In Corner of Arkansas, Frustration but No Panic Over Possible Shutdown BENTONVILLE, Ark. - The apocalypse may or may not be looming in Washington in the form of a possible government shutdown or debt default. Marc F. Henning for The New York Times I just don't think that's a smart political move, to hold the country hostage so you can jab back at Obama. STEVE COOK, a car salesman Bentonville is in a heavily Republican corner of Arkansas. Neither one of them agree on anything. It's not Republicans against Democrats. It's the government against the people. ROBERT WALKER, left, with his friend and fellow retired factory worker Johnny Alfrey I think the older people, when it comes right down to it, when you go to the hospital, with Obamacare you won't get the service like you would if it wasn't in. JERRY HUNNICUTT, a retired supervisor at a snack-food plant, with his wife, Carolyn The Republicans and Democrats just hate each other. They've quit trying to decide what's best for the people in general. DEBBIE CASTO, a junior high school teacher and coach But 1,200 miles away in northwestern Arkansas, people seem to have their doubts that something momentous is at hand. Instead, interviews with residents in this heavily Republican corner of the state, whether in the town square a mile from Walmart's headquarters or in nearby blue-collar or middle-class towns like Decatur, Gravette or Siloam Springs, indicated that people feel as if they've seen this movie before, they didn't like it last time and aren't tuning in, at least not yet, this time around. "Wolf's been called so much," Johnny Alfrey, 67, said with a shrug as he stood next to his motorcycle in Decatur, just west of here. I don't think they'll shut it down. But they won't get anything solved, that's what I think. People do have strong feelings about some of the issues, most significantly an almost universal suspicion of the Affordable Care Act. But in a conservative district that has sent Republicans to Congress every year since 1967, people seem to see the current turmoil as the new normal of Washington rather than a seminal political moment likely to affect their own lives. And if Republican legislators could be overplaying their hand by pushing their case against Obamacare to the outer limits, there is not much sign of that in the reactions here. Their second-term congressman, Steve Womack, voted with House Republicans to defund Obamacare, and no one can imagine anything so dire that voters could elect a Democrat here. Still, that does not mean people are happy about what they see. "The Republicans and Democrats just hate each other," said Debbie Casto, 53, a junior high school teacher and coach who lives near Bentonville in Rogers. It's all about power. So I'm not happy with any of them. Steve Cook, 46, a conservative who is not necessarily a Republican but not necessarily a Democrat, watches Bill O'Reilly on Fox News but talks, on the issue of a government shutdown, like President Obama. "You're holding the country hostage," Mr. Cook said of the Republican tactic of tying the House spending bill to financing for the health care law. I mean, Obamacare has passed. I don't like it personally. A lot of other people don't like it. But what's law is law and you abide by the law of the land. As Mr. Cook relaxed on a bench in the Bentonville town square, before him was a fountain topped by a statue of a Confederate soldier, James H. Berry, a former governor of the state. Behind him was the first Walton's five-and-dime, which Walmart preserved in its 1950s form and turned into the Walmart Visitor Center. Nearby was the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Alice Walton, Sam Walton's daughter. The opening of the museum in 2011 has lent Bentonville a kind of cosmopolitan and hipster feel. Near the square sits the boutique, pop-art-inspired 21c Museum Hotel, with a giant tree sculpture made of basketball hoops and rims out front and a bar that serves $11 cocktails inside. Mr. Cook, a car salesman who moved here recently from Little Rock, said he was not sure what effect a government shutdown would have on his life, and whether, for example, any national parks would close (they would). Mr. Cook's friend sitting next to him on the bench interrupted. "So they're doing that?" his friend asked him. They're shutting parks? "Not yet, not yet," Mr. Cook assured him. Mr. Cook's friend was misinformed or uninformed about the possible shutdown, as were several others. Mr. Cook himself thought the shutdown might affect state employees (it would not). Many fretted over the president's health care law. According to census figures, 17.9 percent of Arkansas residents are uninsured, well above the national average of 15.6 percent and 10th from the bottom among all states. But some residents interviewed seemed to think there was no end to the damage the new law could do. "I think the older people, when it comes right down to it, when you go to the hospital, with Obamacare you won't get the service like you would if it wasn't in," said Jerry Hunnicutt, 67, a retired supervisor at a snack-food plant who lives near Bentonville in Bella Vista with his wife, Carolyn, 71. If somebody goes in and they need a surgery or something, if you're older you may be put on the back burner. In Decatur, Mr. Alfrey and his friend Robert Walker, 66, had spent a few minutes in a parking lot, browsing through farm equipment and trucks that a bank had taken possession of and was preparing to sell at auction. "People's too worried about putting food on their table and gas in their tank," Mr. Walker said of why people had not been concerned about a possible shutdown. Both men worked at the same factory before retiring. Mr. Alfrey considers himself a Republican and Mr. Walker an independent. "I was a die-hard Republican up to about 12 years ago, and now I'm for neither one of them," said Mr. Walker, who lives in Siloam Springs. Sitting on the grass on the Bentonville square, her shoes off and her book open, Donna Carrell, 47, had trouble remembering when the federal government last shut down (it was in late 1995 and early 1996), but knew one thing for certain: She survived it just fine. She believed any shutdown in the coming weeks would have the same result. "It's like gas prices," said Ms. Carrell, an emergency services dispatcher. I can't do anything about it, so I just don't get worked up about it. At the edge of the square, a gray-haired man sitting at a restaurant's sidewalk table, asked for his thoughts about a government shutdown, mentioned his television set. "I haven't turned it on in a week," the man said. It's been a good week. Kitty Bennett contributed research.