The Pursuit of Happiness

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I used to chase women and money all day every day. Now, I walk the dog twice a day. I have success with the dog. We see various neighborhoods up close and personal and she does her business in a timely and productive manner. If there’s a downside to the walks it’s the litter we see. There’s plenty of it and it’s almost everywhere.

The dog and I see litter differently. She gets excited and runs over to it as fast as she can. Sometimes she eats it and once in a while, she wants to roll around in it. She wiggles and jiggles and has a hell of a good time.

I don’t like it. Litter is the purest example of disrespect for public and private property. Who disrespects property? Anarchists, that’s who. Show me people who litter and I’ll show you nihilists utterly incapable of satisfying any interest other than their own. Sort of like the people who’ve been buying our representatives and senators in the Arkansas State Legislature. They throw money into the dirt and politicians roll around in it.

I happen to respect Gov. Asa Hutchinson and think he’s a decent guy. Sadly though, he’s a traditional Republican who heads a Party that’s been taken away from him by transactional Christian nihilists like State Representative Bob Ballinger. Rep. Ballinger, currently running for the State Senate, directed $8500 of General Improvement Fund money to the thoroughly corrupted Ecclesia College. Unlike his colleagues Jon Woods, Mica Neal and Jake Files – and Ecclesia President Oren Paris – Ballinger hasn’t been indicted or found guilty of anything… except taking taxpayer money and littering it outside of his district. If Hutchinson wants to keep our respect he should tell voters how he’s going to stop guys like Ballinger from tossing tax money to special interest sweethearts – and say how he’s going to fix the blatant corruption within our state legislature.

Stopping litter, whether on our streets or in government, starts with teachers, parents, churchgoers, and within peer groups. If we don’t keep politicians on a leash – by voting and insisting on honest government – we can bet they’ll act like dogs.