NWA

Shiny Happy People was a trip down memory lane. I lived in Northwest Arkansas and was heavily involved in the Independent Baptist movement when the Duggars were up and coming. We did cross paths a few times. The documentary series mostly focused on some creep named Bill Gothard and his Institute in Basic Life Principles, whom the Duggars were a front for. I’ve never heard of Gothard before this so I wasn’t THAT close with the Duggars, but I can provide a little bit of insight into this strange world.

Not to brag or anything, but I was on harder shit than Jim Bob and his family in regards to fundamentalist thinking. My church would have deemed Bill Gothard as a goddamned liberal Christian. So I was slightly farther to the right than these guys. I should point out that it wasn’t because my parents were particularly religious. I was just a lonely teenager looking for a purpose. I’m not proud of it, but it happened

Northwest Arkansas, home of Walmart Corporate and the University of Arkansas, is rife with these sort of charismatic Christian institutions. Ronnie Floyd, the Southern Baptist Convention president who got caught up in that institution’s sex abuse scandal, has his mega church located in Rogers.

But my experience with the Duggars came through the mostly forgotten Jim Holt senatorial campaign in 2004. Holt, along with his wife Bobye, were interviewed for Shiny Happy People. In fact, Bobye provided key testimony in Josh Duggar’s trial. To my surprise, Bobye was wearing PANTS in the interview, which was a big no no in the Duggar circle, indicating that the Holts have liberalized their views in the nearly 20 years since the last time I saw them.

I was heavily involved in the 2004 Holt campaign. In fact, I stood between Jim and Bobye when he gave his concession speech to Democrat Blanche Lincoln live on air. Believe it or not, the Democratic Party had a stranglehold on Arkansas politics in those days, so he never had a real shot at winning. BUT, people should have took notice. I have more money in my bank account now than Jim Holt did at the end of his campaign, yet he still managed to garner 44% of the vote. This was a sign of things to come for Arkansas politics.

What’s interesting about this is that while campaigning, I was under the impression that the Duggars and Holts were not on the best of terms with Governor Mike Huckabee (or with John Boozman, then US congressman and now senator who’s also from Northwest Arkansas). Yet in the documentary, Huckabee can be seen passionately defending the Duggars. I know that Jim Holt wasn’t a fan of Huckabee, probably because the governor wasn’t all that conservative during his time in leadership. It’s only when he gained a national profile did he start lurching towards the right. I assume it is post-2008, when Huckabee launched his presidential campaign, when he came closer to the Duggars. Whether this put a strain on Jim Bob and Jim Holt’s relationship, I can only speculate.

In the documentary, Jim Holt stated that he regretted doing an interview at the Jones Center in Springdale in 2002 or 2003 which presumably launched his statewide profile and solidified his reputation with the Duggars. He didn’t elaborate on why he regretted it, but to me he always came across as a genuine and thoughtful guy. After he lost the senate campaign, I know that he took it hard. Politics is a dirty business and I’ve often wondered how much Jim Bob tried to strongarm him into running in these doomed elections (Jim Holt later ran, and lost, in a race for Lt. Governor).

Anyways, Jim Bob Duggar was always a con artist and it was obvious to anyone that ever met him. And that’s all I got to say about that.