OPINION | GEORGE S. SMITH: America, the ill | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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Today, America is not good. It is not fine. It is ill. It has a fever that is raging through all demographic segments of the population. It is a virus that is infecting millions in our country.

The country has fierce infighting occurring in the arenas of politics, race relations, constitutional issues, education of our children, health care of all residents, and the lack of logic and common sense on key issues. And don't forget the big division in the economic difference between haves and have-nots, and the immense power that money has in politics.

But even in its present weakened condition, it is still better than anyplace else we can envision on this planet.

That could change Nov. 5, election day.

Total dissatisfaction in the way government is performing is thrust upon us by the two-edged sword of politics; power politics practiced by both parties has divided this country today worse than any time since the Civil War. That's not new information, it is real; you can feel it ... at the dinner table, church, school, and at work.

The problem, we all know, is our elected officials. For the most part, they seek four things: Power, prestige, respect and money, not necessarily in that order.

This is not what Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams and the rest of the frontier ruffians and dandies dreamed up when they formed this imperfect union and carefully ticked off those elements they deemed absolutely necessary to form a new nation.

Equality? Check! Freedom of speech? Assembly? Religion? Right to bear arms? Freedom of the press? Check! Check! Check! Check!

Those rights and others are guaranteed under the law of the land. Really? Are all rights protected? Certain elements of the press, instead of taking the moral and ethical high road, do whatever they can to increase the volume of the hate-debate. Why? Ad revenue and additional viewers.

How many times have you heard someone repeat a "fact" they picked up on a morning news talkathon, or a thread from Truth Social or the renamed Twitter, and pass it along, verbatim, as their own revelation?

A majority of Americans have become lemmings, blindly following the politico du jour without having a single thought to check out "facts" and "figures" independently. It is a fact (and, please, look it up) that both candidates for president, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, misrepresent the truth at times. Some statements are just a mistake; some are intentional lies.

They both use warped statistics at times to prove a point; they both have misrepresented past events and often use a double mouthful of gobbledygook to cloud what should be a simple issue: "I was against it before I was for it before I was against it."

What bothers many Americans is the out-and-out lies told in the heat of battle, as candidates work to pick up certain segments of voters. You know the biggest lies, right?

The U.S. military is not weak; we have the strongest army on the planet. Or my opponent has helped weaken the military, putting us all at risk.

Any proclamation that includes the word "guaranteed" is suspect, at best.

One cannot reduce the deficit by introducing new programs without a companion plan to raise revenues or cut expenses. Any politician who claims he or she can pay for new programs by cutting waste in government is lying. It's been stated before and it has never happened. "Trust me" is an automatic clue that one should vote for the other person.

If you are one of those who believe the last four years have been horrible, then get ready for another four years of the same division and rancor regardless of which candidate is elected. Barack Obama's election drove the closet racists to do their worst not to give him a second term. When that didn't work, the Do-Nothing Concept of governing went into high gear.

To end the stalemate in Congress--the us versus them mentality--the U.S. must have term limits for elected officials, must limit campaign expenditures, and dismantle the Electoral College and go with popular vote.

Dependent thinkers (dependent on party or candidate palaver and special-interest pabulum) and money-hungry officials are guaranteeing (there's that word!) that the current do-nothing attitude and vitriolic division in basic principles of governing will continue.

Can we endure more of the same? The purveyor of change is reading this diatribe right now. Yes, you.

Change will never come from Washington. It must come from Main Street, U.S.A.

George S. Smith of Emmet is a former longtime Arkansas editor and publisher.

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OPINION | GEORGE S. SMITH: America, the ill | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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