On Arkansas as "hillbilly heaven"--and a political laughingstock

1952 image that appeared in Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, under heading
"Arkansas Postcard Past" on March 12, 2022

Rex Nelson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette penned a column titled "Hillbilly Heaven," which appeared in Sunday's paper.  After tracing the origins of Arkansas's association with hillbillies, Nelson links that image to the state's recent politics.  

Arkansans long have been obsessed with their image ... the most damaging thing to our national image in recent years has been the rapidly declining quality of legislators.The 2021 regular session of the Arkansas Legislature was an embarrassment that received national media attention. In the May 24 Republican primary, Arkansans can vote for moderate, pragmatic candidates, removing the remaining obstacle to an exciting era in our state. Even Democrats and independents have an obligation to vote in the GOP primary. That will help ensure that the group I refer to as the Know Nothings is banished, becoming simply a sad chapter in the state's history. When I began voting at age 18, I voted in the Democratic primary even though I considered myself a Republican. That's where the action was. Now, winning the Republican primary is tantamount to election in most parts of Arkansas. That's why those who care about the future of the state must vote in the GOP primary--some for the first time in their lives. They can knock out Know Nothing incumbents along with the Know Nothing challengers to quality GOP incumbents.

"The Legislature is going to automatically be better because the most divisive members are either running for higher office or leaving politics," a leading Republican legislator told me. "Then, if a few primary races go the right way, it will get a whole lot better. Most Republican members don't like the position the extremists have put them in. They'll actually be relieved." Know Nothings don't make up a majority. The majority of legislators belong to the group I call the Cowards. These men and women live in fear that they'll be defeated by a candidate from the right fringe if they stand up to the Know Nothings. They're particularly afraid of a fringe group known as Conduit for Action. It's largely funded by one person and has a paid operative.

Oh my!  Tell us more.  As a relative outsider (I left Arkansas in 1989 and have since lived there only in 1992-93), I have no idea who the Conduit for Action is. 

There are few signs of grassroots support. Because they're loud and because they're bullies, political extremists always leave the impression that there are more of them than is actually the case. If reasonable Arkansas voters do the right thing May 24, perhaps the Cowards will realize their fear of Conduit was foolish. It doesn't help, of course, that the party's leading candidates continue to play to the fringe. Even poor ol' U.S. Sen. John Boozman is out there fighting culture wars and touting an endorsement from the disgraced former president. Boozman is a good man who loves Arkansas. I have no doubt he will look back as a retired senator one day and be deeply embarrassed by the 2022 primary campaign he felt he had to run. He has received poor advice in crafting his campaign against candidates from what fellow columnist John Brummett accurately describes as the GOP's nut-right wing.

Then there's gubernatorial candidate Sarah Sanders, whose ads continue to tout her efforts to hold off the radical left, which the last time I checked consisted of five people in Arkansas (two in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Little Rock, two in Fayetteville, and one in Eureka Springs). Sanders' only primary opposition comes from an obscure character who's so extreme he was unable to hold a job in the loony world of far-right talk radio. Yet she continues to raise money from gullible Trump cultists nationwide. Even though she's sitting on millions of dollars, Sanders sent out a recent fund-raising appeal expressing fear that she would no longer have enough money to fill up the campaign bus due to high gas prices. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.  

What Boozman and Sanders don't consider is the fact that their ads insult the thousands of educated Arkansas voters who are still out there. They're playing us for fools, assuming we're all as delusional as the Stop the Steal crowd. I travel Arkansas enough to realize that's not the case. This is a state filled with smart people who do their part to help Arkansas achieve its potential. Why can't our candidates appeal to the best in us rather than the worst? It's important that Boozman win on May 24. The alternatives are too terrible to contemplate. And whether you like her or not, Sanders is going to be the next governor.

(emphasis mine).