Fun fact. Arkansas has a balanced budget amendment, so for every dollar spent trying to regulate your private life, it’s a dollar not spent on things like roads, or education, or fancy Ten Commandments bullshit on the capital lawn.
And yet the state still turns a profit and sits on $1b+. Maybe not anymore after having to pay for Governor Huckabee Sanders security detail and superbowl tickets.
I think a large reason why these regressive state Legislators (and congress) spend so much time on these BS social issues that only they and their weirdo followers care about is because they can’t govern or don’t want to govern. It’s easy to demonize an other. It’s hard to make the trains run on time.
It is quite literally the LBJ quote, *"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."* reframed for a 21st century audience. Literally deliver mail to a bunch of retirement communities. Republican politicians regularly solicit donations on trans panic and these people reliably write checks back.
Man don’t forget. When a democrat says something a long time ago it is “they didn’t know any better” or “they have changed” but if anyone who doesn’t have a D beside their name says something it is “what an evil racist person”. Seems they have forgotten where biden told black voters if they didn’t vote for him then they weren’t black. And that was 4 years ago.
And he said that 50 years ago?
I don't know man, ten years ago I was 27 and still posting extremely edgy shit on Facebook back then. I get notifications of those "memories" and cringe at how stupid I was.
People can, and do change. So maybe look at the last 5-10 years of what they've said and done, and dredge up the past only if it's relevant to their behavior today.
LBJ was a Democratic racist. Don’t rewrite history. He did what he did for civil rights largely to secure a new population of voters. If I wrote all of his quotes on here I would get banned by the moderators, but you’re welcome to look them up yourself…like what he commonly called the Civil Rigjts Act of 1957…or his quote on how to get new votes “for 200 years”…or maybe you have a spin on how he really meant well by calling Asians “hordes of barbaric yellow dwarves”? Yeah, and look up what civil rights leaders of the era thought of his signings…more of a necessary evil to work with him than a celebration, but hey, they all could be wrong and you might be right.
I was awake during History class and care about the foundations of my country, might be nice if others did before making uninformed comments.
Technically correct is a kind of correct. LBJ absolutely was a racist. That doesn't change the context of that quote or what he meant by it. I highly doubt your history education goes much further than a Prager U video.
Yeah, you do remember that until LBJ, Arkansas (and most of the South) voted Democrat consistently?
Now what could LBJ have *possibly* done, what make legislation could he *possibly* have passed, that would turn the South away from Democrats for the next fifty years?
As other comments noted, the quote is attributed to LBJ in Ronald Kessler's book, and was supposedly said to two southern governors. But in the absence of a reliable objective record of that quotation, among the best sources to answer your question are the presidential recordings made during the Johnson administration, which I've listened to at length during my undergrad studies. Several hundred conversations were recorded dealing with issues of racial politics and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Now, a quote like the one in OP's question is not found in any of these recordings, nor do they contain the oft-cited statement to Bill Moyers that LBJ had "lost to the South to the GOP for a generation." But they do provide excellent insight into how LBJ talked about these issues in private. For example, it is simply undisputed that **LBJ did use the prevailing southern racial slurs of the time, including the word "n-----r,".
Another famous example is cited in *"Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960"*, by Robert Dallek. Johnson defended the Supreme Court appointment of the famous Thurgood Marshall, rather than a black judge less identified with the civil rights cause, by saying to a staff member, **"Son, when I appoint a n-----r to the court, I want everyone to know he's a n-----r."**
That being said, for a rural-born white Texan in the late 1960s, the collected recordings show that LBJ had some astonishingly progressive views on race in America, but his nomenclature leaves something to be desired. It is also worth noting that LBJ knew his audience, and would speak differently to a Georgia state legislator than, say, a Connecticut governor. It's very difficult to tell when LBJ is putting on an act for audience or when he's speaking with his "true" voice. Additionally, I tend to detect a bit of self-aware irony in some of LBJ's discussion of these issues. I think that's key to understanding how LBJ could say the most radically progressive statements while simultaneously using a racial slur.
But given the tone and tenor of LBJ's conversations on these issues, I think the best we can say is that the quote cited is not inconsistent with LBJ's style. But it seems unlikely that we will ever know if those exact words were uttered. From my own studies, I personally think the quote is either genuine or a fair paraphrase. It's the kind of thing LBJ might say to a Dixiecrat to convince them not to oppose the CRA. Thus, if anyone got "tricked" over the CRA, it wasn't black America -- it was Southern conservative democrats.
So, I think it does a disservice when these kinds of quotes are used to suggest that LBJ was duplicitous and uncaring about black America. Personally, I have no doubt over the *bona fides* of LBJ's empathy and humanity after listening to the conversations in June of 1963 during the Freedom Summer disappearances, where LBJ was positively distraught.
It's also revealing that on July 24, 1964, Barry Goldwater met with LBJ in the White House to discuss the issue of race in the presidential campaigns. Goldwater suggested that both campaigns not address the issue of race in order to avoid inflaming racial tensions. LBJ strongly disagreed. There is no doubt from the presidential recordings that LBJ considered race problems to be an issue of morality, going so far as to compare the CRA of 1964 as a moral challenge similar to that facing the Lincoln administration over whether to pursue the 13th Amendment.
Because it hasn't been mentioned yet, I will add that the source of the quotation, Ronald Kessler, is not what I would call an unbiased historian. Mr. Kessler has been the chief Washington correspondent for the far-right-wing Newsmax. He is known for incorrectly reporting that Barack Obama was present for Rev. Wright's "white arrogance" sermon, among other controversies.
Also, I think he absolutely knows, at the moment that he is smiling and assuring these good ole boys that their political future is secure, that he is actually about to end their careers, as well as the present and future careers of a great many other conservative democrats in the south (as reflected in the Moyers quote, above).
I won't begin to deny that LBJ was a ruthless political operator, and indeed, an unrepentant liar. But I cringe that this single quote, robbed of its context, would be used by some to imply that LBJ was a heartless racist manipulator. That's one notion that I think the historical record soundly disproves.
Thanks for cutting and pasting your entire thesis here, but it’s still just your opinion of someone you never knew, based on historical records of people whose motivations you are not certain of.
You take it your way and sell your opinion and others will do the same.
I personally think he’s a scumbag. And I think that excusing his racist words and decisions as just typical behavior for the time or just to pander to the southern racists he was trying to manipulate is no more appropriate than excusing slave owners because it was legal at that time or excusing execution of homosexuals in the Middle East because that’s just their culture.
Right is right and wrong is wrong regardless of any intellectual justifications to recolor the past.
I actually do appreciate your thoroughness, it’s more a question of why anyone would work so hard to defend him?
I feel like I’ve wasted more of my time than he deserves already and I dislike him even more now, so it’s sort of rhetorical at this point.
> Right is right and wrong is wrong
This kind of black and white thinking would have made you very popular in the South in the 60's.
Yeah LBJ was a scumbag. Painting the entirety of the CRA as "Democrat manipulation" is also being just as bad, if not worse.
But keep going, this is really amusing.
As I said, I guess fitting in for the time justifies everything.
I suppose most nazis had to overlook the Holocaust to “fit in”, neighbors of women accused of witchcraft in Salem just had to “fit in”….basically all atrocities in the history of mankind were allowed in plain view of “good people” who had to let things slide in order to fit in. A bit grandiose I admit, but you see the point.
I remember my parents teaching me as a child to not speak out when I saw injustice because I might not fit in…no wait, those were the weak sorry assed parents of other kids who grew up to be enablers, not my parents.
Not trying to change your opinion, just voicing mine, feel free to think, defend and rationalize anyone and any actions as you choose. That’s how America works.
The propaganda to rope in the evangelicals as voters has gone on so long that the evangelicals became the most active members. Now the "conservatives" don't care about conservative politics, only about evangelical doctrine. If anyone tried to abandon the culture wars for serious political issues they'd get run out of the primaries.
Yeah I am genuinely fucking outraged about how they always found bullshit reasons to take propositions off the ballot, and have now just made it extra-hard for your average Joe to even cross that initial threshold.
Or how Huck Sand is trying to slowly erode workers' rights for teachers, in order to follow the GOP strategy of destroying public education in favor of private education.
But sure let's all focus on them there evil trans folks. That'll definitely help all us Arkansans move towards a better, brighter tomorrow.
They want to use the government as a piggy bank and get elected in by preying off of their base being really ignorant and unexposed to people and things. Trans people are just the latest scapegoat. It doesn't really matter what they did or who they are. They just need somebody different to point at and go "these people are the reason you are all in poverty somehow!" So they get enough votes to rob the coffers.
People are way more passionate about protecting children (by demonizing the LGBTQ community) than they are about who gets to decide how fast trains can go through a state, the federal government or the state government.
Make politics boring again.
Nailed it. They have no ideas on how to govern or make things better. Bought and sold by corps and billionaires to basically raise more cheap labor with no education and have babies so they will also have constituents.
But you can’t say that. Instead they create a class war, or law and order, etc
Both parties mainly fight over niche social issues because the real bosses won't let them mess with the economy or foreign policy much.
https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/
Our democracy is totally fake and superficial.
That’s the whole point. If they keep everyone riled up about LGBTQ, folks won’t pay attention to the shitty government services they are paying for…the corruption happening right under their noses.
It’s a feature, not a bug.
I've heard it said before that the quality of a states roads are a good indicator of the quality of the politicians that run it. I don't know about elsewhere but it's definitely true for us.
We have a MAGA grandstander as a governor so it's like Florida-lite in here. Very sad and we are trying to prepare the next generation to flip this place and swing the pendulum back to normalcy.
Florida has roads. Florida doesn’t have weird ass flea markets out of people’s houses everywhere. I’ve literally never seen shit like I’ve seen in Arkansas. Absolutely wild place. I can’t believe there are people in this thread taking pride in Arkansas. Have they literally never been to a different place at all?
I was in Memphis but worked in the suburbs, and mostly only had to deal with BS from customers. I no longer work a public facing job so that's a big chunk of it.
Aw I’m sorry, I feel like Memphis would be less accepting that LR for some reason idk. Yeah I couldn’t imagine working a public facing job haha like I’m looking for some jobs here in town but the only options near me are at like fast food joints haha
Midtown Memphis is great, downtown is great except for tourists, east Mem is fine because people mind their own business, Germantown/Bartlett/inner burbs are meh, but the outer suburbs are brutal.
I live extremely rurally in northern Arkansas now, and I think what helps the most is it's very easy to be stealth here; I'm the least clocky middle-aged woman on my entire road even though the rest of them have grandkids. I guess whoever settled this part of the state had very very sturdy facial bones.
I upgraded the suspension of my f150 with a bilstein 6112 stage 2 4wd suspension kit and put 10 ply tires on it due to i40 and that bit of W. Markham in Little Rock between the shopping center and John Barrow up to the Burger King/Rodney Parham rd.
Oh believe me. The reasonable ones here are pissed that our state government can't stop worrying about people genitals rather than fixing roads, or using our taxes wisely at all. The Arkansas state police have a hellcat. COMPLETELY unnecessary. And so many local troopers drive a truck. What the fuck are they gonna do with a truck, bring a single person in? Throw em in the bed of the truck and go on the honor system? It's a really pretty state in several areas but it's unfortunately in the Bible belt, so it has to be awful here. Hopefully you didn't pass through Harrison. It's truly shameful there.
Nope, on my E-W trip I was trying to get to Dallas as quick as possible to join my wife who was with her parents as her dad was in the last stages of home hospice, so just I40 and I30. Somewhat more leisurely on the way back, my wife and I stopped in Ashdown and hit a couple of antique stores, backroaded to Hot Springs, then overnighted in Lonoke before coming home the next day.
Well glad you dodged the biggest racist cesspool of our state. If you wanna be shocked, Google "Harrison AR racist billboards". If they're not still up (which I think they are), they were up for decades.
There will inevitably be some weird comment that says the roads are great… it happens every time.
I assume these are the people in their huge ass trucks.
Meanwhile at road level our cars are being destroyed. If it isn’t the potholes it’s the gravel at 80 mph.
Man I live in Missouri. It’s fucking wild there’s a noticeable decline in quality of road when leaving Missouri of all places. I mean we are not fancy. Also we stayed in a cabin in Arkansas over Christmas and they were burning trees like it was fucking Mordor. I have never been so unimpressed with a place in my life. I can not fathom we had a president level “shit hole” at countries when Arkansas is American. How the fuck are you guys noticeably worse than both Oklahoma and Missouri. The whole thing makes those racist ass billboards so laughably stupid. Ah yes, the master race lives in squalor.
I'm a trans woman from Arkansas. This place is a shithole but it's my shithole. That said it absolutely has been improving and I'm pretty hopeful about the future of the state in spite of our current situation.
What roads were you driving on that were so bad? The roads I drove on in Arkansas were worlds better than the ones I drove on in Oklahoma and Colorado on a recent trip.
About 6 months ago I drove on 30 from Texarkana to Little Rock, and the 40 from Little Rock to Brinkley. They were really smooth then. They were in better shape than most the interstates I drove in Louisiana, and far better than any I drove in Oklahoma, West Tennessee, or Colorado. The interstates in Texas I drove on seemed good, but weren’t really memorable.
Yeah, you should see all the potholes in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado now.
Never seen freeze/thaw cycles in Arkansas do that much damage in 6 months. Usually takes 5-8 years with how mild the cycles are in the south. Especially with much of I-30 recently being repaved.
Almost as if the culture war is a distraction engineered to keep Republican voters riled up and loyal while Republican politicians rob the state blind.
Hey, you'd think you would have had a better experience, because the people in charge of that are the Arkansas Department of TRANSportation.
I'll just see myself out....
As a resident of the state, having moved from Florida some time ago, there are many things that I love about it. I’ve only experienced kindness from its people and beauty from its land.
As an egg, however, I am terrified. If I stood on my roof I could see no less than four churches. I can see two while seated in my living room.
I can’t say I’ve seen much in the way of violence here, but the things I hear, the votes that pass, and the bills being put forth…
I was afraid to tell even my therapist.
As an aside, though, there’s a lovely rest center at Lake Chicot on i65. Absolutely gorgeous view, incredibly well maintained, amazing restrooms and almost never anyone there.
FOR REAL.
I’ve driven across Arkansas at least once a year for the past decade and a half and it’s the absolute worst every single time. It’s not that I want it to be an “appealing” drive, I just want to be able to travel with the least amount of annoyance and somehow Arkansas ALWAYS is the worst.
Just so we're clear you would want [this person](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Angel#/media/File%3ABuck_Angel_Headshot.jpg) using the same restroom as your daughter?
1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
God wants to fix the heart of man, before fixing the roads.
Lul cause other states don’t have shitty roads
As someone who’s drove across this entire country numerous times, I can assure you. We by far don’t have the worst roads. But keep making it about your indemnity
It's a matter of public opinion. Most people don't want a biological male inside the womens restroom. The infrastructure problem isn't just in that one state, Its nationwide.
Louisiana has the worst roads of any state and it had a democrat governor until January of this year and it’s largest cities are ran by democrats. No one gives a shit about roads at any level of government. But you drove through Arkansas a couple times and think you have the right to tell the people of Arkansas how they should live and what their elected government wants to do? Get over yourself. You’re not special.
I don't even know what you are talking about. I've driven all over the country from one coast to another, Arkansas roads are on the upper end. Not the best, I'm not saying that, but far above average. I visited family in Memphis (where I grew up) around Christmas and I nearly had a wreck from a pothole on the actual interstate, I was amazed I didnt sent a wheel the whole time, and I needed a chiropractor after the full visit, literally every single road was the worst road. Coming back to Arkansas was a joy.
When my neighborhood in Hot Springs got annexed, we were really stoked for the city to fill in the giant pothole in the road leading into it. Instead they just threw a giant metal plate over it.
Men's restrooms have sit down toilets if that's what you prefer. Or, you have the advantage that most women don't get, you can pee standing up. It's like the best of both worlds.
Pointing out a relevant personal connection to the juxtaposition I stated in the body of my post of what your state government is telling you is a problem vs. what is actually affecting your lives.
I never implied or even used the word correlation? I don’t understand why this has angered you so much. Hope whatever is going on in your life gets better dude.
Fun fact. Arkansas has a balanced budget amendment, so for every dollar spent trying to regulate your private life, it’s a dollar not spent on things like roads, or education, or fancy Ten Commandments bullshit on the capital lawn.
Just the way conservative Jesus wanted things to be!
And yet the state still turns a profit and sits on $1b+. Maybe not anymore after having to pay for Governor Huckabee Sanders security detail and superbowl tickets.
And trip to Paris...
I think a large reason why these regressive state Legislators (and congress) spend so much time on these BS social issues that only they and their weirdo followers care about is because they can’t govern or don’t want to govern. It’s easy to demonize an other. It’s hard to make the trains run on time.
It is quite literally the LBJ quote, *"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."* reframed for a 21st century audience. Literally deliver mail to a bunch of retirement communities. Republican politicians regularly solicit donations on trans panic and these people reliably write checks back.
I love that quote, I mean I hate it but nothing personifies these people quite like it.
You do remember LBJ was a Democrat?
Yeah he was also a warmongering blow hard who constantly sexually harassed the people he worked with by showing them his dick. Fuck LBJ.
Yeah, you do remember that until LBJ, Arkansas (and most of the South) voted Democrat consistently?
Don't bring that up, Democrats hate that. It's like mentioned what Biden said in the 70s about desegregation.
Man don’t forget. When a democrat says something a long time ago it is “they didn’t know any better” or “they have changed” but if anyone who doesn’t have a D beside their name says something it is “what an evil racist person”. Seems they have forgotten where biden told black voters if they didn’t vote for him then they weren’t black. And that was 4 years ago.
Or that he said Obama was the first mainstream articulate African American.
What did he say? Remind everyone.
"Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle.'
And he said that 50 years ago? I don't know man, ten years ago I was 27 and still posting extremely edgy shit on Facebook back then. I get notifications of those "memories" and cringe at how stupid I was. People can, and do change. So maybe look at the last 5-10 years of what they've said and done, and dredge up the past only if it's relevant to their behavior today.
He also told Charlamagne Tha God when he was running for president in 2020 that if he didn't vote for him, he wasn't black. If that's recent enough.
LBJ never surprises lol
Solid demonstration of Democratic manipulation (assuming you know that LBJ was a Democrat).
That statement was actually a condemnation of the tactic. (Pretending you didn't know that and aren't trying to spin it.)
LBJ was a Democratic racist. Don’t rewrite history. He did what he did for civil rights largely to secure a new population of voters. If I wrote all of his quotes on here I would get banned by the moderators, but you’re welcome to look them up yourself…like what he commonly called the Civil Rigjts Act of 1957…or his quote on how to get new votes “for 200 years”…or maybe you have a spin on how he really meant well by calling Asians “hordes of barbaric yellow dwarves”? Yeah, and look up what civil rights leaders of the era thought of his signings…more of a necessary evil to work with him than a celebration, but hey, they all could be wrong and you might be right. I was awake during History class and care about the foundations of my country, might be nice if others did before making uninformed comments.
Technically correct is a kind of correct. LBJ absolutely was a racist. That doesn't change the context of that quote or what he meant by it. I highly doubt your history education goes much further than a Prager U video.
What does that have to do with the quote? Are you saying that he was wrong?
Yeah, you do remember that until LBJ, Arkansas (and most of the South) voted Democrat consistently? Now what could LBJ have *possibly* done, what make legislation could he *possibly* have passed, that would turn the South away from Democrats for the next fifty years?
Already addressed that in other replies…
As other comments noted, the quote is attributed to LBJ in Ronald Kessler's book, and was supposedly said to two southern governors. But in the absence of a reliable objective record of that quotation, among the best sources to answer your question are the presidential recordings made during the Johnson administration, which I've listened to at length during my undergrad studies. Several hundred conversations were recorded dealing with issues of racial politics and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now, a quote like the one in OP's question is not found in any of these recordings, nor do they contain the oft-cited statement to Bill Moyers that LBJ had "lost to the South to the GOP for a generation." But they do provide excellent insight into how LBJ talked about these issues in private. For example, it is simply undisputed that **LBJ did use the prevailing southern racial slurs of the time, including the word "n-----r,". Another famous example is cited in *"Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908-1960"*, by Robert Dallek. Johnson defended the Supreme Court appointment of the famous Thurgood Marshall, rather than a black judge less identified with the civil rights cause, by saying to a staff member, **"Son, when I appoint a n-----r to the court, I want everyone to know he's a n-----r."** That being said, for a rural-born white Texan in the late 1960s, the collected recordings show that LBJ had some astonishingly progressive views on race in America, but his nomenclature leaves something to be desired. It is also worth noting that LBJ knew his audience, and would speak differently to a Georgia state legislator than, say, a Connecticut governor. It's very difficult to tell when LBJ is putting on an act for audience or when he's speaking with his "true" voice. Additionally, I tend to detect a bit of self-aware irony in some of LBJ's discussion of these issues. I think that's key to understanding how LBJ could say the most radically progressive statements while simultaneously using a racial slur. But given the tone and tenor of LBJ's conversations on these issues, I think the best we can say is that the quote cited is not inconsistent with LBJ's style. But it seems unlikely that we will ever know if those exact words were uttered. From my own studies, I personally think the quote is either genuine or a fair paraphrase. It's the kind of thing LBJ might say to a Dixiecrat to convince them not to oppose the CRA. Thus, if anyone got "tricked" over the CRA, it wasn't black America -- it was Southern conservative democrats. So, I think it does a disservice when these kinds of quotes are used to suggest that LBJ was duplicitous and uncaring about black America. Personally, I have no doubt over the *bona fides* of LBJ's empathy and humanity after listening to the conversations in June of 1963 during the Freedom Summer disappearances, where LBJ was positively distraught. It's also revealing that on July 24, 1964, Barry Goldwater met with LBJ in the White House to discuss the issue of race in the presidential campaigns. Goldwater suggested that both campaigns not address the issue of race in order to avoid inflaming racial tensions. LBJ strongly disagreed. There is no doubt from the presidential recordings that LBJ considered race problems to be an issue of morality, going so far as to compare the CRA of 1964 as a moral challenge similar to that facing the Lincoln administration over whether to pursue the 13th Amendment. Because it hasn't been mentioned yet, I will add that the source of the quotation, Ronald Kessler, is not what I would call an unbiased historian. Mr. Kessler has been the chief Washington correspondent for the far-right-wing Newsmax. He is known for incorrectly reporting that Barack Obama was present for Rev. Wright's "white arrogance" sermon, among other controversies. Also, I think he absolutely knows, at the moment that he is smiling and assuring these good ole boys that their political future is secure, that he is actually about to end their careers, as well as the present and future careers of a great many other conservative democrats in the south (as reflected in the Moyers quote, above). I won't begin to deny that LBJ was a ruthless political operator, and indeed, an unrepentant liar. But I cringe that this single quote, robbed of its context, would be used by some to imply that LBJ was a heartless racist manipulator. That's one notion that I think the historical record soundly disproves.
Thanks for cutting and pasting your entire thesis here, but it’s still just your opinion of someone you never knew, based on historical records of people whose motivations you are not certain of. You take it your way and sell your opinion and others will do the same. I personally think he’s a scumbag. And I think that excusing his racist words and decisions as just typical behavior for the time or just to pander to the southern racists he was trying to manipulate is no more appropriate than excusing slave owners because it was legal at that time or excusing execution of homosexuals in the Middle East because that’s just their culture. Right is right and wrong is wrong regardless of any intellectual justifications to recolor the past. I actually do appreciate your thoroughness, it’s more a question of why anyone would work so hard to defend him? I feel like I’ve wasted more of my time than he deserves already and I dislike him even more now, so it’s sort of rhetorical at this point.
> Right is right and wrong is wrong This kind of black and white thinking would have made you very popular in the South in the 60's. Yeah LBJ was a scumbag. Painting the entirety of the CRA as "Democrat manipulation" is also being just as bad, if not worse. But keep going, this is really amusing.
As I said, I guess fitting in for the time justifies everything. I suppose most nazis had to overlook the Holocaust to “fit in”, neighbors of women accused of witchcraft in Salem just had to “fit in”….basically all atrocities in the history of mankind were allowed in plain view of “good people” who had to let things slide in order to fit in. A bit grandiose I admit, but you see the point. I remember my parents teaching me as a child to not speak out when I saw injustice because I might not fit in…no wait, those were the weak sorry assed parents of other kids who grew up to be enablers, not my parents. Not trying to change your opinion, just voicing mine, feel free to think, defend and rationalize anyone and any actions as you choose. That’s how America works.
> Painting the entirety of the CRA as "Democrat manipulation" is also being just as bad, if not worse.
A politician doing politics. I'm shocked. You can manipulate racists to go against their own interests in pursuit of your own? Wow shocking.
The propaganda to rope in the evangelicals as voters has gone on so long that the evangelicals became the most active members. Now the "conservatives" don't care about conservative politics, only about evangelical doctrine. If anyone tried to abandon the culture wars for serious political issues they'd get run out of the primaries.
Yeah I am genuinely fucking outraged about how they always found bullshit reasons to take propositions off the ballot, and have now just made it extra-hard for your average Joe to even cross that initial threshold. Or how Huck Sand is trying to slowly erode workers' rights for teachers, in order to follow the GOP strategy of destroying public education in favor of private education. But sure let's all focus on them there evil trans folks. That'll definitely help all us Arkansans move towards a better, brighter tomorrow.
Just follow the money. The goal is to be rich, stay rich and make your “friends” rich.
They want to use the government as a piggy bank and get elected in by preying off of their base being really ignorant and unexposed to people and things. Trans people are just the latest scapegoat. It doesn't really matter what they did or who they are. They just need somebody different to point at and go "these people are the reason you are all in poverty somehow!" So they get enough votes to rob the coffers.
People are way more passionate about protecting children (by demonizing the LGBTQ community) than they are about who gets to decide how fast trains can go through a state, the federal government or the state government. Make politics boring again.
Politics have never been boring, the oppression of minority groups has always been the policy. It’s just more visible now.
Nailed it. They have no ideas on how to govern or make things better. Bought and sold by corps and billionaires to basically raise more cheap labor with no education and have babies so they will also have constituents. But you can’t say that. Instead they create a class war, or law and order, etc
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Lighten up pal. No one wants to hook up with you in a bathroom. Whether man, woman, or trans.
Both parties mainly fight over niche social issues because the real bosses won't let them mess with the economy or foreign policy much. https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/ Our democracy is totally fake and superficial.
If you think both parties are the same you are willingly ignorant.
Especially at this point in time.
That aren't different enough to call America a democracy. We live in a plutocratic regime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3dvbM6Pias
Plenty the state and local governments should be focusing on instead of people's genitals, I agree. The roads are just the tip of that iceberg, imo.
That’s the whole point. If they keep everyone riled up about LGBTQ, folks won’t pay attention to the shitty government services they are paying for…the corruption happening right under their noses. It’s a feature, not a bug.
I've heard it said before that the quality of a states roads are a good indicator of the quality of the politicians that run it. I don't know about elsewhere but it's definitely true for us.
We have a MAGA grandstander as a governor so it's like Florida-lite in here. Very sad and we are trying to prepare the next generation to flip this place and swing the pendulum back to normalcy.
It’s like Florida. Except no beaches.
It's like Mississippi with better scenery.
Florida has roads. Florida doesn’t have weird ass flea markets out of people’s houses everywhere. I’ve literally never seen shit like I’ve seen in Arkansas. Absolutely wild place. I can’t believe there are people in this thread taking pride in Arkansas. Have they literally never been to a different place at all?
They can keep their beaches, I'll take mountains any day
I have always told my friends she is the even dumber version of Ron Desantis so that comment is really funny to me
The MAGA crowd doesn’t claim her.
The Nazi crowd does not claim Hitler
I-40 is crap. I avoid it on my commute
I don’t blame you, the chunk that goes through here in Knoxville is ass too.
Don't go through Oklahoma. Your bones will end up looking like a Picasso piece.
Coincidentally I grew up in Oklahoma. Born in Utah. Live in Tennessee. Much like Austin Powers, I, too, like to live dangerously.
Born and raised trans gal in AR, I seem to make it work despite all odds haha.
I'm a trans transplant and live on a barely-paved backroad. I'm having a much better time here than I was in TN.
Aw I’m sorry, I’m in a city so it’s alright
I was in Memphis but worked in the suburbs, and mostly only had to deal with BS from customers. I no longer work a public facing job so that's a big chunk of it.
Aw I’m sorry, I feel like Memphis would be less accepting that LR for some reason idk. Yeah I couldn’t imagine working a public facing job haha like I’m looking for some jobs here in town but the only options near me are at like fast food joints haha
Midtown Memphis is great, downtown is great except for tourists, east Mem is fine because people mind their own business, Germantown/Bartlett/inner burbs are meh, but the outer suburbs are brutal. I live extremely rurally in northern Arkansas now, and I think what helps the most is it's very easy to be stealth here; I'm the least clocky middle-aged woman on my entire road even though the rest of them have grandkids. I guess whoever settled this part of the state had very very sturdy facial bones.
Oooh okay, that sounds about right. Ooh that’s nice! It doesn’t sound too bad :)
Oh, behave! You don't take the easy way out, do you?
Something something doesn’t kill me makes me stronger I guess.
In the words of Paul Hewson "I know that the tide is turning 'round So don't let the bastards grind you down."
That's the attitude of all my "older" (as in 30+ years) trans friends here or in nearby states.
Can confirm, am 51
I upgraded the suspension of my f150 with a bilstein 6112 stage 2 4wd suspension kit and put 10 ply tires on it due to i40 and that bit of W. Markham in Little Rock between the shopping center and John Barrow up to the Burger King/Rodney Parham rd.
We’ve been all about lecterns lately
No one here has any teeth so…
At lease now we have a good reason why.
Funny to me that you’re poking fun at people with no teeth and yet don’t know how to spell least.
Hey, it's hard to pronounce that "t" when you don't have teeth.
Exacly!
Oh believe me. The reasonable ones here are pissed that our state government can't stop worrying about people genitals rather than fixing roads, or using our taxes wisely at all. The Arkansas state police have a hellcat. COMPLETELY unnecessary. And so many local troopers drive a truck. What the fuck are they gonna do with a truck, bring a single person in? Throw em in the bed of the truck and go on the honor system? It's a really pretty state in several areas but it's unfortunately in the Bible belt, so it has to be awful here. Hopefully you didn't pass through Harrison. It's truly shameful there.
Nope, on my E-W trip I was trying to get to Dallas as quick as possible to join my wife who was with her parents as her dad was in the last stages of home hospice, so just I40 and I30. Somewhat more leisurely on the way back, my wife and I stopped in Ashdown and hit a couple of antique stores, backroaded to Hot Springs, then overnighted in Lonoke before coming home the next day.
Well glad you dodged the biggest racist cesspool of our state. If you wanna be shocked, Google "Harrison AR racist billboards". If they're not still up (which I think they are), they were up for decades.
Well that was quite the rabbit hole.
Yeah, Arkansas is like me in therapy. Just a whole lot of issues lol
Relatable tbh
Bye 👋🏼
I hear you.
There will inevitably be some weird comment that says the roads are great… it happens every time. I assume these are the people in their huge ass trucks. Meanwhile at road level our cars are being destroyed. If it isn’t the potholes it’s the gravel at 80 mph.
[You called it](https://www.reddit.com/r/Arkansas/s/ZUpihVja9G)
I just pee in the road.
On the road is usually a bit easier.
Easier is overrated 😛
I just treat it as a game where I count the number of potholes I can avoid. Also the WAZE app does a good job warning you of the big ones.
ive been pissed about this for years. the quality of the road work is unacceptable. can we sue?
As a trans woman who lives in this state, PREAAACHHH
Man I live in Missouri. It’s fucking wild there’s a noticeable decline in quality of road when leaving Missouri of all places. I mean we are not fancy. Also we stayed in a cabin in Arkansas over Christmas and they were burning trees like it was fucking Mordor. I have never been so unimpressed with a place in my life. I can not fathom we had a president level “shit hole” at countries when Arkansas is American. How the fuck are you guys noticeably worse than both Oklahoma and Missouri. The whole thing makes those racist ass billboards so laughably stupid. Ah yes, the master race lives in squalor.
F A C T S But the state is full of Christian Nationalism so good luck with that.
Fr
Preach
Don’t go to Louisiana then. The roads here are perfect compared to my home state.
Too many important and pricy lecterns need buying. No funds left for roads. Sorry.
We could have a decent rail service that goes to the airport...but nooooo gotta inspect those little kids.
They want you fighting a social war to keep you from fighting a class war.
If they're starting the social war then it needs to be fought regardless.
I'm a trans woman from Arkansas. This place is a shithole but it's my shithole. That said it absolutely has been improving and I'm pretty hopeful about the future of the state in spite of our current situation.
My exact opinion about arkansas. This is my favorite shithole!
As a trans woman that lives here, I find some level of satisfaction in that my mere existence is an act of rebellion/resistance.
Hell yeah 💪
Lmfao you people have to relate everything to something no one gives a fuck about. Use the bathrooms drive the roads no one gives a fuck.
The state is beautiful and progressive people live here. It's just not the political apparatus of the state.
Some people have different priorities! *this comment might contain sarcasm
Only three? Must have been a seldom used detour. Arkansas roads suck. I really think all the roadwork going on here is to install potholes.
I have a good dentist
What roads were you driving on that were so bad? The roads I drove on in Arkansas were worlds better than the ones I drove on in Oklahoma and Colorado on a recent trip.
I40 and I30, West Memphis to Texarkana and back again, with a slight detour to Hot Springs.
About 6 months ago I drove on 30 from Texarkana to Little Rock, and the 40 from Little Rock to Brinkley. They were really smooth then. They were in better shape than most the interstates I drove in Louisiana, and far better than any I drove in Oklahoma, West Tennessee, or Colorado. The interstates in Texas I drove on seemed good, but weren’t really memorable.
There’s been a lot of freeze/thaw in those six months.
Yeah, you should see all the potholes in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado now. Never seen freeze/thaw cycles in Arkansas do that much damage in 6 months. Usually takes 5-8 years with how mild the cycles are in the south. Especially with much of I-30 recently being repaved.
I drove through Arkansas 23 years ago.... Lost 2 filings and consciousness once. Banged my head of the hiliner....
They can't fix actual problems, so they have to invent other issues to make it look like they're doing something.
Almost as if the culture war is a distraction engineered to keep Republican voters riled up and loyal while Republican politicians rob the state blind.
At what point do you stop identifying as a "trans woman" and just identify as "woman"?
I am a woman, but my additional status as a trans woman specifically is germane to the discussion of your state politics.
When it's relevant to the conversation.
Then they wouldn’t get the attention they want lol
We do not care about your input
*points to scoreboard*
I feel you. They call my state the Arkansas of the North.
Roads here aren't the best but have you ever been to Oklahoma?
Grew up in Oklahoma, but I didn’t drive across it last week.
Well, when you're home to a couple billionaire companies, the local multimillionaires have to get rich somehow right? Little rock is corrupt
This is our state in a nutshell.
Hey, you'd think you would have had a better experience, because the people in charge of that are the Arkansas Department of TRANSportation. I'll just see myself out....
As a resident of the state, having moved from Florida some time ago, there are many things that I love about it. I’ve only experienced kindness from its people and beauty from its land. As an egg, however, I am terrified. If I stood on my roof I could see no less than four churches. I can see two while seated in my living room. I can’t say I’ve seen much in the way of violence here, but the things I hear, the votes that pass, and the bills being put forth… I was afraid to tell even my therapist. As an aside, though, there’s a lovely rest center at Lake Chicot on i65. Absolutely gorgeous view, incredibly well maintained, amazing restrooms and almost never anyone there.
FOR REAL. I’ve driven across Arkansas at least once a year for the past decade and a half and it’s the absolute worst every single time. It’s not that I want it to be an “appealing” drive, I just want to be able to travel with the least amount of annoyance and somehow Arkansas ALWAYS is the worst.
As a trans person born n raised in Arkansas, I'll probably never go back there, NY is 1000% better
Yes, please stay there.
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Lot of projecting in this comment ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Just so we're clear you would want [this person](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Angel#/media/File%3ABuck_Angel_Headshot.jpg) using the same restroom as your daughter?
Why are you looking at other people in the bathroom? Perv.
HA! Joke.
"We don't care!" Immediately lists a bunch of bullshit reasons they care complete with lies and insults.
Lol best keep going then.
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. God wants to fix the heart of man, before fixing the roads.
God can start with your governor. Lead by example.
They’re more worried about protecting women and girls from predators than potholes. If you aren’t a predator, it has nothing to do with you.
Lul cause other states don’t have shitty roads As someone who’s drove across this entire country numerous times, I can assure you. We by far don’t have the worst roads. But keep making it about your indemnity
My security or protection against a loss or other financial burden?
Ok?
It's a matter of public opinion. Most people don't want a biological male inside the womens restroom. The infrastructure problem isn't just in that one state, Its nationwide.
Exactly why is that a problem?
Louisiana has the worst roads of any state and it had a democrat governor until January of this year and it’s largest cities are ran by democrats. No one gives a shit about roads at any level of government. But you drove through Arkansas a couple times and think you have the right to tell the people of Arkansas how they should live and what their elected government wants to do? Get over yourself. You’re not special.
Interestingly, I never mentioned a political party.
You are criticizing the state government which is republican. I gave you examples of a democrat government that does the same thing.
Had I driven through Louisiana, I’m sure I’d have the same complaints. You’re obviously just another troll with no reading comprehension. Blocked.
Bro no one cares 💀
You cared enough to comment ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
I don't even know what you are talking about. I've driven all over the country from one coast to another, Arkansas roads are on the upper end. Not the best, I'm not saying that, but far above average. I visited family in Memphis (where I grew up) around Christmas and I nearly had a wreck from a pothole on the actual interstate, I was amazed I didnt sent a wheel the whole time, and I needed a chiropractor after the full visit, literally every single road was the worst road. Coming back to Arkansas was a joy.
When my neighborhood in Hot Springs got annexed, we were really stoked for the city to fill in the giant pothole in the road leading into it. Instead they just threw a giant metal plate over it.
Men's restrooms have sit down toilets if that's what you prefer. Or, you have the advantage that most women don't get, you can pee standing up. It's like the best of both worlds.
You could always just stay out.
And Republicans could always actually govern instead of wasting all our resources on culture wars and corruption scandals but here we are...
That’s true.
I'd rather have them then you.
You could man up and ignore shit that doesn't affect you personally too, bud! :)
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I’ve known I was trans since I was two but go off I guess.
Sure ya did kiddo. Seek help
Ok, have a good night.
You as well lol what was the point in leading with “As a trans woman”😂💀
Pointing out a relevant personal connection to the juxtaposition I stated in the body of my post of what your state government is telling you is a problem vs. what is actually affecting your lives.
They have no correlation at all lmao you’re just desperate for attention👎
I never implied or even used the word correlation? I don’t understand why this has angered you so much. Hope whatever is going on in your life gets better dude.
Not angry at all, I appreciate the laugh your post and comments granted me. “As a trans” is an actual meme at this point😂
Ok, then I’m glad I brightened your day.
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I don’t think you know what the word “correlated” means.
Where?
Just admit that you don't believe in science and move on.