The long Independence Day weekend gives us time to contemplate the state of our country after 250 years. For those who specialize in writing about Arkansas, it's also a chance to think about the state of the state.

We have a large number of talented historians for such a small state, and few are as good at what they do as Ben Johnson of El Dorado. He has given deep thought to major changes in the state since 1960. Among his list of key developments:

The growth of northwest Arkansas: "The 21st-century population boom in the urban corridor stretching from Fayetteville to Bentonville is among the most explosive in the nation and is accompanied by growth of per capita incomes that match national levels," Johnson says. "The state as a whole continues to fall below these benchmarks. Until this surge in the state's northwest corner, Arkansas had only one city (or really a big town). Little Rock was the political and financial center of the state.

"The economies in northwest Arkansas weren't dependent upon the overall well-being of the state. They became hubs for international corporations that, in turn, were magnets for people."

A corresponding development has been the steady loss of population in rural Arkansas.

"The hollowing out of rural Arkansas, which had its origins in World War II, accelerated in the new century," Johnson says. "The number of counties in the state losing population outnumbered those making gains by the third decade of the 21st century. Even with this exodus, Arkansas in the most recent census ranked high in the percentage of rural population while poverty remained concentrated in rural counties."

The new political regime from 1966-2010: "This development was aligned with the administration of a series of governors (Republican Winthrop Rockefeller to Democrat Mike Beebe) whose goals, policies and issues broke with a previous 20th-century regime characterized by corruption, personality and faction," Johnson says. "This political shift was based on the overhaul of the dominant Democratic Party, which shed its resistance to civil rights, antipathy toward federal programs and reluctance to raise revenue to expand public services.

"In addition to the influences of governors, the political class........

© Arkansas Online