Be the solution

Qualifier: I am an independent. I have been elected to public office as an independent (city council post) and as a Democrat (justice of the peace) and announced for state senator as a Republican (forced to drop out after a medical issue).

To me, party labels don’t hold precedent over commitment to excellence in the performance of duty to the constituents one is elected to serve. So, like Donald Trump, who has registered as all three political critters at some point, I have tested the political waters and drank from different pools of knowledge, philosophies and experience.

To take it a step further, I have voted for three Republican presidents — Ronald Reagan and Bushes 1 and 2, one time each. I listen to the message, look at the platforms and opponents, then make a decision. And, as editor and/or publisher of newspapers in four states, I voted for one Republican governor — Winthrop Rockefeller of Arkansas in 1970.

Both parties have attracted gadflies; politics tends to attract folks with oversized egos, delusions of grandeur, scalawags prone to embellishing their resumes and importance, and schemers and dreamers who have nothing to offer the average voter except a mouthful of promises and handfuls of poof!— empty shells in expensive suits.

Now is the time for every person eligible to vote to stop, think, research, analyze and determine for themselves the future of this country. This self-analysis should be done without relying on social media “experts” armed with opinions based on toxic rumors and blabber- mouthings of posters trying to find an audience to their own brand of political philosophy.

The point is — the truth is — the United States is in trouble. No opinion. Fact.

The division in this county is multi-faceted — political, cultural, race-based, religious-centric. The current cultural environment is even reaching into the personal lives of residents — what they can read, when and where and how they can vote, who they love.

There have always been blatant examples of prejudice in the U.S.: It wasn’t that long ago that black Americans were not counted on the census as a “full” person, that women couldn’t vote, that voting necessitated a “poll tax” on certain citizens.

We’re better than that now, as we enter the new year.

Are we? Are we, really? The answer lies within each of us; how we react to the problems facing this nation in the near future will determine this nation’s final destiny. Be the solution, not part of the problem.

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George Smith is a former reporter, editor and publisher at several Arkansas newspapers.