You may recall my breakup rant from last year. I was quite distressed at how you stalked me day and night, begging for a portion of the pittance known as my retirement income, then dropped me like a moldy hot wing when I turned you down.

Let's revisit some old grievances and expand on some new ones.

Remember, it is OK to be boring as long as you're working for us, not wealthy donors with pre-written bills. We know who they are and we do not trust them. Or you, if you sponsor or support those bills.

Please don't waste my time filling up the mailbox with big shiny cards that scream doomsday insults about your opponents. Tell me what you stand for, not who you hate. Use more than five bold-type words.

Please reread the Constitution and brush up on the section about co-equal branches of government. If you're an incumbent running for Congress, I'm not interested in your strongly worded letters. Checks and balances have never been more important, and so far you are the weakest link.

I'm listed as "optional" and voted in the primary election after much indecision about which ballot to choose. It might not directly be your fault that (a) all of the county-level races were on the Republican ballot, or that (b) Democrats are not supposed to vote on the Republican ballot. Some of y'all had to know it was bad form to exclude a whole group of people you don't like from voting for sheriff, justice of the peace, or any contested local race. Did any of you think about that before closing your primaries to keep out the riff-raff?

I wondered whose big idea that was and what their reasons were. Turns out Sen. Joshua Bryant of Rogers presented the rule. He said, "If you are convicted in your policy beliefs to be a registered Democrat, then stay as a registered Democrat; don't vote in Republican primaries. Otherwise remove your registration to Optional or Republican or Libertarian and then come on over." He further said that if you want to "wear that banner" as a registered Democrat, "just stay in your lane."

I wasn't angry until the stay-in-your-lane part. As soon as someone whips out that lame insult, all I can see is a big ol' bully trying to intimidate other folks he sees as inferior. Political bullies also enjoy demeaning names and character assassination.

Darling, if all you have is name-calling and bullying, then you have nothing of interest to me. Pass.

If you want a closed primary, I guess that's your right, but perhaps prior to putting the cart before the horse, you might consider making arrangements so that you don't block an entire group of legally registered voters from having a fair say in all of their county offices. The horse is very confused by your utter lack of consideration as to the consequences. He has seen this before and it never ends well. Maybe you didn't think of that, or you simply don't care.

Horse first, then cart.

How many voters statewide were not able to vote for their local leaders? Anyone know?

I hear that some have suggested people should change their voter registration long enough to cast votes, then switch back. That is ridiculous. Maybe somebody somewhere did, but everyone I spoke with felt it was unethical and they refused.

Who do we contact about removing partisan divisions from local offices? I'm not aware of Republican or Democrat opinions needed to serve and protect, enforce laws, or to conduct county business. Those require honesty, competence, and integrity.

So, as Breakup Letter 2.0 winds down, I have a few suggestions if you'd like to stay in touch.

Voting is a right and a privilege, not an obstacle course. Do not make it easy for some and harder for others.

If you are elected to an Arkansas state office, please know that almost all of us are super-sick of the "do as you are told" mentality. We are standing up cheering for the candidates who won primary races against opponents backed by huge amounts of dark money. If y'all decided to, oh, I don't know, maybe band together and follow Mississippi's lead by revoking your support for private school vouchers and the grifting hidden in that system, we would stand and cheer for you too.

You have a fiscal session coming up. We know most of you don't like vouchers. You just went along because the honeymoon wasn't over yet. I'm sure you don't want to disappoint all those wealthy families using 80 percent of the Education Freedom Account funds to send their kids to private schools, but just imagine how great it would feel to stand tall for your constituents. As public servants, your first loyalty should be to public school students whose parents cannot afford private schools even with a voucher.

If you are unable to process these basic principles, then frankly my dear ... well, you know. It's over. I found someone new.

Shelley Smith of Fox is a retired teacher. A version of this column originally appeared in the Stone County Leader.

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