Berryville’s Arts District, Eureka Springs, has become the epicenter of an energetic and revitalized political outreach to residents of Carroll County. Members of the local Indivisible movement went to Washington and landed in the hoosegow for expecting representatives to meet the people they were elected to represent. And the Carroll County Democratic Party has organized a litter clean up near the Kings River bridge, begun recruiting and training potential candidates for office, and ventured out for meet and greet sessions in Berryville’s eastern suburbs. They’ve even reached out to me, the first time in over 20 years that local Democrats seemed aware of my existence. That felt good, but Democrats have a rough road ahead.
By example, the Sage of Green Forest – as late as last week – was comparing Donald Trump to Winston Churchill, and chided a Trump critic for being duped, and for “falling for that mainstream media fake news.” The Sage was unmistakably telling the guy he was too stupid to sort through fact and fiction.
Well, it’s possible. Although “the guy” is an army veteran, has an advanced degree, been successfully and steadily self-employed for more than 30 years, never been unemployed, always paid taxes, and over the years probably invested more than a million dollars in Carroll County, it’s conceivable he’s too stupid to figure out fake news from real news. I mean, it’s possible, right?
The Churchill-Trump comparison may be a bridge too far, though. It’s true that Churchill and Trump were both Trust Fund Babies, but Churchill came under fire in a foreign war, had years of public service experience, led his nation through crisis, was faithful to his wife, drank decent whiskey, wrote his own books, and spoke in complete sentences. Trump didn’t, wasn’t, doesn’t, hasn’t.
So yeah, the Democrats have their work cut out for them. First, they’ll need to convince people they won’t nominate another tired old War Hawk and PAC Hack for President.
And then they’ve got to change the Sage of Green Forest’s heart and mind, an even tougher job than convincing adolescent fantasists, a.k.a. Libertarians, that money should flow in more than one direction.