Our democracy and justice cannot survive should such standards be ignored. We need people and judges with a moral compass that desires justice. Until this is done we will never have liberty and justice for all.

JERRY WAYNE DAVIS

Hot Springs

We must have hope

The headline of an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette last Wednesday morning read: "States face pressure to ban hairstyle prejudice." I woke up that morning after watching what I was hopeful would be a presidential debate the night before. I'm still waiting for a debate. Over 200,000 of my neighbors have died during the last six months from something called covid-19. People are marching in the streets, hopeful that their efforts will affect legislation for the good of the order.

With things in the condition they are these days, I often surprise myself that I'm yet hopeful. After living for 70 years, I've come to realize that faith breeds hope. Do you have hope? If so, I pray that neither of us ever loses it. If we ever do, heaven help us.

HOSEA LONG

Little Rock

Will fight for freedom

Socialism is not communism. People in my generation spent a large part of our lives fighting communism. We know what communism is, and it is not socialism. If you like your Social Security, Medicare, military, public schools and roads, fire and police departments, you are a socialist, not a communist. Communists want to destroy capitalism. Socialists do not want to destroy the goose that lays the golden egg.

Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Russian leaders have feared European aggression. They defeated both Napoleon and Hitler. Stalin created vassal states around Russia to protect himself against aggression. Putin is trying to do the same today, only now he has a like-minded, would-be dictator in the White House to help him. Fortunately, our fathers created a world order in 1945 to preserve freedom for everyone. Now that world order is under attack by the American president.

The United Nations charter was drafted in the United States and signed by the five permanent members on Oct. 24, 1945, to preserve peace and freedom in the world. The charter is a a treaty requiring all member states to respect and observe "human rights." Human rights were defined in the Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948. The nations of the world recognized in 1945 that when nations do not respect human rights, human beings will go to war to take what is rightfully theirs: freedom!

But what is freedom without food, water, and clean air? What is freedom if we have to live underground due to global warming? People will go to war to protect human rights. Look what is happening in Hong Kong and Belarus. If you want people to live peacefully, protect their human rights. Take them away, and there will be war.

RUUD DuVALL

Fayetteville

Critical census work

Kudos to Kara Wilkins and all of the volunteers who participated in Arkansas Counts. They combed our "natural state" to make sure that all of our inhabitants were counted and included in the very important 2020 United States Census. This census will impact the federal dollars our state receives during the next decade.

Many thanks to all the volunteers who supported this critical task.

PAUL BASH

Little Rock

See the rest here:
OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Time is running out | On liberty and justice | We must have hope - Arkansas Online