Truth, lies and not-quite lies

By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The election is over. The good news is, there will be another one in two years.

That’s the good news? Yep. Elections – annoying, divisive and cacophonous – are one reason we live in a free and prosperous country. We could have been born elsewhere, perhaps North Korea. There, instead of 30-second political ads interrupting our pleasant evenings, our televisions would bombard us with propaganda about the Supreme Leader who is actually keeping us subjugated, impoverished and isolated.

Still, seeing the glass half full doesn’t mean we ignore the empty part. Our politics has flaws, including this: far too many not-quite-lies.

What is a not-quite-lie, and how do you spot it? In politics, look for two types. Continue reading →

Questions and guesses for Tuesday

vote, Mark Moore, 16-year-olds, Arkansas primaries, Goodson, photo IDBy Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

There’s not much of a question who the next governor of Arkansas will be after Tuesday’s election: It will be Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Nor is there doubt about the winners of most of the other major races: Anyone with an “R” beside their name.

But many questions do remain. Let’s ask some of them, and then guess what the answers will be.

– Will the Democrats take the Hill, or will their candidate Tucker out? If Democrats are going to win any big races, it’s the 2nd Congressional District, where state Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, had raised almost $2 million as of Oct. 17 in his bid to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark.

The race is potentially competitive because of the district’s composition – Democratic-leaning Little Rock surrounded by Republican-leaning counties – but the numbers favor Republicans. Continue reading →

A tale of two elections

By Steve Brawner

© 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Voters in two very different countries have been going to the polls recently.

One is the world’s oldest continuous democracy. It enjoys prosperity to the point of excess, a stable government and the rule of law. Voters have weeks to go to the polls and usually face at most the inconvenience of a short wait, probably inside.

The other does not have a democratic tradition. In some ways it’s less a country and more of a collection of factions, including violent ones, contained within an arbitrary international border. It avoids collapse only through the presence of heavily armed foreigners concentrated in its capital city. Government corruption is rampant.

As its election neared, one of its factions threatened citizens that polling places could be attacked. That’s what happened. At least 28 people have died, including in one attack by a suicide bomber who killed 10 civilians and five police officers at a polling site north of the capital.  Continue reading →

The caravan, the pipe bomber and the truth

By Steve Brawner, Copyright 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

There’s what we know to be true, suspect to be true, want to be true, and don’t care if it’s true. As much as possible, we should strive to make the first three the same, and stay away from the last one. Unfortunately, too often it’s the last three where we make our home. That brings us to two separate news items this week: the caravan and the pipe bomber.

Here’s what we know to be true about that caravan: Thousands of Central Americans are so desperate to flee gang violence and poverty that they’re trying to march all the way up Mexico to get to the United States. Look at a map or a globe, and try to imagine the enormity of that task. As of Thursday, they’d traveled 95 miles in six days with more than 1,000 miles to go in the Mexican heat. No wonder many have already dropped out.

A society that most values what it knows to be true would respond by asking itself difficult questions about its responsibility. If they make it, do we help them, or do we turn them away? There are reasonable arguments for both.

Unfortunately, truth is not always our highest aim. The president of the United States charged one day that the caravan included “Middle Easterners,” and then later said he had no proof of that. When he originally made the charge, did he suspect it was true, want it to be true, or not care if it was true? Meanwhile, some Americans are openly questioning, again without proof, if the caravan is being funded by liberal political forces like billionaire George Soros who somehow want to influence the upcoming and future elections. Continue reading →

How I’m voting, and how I could be wrong

Alabama, blue wave, school boards, Hixson, Breanne, red tide, judicial electionsBy Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Your ballot probably will list five statewide issues, but votes will be counted on only three of them. I’m voting against all three, and I could be wrong on all three.

We’re down to three after the Arkansas Supreme Court last week pulled from the ballot Issue 1, which would have limited lawsuit awards and attorney’s fees, and Issue 3, which would have tightened the state’s legislative term limits.

That leaves Issue 2, an amendment requiring voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box; Issue 4, an amendment issuing four casino licenses; and Issue 5, an initiated act increasing the minimum wage.

Continue reading →