CABOT, Arkansas (Sept. 4, 2024) — On Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, Cabot resident Rodney Govens, the Democratic nominee for U.S. House (AR-01), and Republican Robby Bevis of Lonoke will co-host a Rally For Decency along with Vote Common Good, a national faith-based nonprofit, and Little Rock-based Vortex PAC.
The Rally For Decency is free and open to the public; it will kick off with Vote Common Good leaders Doug Pagitt and Robb Ryerse hosting a live podcast recording where they will lead a Q&A discussion with Govens and Bevis, starting at 4:30 p.m. Christian singer/songwriter Daniel Dietrich, whose song “Hymn for the 81%" went viral in 2020, will also perform. At 6 p.m., DJ DripFunk will kick off the party portion of the evening, playing hits and requests until 9 p.m. Food trucks will be on hand as well, including Bison Burger on Wheels and Kona Ice.
Rally organizers said they hope to engage and activate voters who have tuned out and stopped participating in elections because they are sick of the hate and divisiveness.
“As I’ve been campaigning, I’ve met a lot of people who say they are sick of politics and don’t pay attention anymore because it’s so negative,” he said. “I get it. They’re not wrong. Elected officials spewing hateful or violent rhetoric not only creates a dysfunctional lawmaking and government environment, it also alienates a majority of constituents, and results in fewer people participating in elections.
“In other words, hateful politics is bad for everyone,” Govens added.
After U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) announced she would headline an event in Cabot on the morning of Sept. 7, Govens said he and several friends — “reasonable people from both sides of the aisle” — decided to hold a rally later that day to send a message that hate is not what Arkansas is about.
“It might be surprising to some folks, but there are a lot of Democrats and Republicans especially in rural areas who actually like each other,” he said. “It seems like the only time we clearly see people working together across the aisle so to speak — in the media and online especially — is after a catastrophe like a tornado. But that’s not real life, and it shouldn’t take a tornado for us to willingly work together and help each other solve problems that affect us all.”
Bevis, whose fifth-generation family farm near Lonoke is now operated by his son, said he enthusiastically agreed to co-sponsor the Rally For Decency because “somewhere along the way we’ve lost compassion for each other — we’ve lost the ability to agree to disagree.”
“We’ve allowed this mentality of ‘you disagree with me so you must hate me’ to permeate our nation, and it is harmful for all of us,” Bevis said. “Too many politicians are like ‘if you don’t play my way I’m going to take my ball and go home,’ because their primary concern is for themselves or their special interest group. That is not how you do what’s best for the whole country.”
Bevis joined the Republican Party several years ago, he said, over key platform differences such as gun control, he says. His Central Arkansas construction business keeps him busy when he is not serving on numerous boards and committees, including the Lonoke County Conservation District, an elected position. He is chairman of the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, a position appointed by the governor; Bevis also chairs the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council and is a Lonoke County Farm Bureau board member.
“My family historically has been aligned with the Democratic Party, but a few years ago I switched to the Republican Party because of the platforms,” Bevis said, noting that his uncle, William “Bill” Bevis Jr., served as a Democrat in the Arkansas Legislature 1998–2002. “Generally, Democrats are for gun control, and I cannot support that. But generally, I’ve always voted for the person, not the party.”
Govens noted that despite the differences between the two major political parties, a “majority of Americans share similar values, such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, treating others the way you’d like to be treated, and working one full-time job should be enough to a person to survive.”
“But hateful rhetoric, name-calling, bullying, and intimidation? Those are not American values. I don’t know a single parent who’d be proud to know their child was acting like that,” he said. “So it is a problem for me to see adults in positions of power acting this way toward anyone who doesn’t line up behind them and go along with whatever they say or do. That, to me, is unAmerican.
“It’s time for all the reasonable and decent people to stand up together and say ‘We can treat each other with decency, we can have uncomfortable conversations, and we can agree to disagree without hating each other.’ Our hope is that Arkansans who feel the same will join us Saturday night, and that they’ll show up at the polls on Election Day, and speak up against hate every day.”
About the hosts: