John Brummett’s July 30 column in this newspaper has stuck with me, as they often do, and left me pondering. I feel a great deal of affinity with Brummett. Which is a lot more of a compliment to me than it is to him, and also does not mean we agree on everything. What it means is I find myself at home, politically, more often as a writer and thinker among Brummett, Rex Nelson, and Ernie Dumas than I do with most newspeople—and maybe most people in general—who are my age.

I think the reason for this is that they lived and breathed and worked writing news among the politicians I consider to be the best and most reasonable of my lifetime, while I was a kid not paying any mind, taking for granted that was what politics was. By the time I started paying attention, the sensible way of politicking was long gone. But they remember Rockefeller, Bumpers, and Pryor as more than relics of history. Like I feel when I have the honor to sit and talk to former Gov. Mike Beebe, they personally witnessed the greatness of these people. The true patriotism. They also spent time with lesser-known Arkansas legislators who were able to work across the aisle for the good of the people. And they can’t quite let go of the hope we might have that kind of leadership again.

Thank goodness. Because they are here to remind us of who we are at our best and what is possible if we will make better choices, individually and collectively.

Brummett’s column was about national politics, and specifically a poll that came out in The Wall Street Journal. It........

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