The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has a couple of editorials today on "Things to Forget" and "Things to Remember." Those lists are different from ours in some ways, but it is the thought that counts. As we turn a new page on the calendar, perhaps we should also turn a new leaf on our editorial rantings here at the Iconoclast. Nah, that's unlikely.
It is not so much that we metaphorically embrace Shakespeare’s famous eulogy of Julius Caesar, in which Mark Anthony proclaims, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” It is that we don't want to forget the stupid mistakes of the past nor to repeat them. If past buffoonery can serve as a warning, we will not hesitate to bring it up. There is no need, nor even any good excuse, to rewrite local history to hide the foibles and foolishness of those who have gone before.
In the meantime, let us celebrate the coming of new leadership and wish them well. Let us hope that they give us no new examples of hubris and howling at the moon. Let us welcome them to the public stage, but let us remind them that this is a tough audience packed with harsh critics. Let us find them up to the task for which they asked.
Actually, not to appear to be too much of a Pollyjonah, we think that the people of Fayetteville have traded up.
President Barack Obama replacing George Bush.
Chancellor David Gearhart replacing John White.
County Judge Marilyn Edwards replacing Jerry Hunton.
Superintendent Almost Anybody replacing Bobby New.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan replacing Dan Coody.
Chamber of Commerce President Steve Clark replacing Bill Ramsey.
We wish them well and all the luck that they will need in the year ahead. Let it be a Happy New Year for all of us.
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