Hillbilly wisdom: 120 days; 17 weeks; or 4 months until the midterm elections. All members of the House of Representatives and 35 of the Senators are up for reelection. During the past year it has been pointed out to me that Americans cannot make up their minds about what they want. Every two or four years we seem to change direction. I seldom agree with anyone, being contrary by nature, and argumentative to say the least. But those comments hit very close to home. On the surface it appears that Americans shift continuously. Democrats to Republicans and Republicans back to Democrats.

The pendulum swings slowly in Arkansas. We of Arkansas like to keep our people in place. It could be because we elect only good people, we have a shortage of good people or we just don’t know any better. Three representatives – James Hinds (R) 1868, Otis Wingo (D) 1930 and Thaddeus Caraway (D) 1931- actually died while serving but it’s been over 90 years since we had an official die while serving.

Statistics invariably rank Arkansas, when ranked against other states, in the bottom five in what is considered bad categories. Maybe we should consider the changing of our guard more often. Arkansans get along. For the last l0 plus years all of Arkansas’ representatives have been Republicans, all are up for reelection, and since Arkansas is solid red all have a very good chance of winning reelection. Arkansas will get along as is. * The country is so evenly divided, the Arkansas’ delegation has the power to swing the policies of the United States. 120 days.