Arkdems Radio Report

I’m Michael John Gray, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.When I’m Little Rock, I’m a five minute drive away from at least 3 hospitals no matter where I am in the city. That is a luxury most Arkansans don’t have. If you live in Little Rock, or any other major urban area, you probably take this for granted. If you’re in a car accident, or suffer a heart attack or stroke, you can be in the hospital in fewer than ten minutes.But in Woodruff County where I’m from, you’re at least a thirty minute drive from the nearest emergency room or hospital.Rural healthcare is just another part of life that has been forgotten by our leaders in Little Rock and Washington.And right now, there’s a lawsuit in federal court that would end the Affordable Care Act. Although it wasn’t popular when it passed, the Affordable Care Act has been a lifeline to many of us who didn’t have access to healthcare. This healthcare law also has kept our rural hospitals open and has allowed many more to expand and open. For

Tom Cotton doesn’t think you should worry about money in politics. In an interview on NPR’s 1A, a constituent asked him a fair question, “Do you believe that the huge ever increasing money needed to run a viable campaign for congress or senate has had a corrupting influence on government? His response was “No, I don’t. We spend much less in this country on politics than we spend on potato chips or toothpaste. Often times as you see in the Democratic presidential primary, financial contributions are a way for people to support a candidate of their choice when they have too busy a life or too busy at work or have kids to be able to knock on doors or stuff envelopes or volunteer in another way.Cotton is correct, regular people who buy potato chips and toothpaste often times donate to campaigns because they simply don’t have time. They’re busy working and raising the next generation of Arkansans. The thing is, these middle and lower class Arkansans aren’t the ones donating to Tom Cotton.As you can see, only

Josh Mahony, born and raised in El Dorado and currently living in Fayetteville, is a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020. He's running against Tom Cotton.In this conversation, Josh talks about growing up in a farming family in Union County, and how this has shaped his career and his political views. Along with being head of his own natural resource company, he's been heavily involved with several nonprofits, including the Ozark Literacy Council and the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund. Support the show

As Arkansans, we know all about tough times and hard work. But right now our farmers, the backbone of this state, are being hurt by decisions made in Washington D.C. about tariffs and a trade war. Farmers know all about uncertainty and having to manage the cards that life, whether it’s life, or weather, and a lot of the times we are just one flood, one drought, or one natural disaster away from a real crisis. We put our homes, our cars, our land, and many times everything our family owns up for mortgage, just to put a crop in every year, and just make enough money to support our families. With one bad crop, with one bad hailstorm, all of that could be lost. That’s just the way it is on my farm in Woodruff County, and it’s that way it is for most of my neighbor’s too. We can’t begrudge it, it;s a way of life, it’s what you have to accept. it comes with the territory. But no in addition to all that farmers are facing a man-made crisis, created by politicians in Washington D.C. The Farm Bureau has

The past few days we’ve been honoring the teachers in our lives, and in the lives of our kids, for Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s getting close to summertime, and it’s important that we take a moment to thank all the people who have dedicated their time to making our schools and our communities better. We all know how much of a difference a good teacher can make. We’ve all had those people in our lives, people whose example sticks with you. A good teacher isn’t hard to spot. A good teacher can mean the difference between your child gladly telling you all about their day, and a child who doesn’t have much of anything good to say. The presence of a good teacher in a classroom is about learning, but it’s about that little bit of something more too.School needs to be welcoming. It needs to be a fun, and safe place. And the people that work there need to want to be there. The best teachers encourage you to do what you were born doing. They affirm in you that it’s good to be curious, it’s good

Arkansans are going to have their plates full in the next election. There are more than 20 candidates running for President. That’s a lot of names, and a lot of positions and issues we’ll have to try and sort through.It’ll be tough to do, but it’s important that we make the time to study the issues, to learn what each candidate is promising, and to question them, to see if they can really deliver. The future of our country depends on it, and Arkansas can play a good role in this. Our primary election date has moved. In 2020, Arkansas’s primary will be in early March instead of late May. That means instead of being at the end of the process when most of the candidates have dropped out, we’ll be at the beginning when we’ll still have a choice of most of these 20-plus candidates. Our ballot is going to be full. It’ll be full of a lot of good choices.We’re going to see a lot of familiar names like Joe Biden or Cory Booker and you’re going to see some new names like Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, or Kamala Ha

I’m Michael John Gray, Chairman of the Democratic Party of ArkansasIt’s getting close to that time of year where people are heading to graduations, then heading toward their futures. Some of them have, or at least think they have, a pretty clear idea of what lays ahead, and what they want their life to become. Some of them, and some of us, know that life’s paths aren’t always so easy to see, or so easy to follow.But imagine for a moment, that you followed all the right steps. You went to class, you did the work, you found your passion. But something was holding you back, something very much beyond your control.Well that’s the case for a few thousand Arkansans enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a lot of people just call it DACA. These are people who were brought to this country as children, by parents who were looking for a better life.They went to school, they put in the work. They have grown up and lived alongside all of us, just like every other neighbor, and every oth

I’m Michael John Gray, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.Arkansans spend a lot of time in conversation, we all do it whether it be in the grocery store, in the coffee shop, or on the bleachers at a football game and we talk about what we’d do different and what we’re not happy with in the world.A lot of times we complain about things we see locally. Like being in line at a grocery store and seeing someone buy things that aren’t necessarily healthy, and people using food stamps to purchase them.Often the conversation comes back that the government ought to tell people what they can and cannot buy with food stamps. To a lot of people that makes sense and to a lot of people it’s hard to argue the other side with. But with policy decision like that you always have to look a little deeper, you always have to look at who it really effects and what it really means. All of us have been there.Remember those times where you’ve been in the grocery store behind a single mom who looks like she’s just had o

Blanche Lincoln holds the distinction of becoming the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. She entered the upper chamber after two terms in the U.S. House. Lincoln rose to be chair of the powerful Senate Agriculture committee.Take a listen to a conversation with Sen. Lincoln, who was the keynote speaker at the annual Jimmie Lou Fisher - Lottie Shackelford Dinner in Little Rock.Support the show

I grew up in east Arkansas, out in the Delta. And for me, just like just about anybody whose family goes back any amount of time in Arkansas, we are descendants of people who fought in the Confederacy.Our state flag has a special commemoration, designating the blue star at the top of the white diamond for the state’s time in the Confederacy. That was put there in the 1920’s. It wasn’t by accident, it happened at the height of KKK influence in this state.Our children see that star, some of them learn its meaning in school. And some of us don’t pay much attention. But our symbols have meaning, and it’s up to us to get it right. Sometimes symbols can mean a lot more than you or I might think.Thankfully there was an effort in the Arkansas Legislature this month, although it fell short, to re-designate the meaning of that blue star on our flag. It would stand for the United States, our nation that we pledge allegiance to. Although we didn’t prevail that was a battle worth fighting. I remember hearing stories

Arkansans work hard, and we don’t ask for much. It’s just not in our nature to be asking for handouts, or to take them. But we don’t mind giving someone a hand up. We expect for each one of us to earn his or her keep. That’s a good thing. It’s good we know the value of hard work. It’s good we know that we all need to be responsible, and able to provide for ourselves and our families.But sometimes, and we’ve seen in this in Arkansas more than many states, people just don’t get the pay that they’ve earned. Hard work is not always fairly compensated, people are not always valued like they should be.When I was growing up you could work part time and put yourself through college. You could make it work without student loans. I worked the night shift in a foundry and commuted to college during the day. It was hard work. But I did it, and I’m glad I did.But nowadays someone who wants to do that, someone who wants to work and better themselves, is one flat tire or transmission problem away from having to dr

We do have some public pre-K programs in many parts of the state now. But all too often there simply isn’t enough room to let every child in. And that’s not okay. It’s a problem when there isn’t enough room in our public school programs to let all of Arkansas’s children in pre-K.That’s not a problem fixed in the classroom or a problem fixed in a district. That’s a problem fixed in Little Rock, at the state Capitol.About 10 years ago Arkansas took a big step, under Democratic Governor Mike Beebe we made a big investment in public pre-K in Arkansas. It was a good start, but we have failed to build on it. Instead we have started draining our state’s revenue, we have started spending money on all sorts of things, all sorts of benefits for high-income people.Read more: https://www.arkdems.org/making-pre-k-a-priority/Support the show

When you’re talking about the very roads that let us take our crops to market, that take our children to school, and that take our loved ones to the nearest hospital, you’re talking about more than just concrete and cement. You’re talking about livelihoods, and quality of life.I’m a farmer, I’m a father, I need these roads just like you do. It’s one of the reasons I think this state will come together on a funding solution. A good road affects all of us, no matter our job or status in life. See more >>> https://www.arkdems.org/highways-are-a-rural-lifeline/Support the show