Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas
When I started reading about Mr. Pryor and his background I was immediately taken with an ap image by
Danny Johnston in a USA Today story of Mr. Pryor holding up a sign that said "Arkansas comes first." It started me thinking. What does come first? Is a Senators duty to his state or to the country at large? Mr. Pryor did the right thing in regards to the healthcare program. Why did he fail the country at large in reference to gun background checks?
First, a little biographical information about the senior senator from Arkansas. He is as you will read "a fortunate son." He benefited from a privileged upbringing in a highly successful political family in a relatively small state. He has always been a big fish in a small pond.
From Wikipedia:
Born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Pryor is the son of former Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator David Hampton Pryor. He received his bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He worked in private practice for several years until being elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1990. He was elected the state Attorney General in 1998. Pryor announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2001, running for the same Senate seat his father had held from 1979 to 1997. He was elected with 54 percent of the vote.
Mark Lunsford Pryor (born January 10, 1963) is the senior United States Senator from Arkansas, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party and former Attorney General of Arkansas.
Wow. If you can understand the article below about the so called gang of 14" you are a more astute and focused person than I. I cannot honestly understand the process? So arcane and obtuse is our system that it makes one less able to understand and hold those in power accountable. I guess that is they way our politicians mean it to be.
Pryor was a member of the bipartisan Gang of 14 formed in 2005 to forge a compromise on the use of the Senate filibuster. He was re-elected with no Republican opposition in 2008. In January 2009 he briefly became the youngest member of the Senate, the oldest "youngest member" of the Senate ever to serve. In the 112th Congress he is the chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance.
After reading about the process and about Mark Pryor, I do better understand how conflicted and contorted our legislative processes have become. There are so many pressures and interests pressuring and tempting our politicians that it is a wonder that anything at all gets done. Mr. Pryor has made some good moves in his documented career as a politician but in my opinion he certainly let down the country in his most recent vote against background checks for gun purchases.
Background checks so that criminals, the mentally insane, terrorists, don't get guns and closing the wide loopholes that now exist is imperative for our country's safety and security. Arkansas's safety and security are also at issue. This is a no brainer isssue. Shame. The citizens of the United States should come first, not the NRA.