These days, an elected official acting both in constituents’ interests and in defense of the republic constitutes real news.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas announced that a Chinese company, designated “enemy”-owned, must relinquish its Arkansas land.
“I’m announcing that Syngenta, a Chinese-state-owned agra-chemical company, must give up its land holdings in Arkansas,” Sanders said.
In making this announcement, Sanders acted on an Arkansas law that forbids “enemy”-owned companies from holding land in the state.
Act 636, which Sanders signed into law earlier this year, excluded what it called a “prohibited foreign-party-controlled business” from owning Arkansas land.
The immediate context for Sanders’ decision is at least as interesting as the law or the Chinese company she identified.