Gov. Sarah Sanders’ State of the State Address last week to the Legislature was a run-of-the-mill presentation of platitudes, as those kinds of speeches tend to be. The occasion—an off-year, budget-only session—didn’t call for an “A” game.

She turned her speech into a bit of a conservative Christian manifesto. But the founders were losing the battle against government establishment of religion long before that.

Before I lament the tiny part of her address that was policy substance, and thus the essence, I’d like to take note of the governor’s rare remark of sweetness and kindness. That was news, by the definition that news is something that happened that hadn’t happened before.

In that spirit, I’ll then point out that her governing has not been all bad.

Then I’ll turn our attention to her hellish prioritizing in that address of well-off private-school parents over low-income persons for whom increased Medicaid spending would address basic human needs.

First, on her rare moment of sweetness and kindness: Sanders said that our shared faith and shared values, by which I think she referred to majority faith and majority values, helped us understand that our shared love for Arkansas and her people was more important than any of our differences.

That sounds great coming from a professional people-divider, which is what modern-day political operative work, which is Sanders’ field, amounts to. Alas, though, I’m thinking that what she said—that loving the state is more important than policy differences—is not necessarily true.

But at least lip service is better than snarling.

Second, about Sanders’ governing not being all bad: She reminded legislators in her remarks that school children now get free breakfasts at school. That reminded me that she championed restrictions on cellphone use at school. She boasted in her speech of teacher raises that had resulted in Arkansas teachers being found in a recent survey to be the most satisfied with their jobs of any teachers of any state in America.

That didn’t sound right to me, considering conversations I’ve had. So, I looked it up. It’s true. A legitimate survey found Arkansas teachers responding to a questionnaire in a way that found Arkansas teachers first in the country by the percentage of them expressing satisfaction and high morale. All states were low, but Arkansas was the least low.

That doesn’t mean Arkansas teachers have the best jobs. It means that a higher percentage of them are currently pleased by their recent pay raises, and thus in an improved and relatively decent mood, comparatively.

It’s a fair political boast to make.

It could be that the teachers of Pennsylvania are simply harder to please, which is what made Pennsylvania last.

Finally, on her hellish priorities: That’s what made dubious Sanders’ remark that our shared love of the state is more important than differences. It’s nice that she loves Arkansas. It’s nice that I also love Arkansas. But these assertions we make on behalf of ourselves are not more important than differences arising from principle about the centerpiece of her budget proposal for this session.

That centerpiece was to offer the legislators a simple deal, which was a bum one for poor folks. Give her the budget she proposes with nearly all the new money going to her school vouchers next year, and in continuing full amounts for well-off parents who formerly paid their children’s private-school tuition themselves.

Then, agree with her not to start any new Medicaid offerings and expenditures for poor folks, because we could help those people inexpensively by reading and applying Luke Chapter 10, Verse 33.

That’s the story of the Good Samaritan, which, she says, shows that we could tend to the needy by individual good deeds without bothering people on their taxes.

So, if the legislators would give her those two things—more money for self-sufficient parents of private-school kids and no more money for needy poor people—then she’d reciprocate by calling a special session immediately after this budget session to do a little further drawdown of the state income-tax rates, thus providing an additional favor for the people who had greater income already.

Among those she seeks to deprive by holding the Medicaid line are low-income Arkansas mothers for whom she would deny the year of postpartum expanded Medicaid coverage made available by the federal government and accepted, well, by 49 states, meaning all of them but hers.

Here, the policy from the governor is for all of us to keep an eye peeled for mothers with babies younger than a year old who might be in distress. We should rush in to help as needed.

I’d prefer to give the low-income mothers the budget assurance and to keep an eye peeled for a longtime private-school parent who fell on hard times.

And everyone could love their state and each other.

What was that pop song? “Love is a battlefield?”

John Brummett, whose column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, is a member of the Arkansas Writers’ Hall of Fame. Email him at jbrummett@arkansasonline.com. Read his @johnbrummett feed on X, formerly Twitter.

jbrummett@arkansasonline.com

John Brummett’s career in news began when he was in high school, as a part-time reporter for the Arkansas Democrat. He moved to the Arkansas Gazette in 1977.

He wrote a political column for the Gazette from 1986 to 1990. He was an editor for the Arkansas Times from 1990 to 1992.

In 1994, his book, "High Wire: From the Back Roads to the Beltway, the Education of Bill Clinton," was published by Hyperion of New York City. He became a columnist with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 1994. In 2000, he signed a deal with Donrey Media Group, now known as Stephens Media, and wrote for them for 11 years.

He rejoined Democrat-Gazette as a columnist on Oct. 24, 2011.

© Arkansas Online