By Steve Brawner
© 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Time magazine annually names its “Person of the Year,” or “Persons,” and in that spirit I write a little column about my Arkansan of the Year. This year, Time chose President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, wrongly. This was not the year to name an elected official.

But I will name one as the runner-up in Arkansas: Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The Arkansans who rank ahead of him are in my next post.

Time’s Person of the Year is based not so much on greatness or even goodness but on impact and significance, which is why it’s chosen Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin in the past.

Under that standard – impact and significance – Hutchinson would surely qualify. Who knew the governor could be so important? His actions have more directly affected all Arkansans’ lives this year than any elected official’s have since … maybe Franklin Roosevelt?

Consider what the governor has done this year under a continuing state of emergency. While he followed the recommendations of the experts, he was the one ultimately responsible for sending almost half a million Arkansas students home from March until the end of last school year, and then reopening schools under a drastically different model. Each student’s family was affected by these decisions, which in turn affected each family’s employers. The governor’s administration closed and then reopened restaurants, gyms, hair salons and other businesses. He mandated that Arkansans wear masks. He asked but did not mandate that churches hold services distanced or online, and they did.

But usually Time’s selection is also meant to be an honor, and so is this column. The governor offered a steady, strong, reassuring hand during this tumultuous year.

Throughout this process, he’s been criticized by those who said he was doing too much, and by others who said he was doing too little. Some downplayed this deadly virus, or even questioned its existence. Others acted as if the governor should declare martial law until the virus disappeared – as if that would be possible in a single, small state surrounded by a big country.

The governor had to act. We are in World War III – this time against a virus, not a nation. And when even a free country is at war, elected officials ask or require citizens to relinquish some of their freedoms and conveniences for the common good.

But no, the governor could not simply shut the state down. Arkansans were never going to shelter in our homes indefinitely, and most of us could not do so, anyway. The government can print all the checks it wants, but at some point an economy must produce something. People must make a living, and there is no greater killer than poverty. People also eventually must get out of the house and see each other, though they should do so responsibly in a pandemic. Students need to be in school where caring teachers can help them learn, or notice that they’ve worn the same clothes for three days, or be the first to see the bruises.

Throughout this process, the governor has had to balance what he thought should be done versus what he knew Arkansans would accept. It’s called being a politician, which should not be an insult. He’s also had to balance sometimes competing priorities: public health, the economy and individual liberties among them.

And also generational fairness. We are trying to protect everyone, but especially our most vulnerable people, particularly senior citizens. Every life is precious. Old lives matter. But at the same time, how much should we ask young people to sacrifice? A prom? Regrettably, yes, at least until we figured out what we were facing. But they shouldn’t be asked to sacrifice their schooling.

No doubt, the governor did not balance all of these perfectly all the time. If your standard is that every time he flips the coin it must land on its edge, then he failed.

But that’s a skill that persons do not have – not even persons of the year. When persons are faced with competing priorities, they do the best they can in support of both, and then sometimes they have to choose one or the other.

That’s what Gov. Asa Hutchinson did during this nightmare of a year. He provided balance and stability. He was decisive and resolved, in addition to being impactful and significant.

For all of these reasons, he is the Arkansan of the Year – almost.

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.