Author: Paul Deaton

Categories
Living in Society

Preparing for Fall Campaigns – Kevin Kinney

State Senator Kevin Kinney

The last week of August signals the end of summer. As school begins and the season wraps into the Labor Day weekend, political campaigns retool for a push to close the deal with the electorate.

Maybe readers didn’t know negotiations were ongoing.

More than in any political year I’ve seen, Democrats have an agitated district of voters to deal with.

“I think there’s a lot going on out there in reaction to what the president has done on any number of issues,” former political science professor and second district congressman Dave Loebsack told James Q. Lynch of the Cedar Rapids Gazette in an Aug. 27 article.

For the most part this cycle, such agitation benefits Democratic candidates throughout the state. It seems possible Iowa voters will put the swing back into “Iowa is a swing state,” by electing more Democrats in November.

Based on what I’m hearing from multiple sources, this election will not be won with political door knockers organized by the state party or by third party interest groups like Let America Vote or NextGen America. It will be won by individual candidates with local operations largely independent of overall party strategy. It is individual campaigns coordinating with each other, with third party entities, and with Campaign for Iowa (this cycle’s version of the coordinated campaign), where the hard work of winning will be done. Some candidates do it better than others, and it is an open question whether any one of them will be effective. It can be effective for smart campaigners.

One race we hear little about in the news is the State Senator Kevin Kinney re-election campaign in District 39, which serves as an example of how campaigns are working this cycle. At a recent Johnson County central committee meeting Kinney explained one of his supporters decided to run against him as a Republican, so he has competition for re-election. It’s been all hands on deck ever since to get Kinney re-elected.

Half of Senate District 39 is located in liberal Johnson County and half in more conservative counties to the south. Kinney was in many ways the ideal candidate to represent this district. With long experience in law enforcement, and three terms on the local school board, he came to know district citizens over a period of years before he considered running for the senate. His legislative agenda and approach to campaigning fit the district. Here is an excerpt from his campaign Facebook page:

I’m running hard to continue representing you in the Iowa Senate. I want to continue my work protecting victims of sexual assault and human trafficking, helping Iowa farmers stay dynamic, and ensuring all Iowans’ access to affordable, comprehensive healthcare. But I can’t do it alone, I need your help to knock on doors, make phone calls, staff our office, take a yard sign, and more. We need you to spread the word about our campaign and our message one door, one call, and one sign at a time.

We’ll be canvassing every weekend and we’d love to see you with us, or out in your own town talking to your neighbors! On weeknights we’ll be calling our neighbors to make sure they vote for common-sense government in Des Moines. Sign up today to volunteer and get a yard sign! Get involved to make sure that your voice is heard.

On Sept. 2 Senate District 37 candidate Zach Wahls will join Kinney in North Liberty for a voter canvass. Wahls seat is likely Democratic in the general election, enabling the political newcomer to organize canvassers to work for other candidates. There is significant help going out from the eight liberal counties in the state. Ultimately winning in November depends on what candidates like Kinney do in their districts.

“With September starting soon it’s campaign season, and that means we’re pushing to talk to as many voters as we can,” Kinney posted on Facebook. “Come join us to talk to your neighbors about electing Democrats to the State Senate in Johnson County!”

There may not be a blue wave coming, but candidates like Kevin Kinney are doing their part to retain and gain ground in the Republican Iowa statehouse.

Click here to learn more about Kinney’s campaign for re-election.

~ First posted on Blog for Iowa

Categories
Living in Society Writing

Hard Road to Winning

My first election campaign spoiled me.

I stopped at the Democratic headquarters in Davenport, Iowa in 1964, after paying the bill for my newspaper route, to stuff envelopes during Lyndon Johnson’s re-election campaign. Other campaign workers gave me a campaign button as a reward for helping out.

Johnson won that year in a landslide which became a formative expectation about Democratic politics. However, with the 1968 Democratic national convention in Chicago, Hubert H. Humphrey’s loss, and the election of Richard Nixon my attitude changed. I didn’t understand what happened.

Since then, Democrats have never had an easy go of it. It wasn’t until the 2006 election of Dave Loebsack to the U.S. Congress that I experienced electoral jubilation similar to 1964. I’d gone home after the polls closed to watch the returns on the T.V. When it became clear Loebsack had a chance to win I drove to the county seat and joined in the celebration as 30-year incumbent Jim Leach conceded the election to Loebsack. That election didn’t just happen. My work to replace Leach began the previous election cycle and was regular and persistent. The same can be said of the many local Democrats who helped Loebsack win. Winning demanded a lot of hard work.

There is talk of a Democratic wave in 2018 but I don’t know about that. Our politics seems broken. People have hardened against the 45th president — withdrawn from society. For some the egregious behavior of the president and his marauding troop of grifters has drawn them out to participate in campaigns. Many — I’d say most — want no part of it. People have not only hardened against Trump, but against politics in its many forms. Heaven knows there is plenty to do to live a life, much less raise a family in 2018 without politics. The political dynamics that gave us big wins in the past are irrevocably changed.

I volunteer a few hours a week with a local campaign and will do more beginning in September. Individual actions, while remaining important, are not enough. I attended an event with State Senator Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City where he said we should band together with like-minded people if we want to impact policy. The idea goes against the grain of rugged individualism that characterizes many of our lives. As Hillary Clinton said during the 2016 campaign, “We are stronger together.” What holds true for elections and public policy has broader application.

I don’t know what happened with LBJ’s re-election, except it had mostly to do with JFK’s assassination and continuing the hope he inspired in us as citizens. History has shown us the worm can turn on landslide elections. The re-election campaign of Ronald Reagan serves as the penultimate example, which begs the question, “what’s next?”

There haven’t been any landslides since Reagan and may not be again for a long time. With the rise of the internet, people are more connected than ever and this has served to harden us in silos the way intercontinental ballistic missiles were during the Cold War. There remains an untapped power in the electorate but no one has found the control room in the age of Trump. There’s no clear path to unleashing citizens to rein in the corruption. Just the hard work of building an electorate to vote for Democratic candidates.

As my summer of writing for Blog for Iowa closes, I’m thinking not only of the coming general election, but what’s next. You can’t repeat the past, as Nick Carraway said in The Great Gatsby. The problem with our politics is there are too many Jay Gatsbys and Tom and Daisy Buchanans obscuring the view of our potential. To achieve a progressive future, we have to be able to understand what it looks like. For that we need to step outside politics in the age of Trump for a while.

~ First posted on Blog for Iowa

Categories
Home Life

Taking a Deep Dive

Gala Apples

It’s raining as I type on the keyboard. Rain is to relent and I hope it does because one of the farmers for whom I work is getting married today.

In our small family there are not many celebrations. I’m not sure what to do at a wedding, although I’ll figure it out by 3:30 p.m. today.

Jacque is steering me in the right direction. We bought a gift on line and had it sent to the bride’s home. She is making a card. She suggested I refrain from going directly from the orchard in my work clothes as I had planned to do. I looked through the closet to find something to wear and there was my blue shirt and a pair of slacks. I have a pair of dress shoes left over from when I worked in the Chicago loop. I need to pick a tie. My navy blue blazer still fits. Special things for a special day. I’ll change in the employee rest room at the orchard then head down to the county seat for the ceremony. Civilization at work.

It’s still raining.

Since my first retirement nine years ago I’ve kept track of significant activities.

I keep a balance sheet, a list of books I’ve read recently, and record every event, meeting and significant encounter with people outside immediate family who are part of my world.

Early on there was a purpose to this, although I’m not sure now what it was. Three full binders later, I’m ready to give up tracking things so closely. My last full report was in December 2017 as my Social Security pension began. My second retirement seems opportunity enough to let go of details and focus on main tasks at hand. Things like weddings, funerals, birthdays, housekeeping and the like. I expect I’ll get better at it.

September begins the turn toward winter. The garden is in late summer production so there are tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, winter squash, green beans, eggplant and peppers coming in, requiring processing. Fruit is also coming in from the orchards with pears, apples and peaches lined up on the counter waiting to eat. Cooking has taken a fresh flavor with local food dominating most menus. Cucumber salad is happening daily and we’re not tired of it… yet.

2018 is proving to be a year of transition. So aren’t they all?

I’ve been planning garlic planting in late September and haven’t decided whether to use the cloves I grew as seed or to get more from the farm. I picked a place for them and once the cucumbers are done I’ll prep the soil. I think I know the answer. At some point we have to live on our own — I’ll use the cloves I grew this year, hoping they multiply and eventually become self-sustaining. I’m confident they will.

Categories
Living in Society

Iowa Democratic Veterans Caucus Shunned

The Author with Veterans the Iowa State Fair Veterans Day Parade, Aug. 17, 2009.

The 2018 midterms are going to be a pisser and nothing indicates the bitter intensity of the upcoming electoral contest like publicly shunning the Iowa Democratic Veterans Caucus.

Whether or not there should be a veterans caucus, and a state central committee seat for veterans, is an open question. So few people participate in this caucus — and there are tens of thousands of Democratic veterans — the Iowa Democratic Veterans Caucus is not representative of any but a select few veterans’ views. That’s a problem.

However, thanks to the Reynolds administration, which ejected the group from participation in the State Fair veterans day parade, there may be a renewed interest in the caucus. The Iowa Democratic Party has certainly been more interested, making political hay out of the public shunning. The IDVC itself has been fund raising with twitter posts over the brouhaha.

Any veteran should know what I posted on twitter:

Truth be told EVERY veterans group that was at the parades I participated in had a political axe to grind. The idea veterans parades are apolitical is bunkum.

If we are going to shun veterans groups from the State Fair veterans day parade for political affiliations, let’s start with the American Legion which has a registered lobbyist in Des Moines.

I’ve written many times about being a veteran and this rings true today:

When I left the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry, and the Robert E. Lee Barracks in Mainz-Gonsenheim, Germany, I returned my service revolver to the arms room and never looked back. It was with a sense of duty, family tradition and adventure that I had entered the post Vietnam Army. My enlistment was finished, I resigned my commission and like many soldiers turned civilian, my main interest was in getting back to “normal,” whatever that was.

Many veterans are Iowans and it was wrong for the Reynolds administration to begin politicizing the State Fair veterans day parade. She attempted to dodge responsibility, but how is that possible for a sitting governor?

I thought I’d gotten back to normal after my military service. Thanks to this Republican government I need to talk more about my time in the military and the Democratic values so many of my colleagues then held. It’s something I’d much rather let lay, but in an election where everything is politicized, to walk away from it would be neglecting my own responsibilities. That’s something a soldier rarely does.

~ First posted at Blog for Iowa

Categories
Kitchen Garden

Serrano Pepper Salsa

Serrano Pepper Salsa

We don’t need any more salsa in the house yet the abundance of hot peppers this year had me making this recipe… it’s a big batch.

My Serrano pepper crops failed the last couple of years so I’m glad to have more this year.

There weren’t enough of them in the ice box so I went to the garden and picked more. No Roma tomatoes either so I used Clementine, a two-ounce, orange colored tomato of which we have an abundance.

This year I froze the salsa and am not sure how it will turn out when I use it — an ongoing experiment in food preservation. I bagged up two-cup servings. The rest is in the ice box ready for use. The recipe made 17 cups of salsa.

Serrano Pepper Salsa

Ingredients
2 pounds Serrano peppers
3-1/2 pounds Roma tomatoes
1 pound yellow onions
24 ounces tomato sauce
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup ground black pepper
1 large head of garlic

Technique
Clean and stem the peppers. Clean and prep the garlic, tomatoes and onions, cutting into large chunks. Put the vegetables into a blender in batches. Grind it until medium coarseness. Mix the end result thoroughly in a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper and tomato sauce and mix until ingredients are incorporated.

It is debatable whether to cook the mixture. I like it fresh, although if one wants to can salsa it should be brought to a boil, stirring constantly to keep it from sticking to the pan, and then cooked for ten minutes under medium low heat. After cooking, fill pint Mason jars with the mixture, leaving an inch of head room, and process for 15 minutes.

We’ll be in salsa for months with this recipe. Now what to do with the jalapeno peppers. I’ve already pickled and frozen enough to last until next year.

Categories
Writing

At Summer’s End

KCRG Weather Map 6:36 p.m. Aug. 28, 2018

We turned on the T.V. for the first time in a couple of years to watch the weather report. A large storm moved across Iowa at a high rate of speed and despite home computers, mobile devices, and a community siren wailing in the distance, we felt we needed one more source of information.

The storm amounted to a heavy rain in the micro climate surrounding our neighborhood. It could have been worse.

I finished my summer work at Blog for Iowa. Two months, 52 posts, and a process for gathering information and putting up content our readers might find interesting. I first posted on the blog in February 2009 and made 993 posts since then. It has become part of my writer’s life with a different audience and more exposure. I plan to post more on Blog for Iowa although for now it’s time to turn the page.

I took two days of vacation from the home, farm and auto supply store this week, before the retail dash to the end of year holidays. The time off is compensated by additional work at the orchard. A month into apple season we’re gearing up for a big Labor Day weekend picking Honeycrisp apples — a community favorite. We’ve had a bowl of fresh apples sitting on the counter since I returned to work Aug. 4 for my sixth season.

Yesterday, after my daily trip to the garden, I spent time in the kitchen processing vegetables. The bakery manager at the orchard gave me a bag of small, red hot peppers which are in the dehydrator. I roasted then processed a pan of jalapeno peppers producing eight ounces of hot pepper sauce to use in cooking. While I had the oven on I roasted eggplant and put it in the freezer. Cleaning, sorting, storing cucumbers and tomatoes — trying to stay on top of the harvest. There is a lot more processing to be done before summer ends.

These stories about daily life in Iowa are something. That I write them at all depends upon reasonably good health in a stable society. As much as society and our assumptions about it seem to be unraveling, it’s still here, providing a platform for imaginations. From here I can live a better life, even as I approach the end of my seventh decade. We can’t give in to entropy.

What excites me these days is an understanding that comes with letting go of the old arguments, the old apologies and explanations in life. I accept our human nature. Our intellect can see into the future, however, we can only live now.

I trade in narratives about what happened, about what could be. As I continue to write I seek something, resolution of past grievances perhaps. More importantly I seek a narrative that will carry us into tomorrow. A story about the greater good that remains possible in these turbulent times.

My list of today’s kitchen work has five things: zucchini bread, Serrano pepper salsa, process celery, make refrigerator pickles and Pecos pasta for supper. These will nourish me today and for a while. What I need isn’t food.

Occasionally I get glimpses of life as it could be. Paying attention to those is what makes life worth living. It’s nourishment for the unseen presence in our lives. Whether it’s God, my ancestors, or beams from the great beyond I can’t determine. In that sense, I plan to focus on these glimpses of life while telling my story. Hopefully I can provide something worth while for readers.

Categories
Living in Society

Jeff Sessions is Overworked

Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1937-38 term. Sitting, from left to right, Justices Sutherland and McReynolds, Chief Justice Hughes, Justices Brandeis and Butler. Standing, left to right, Justices Cardozo, Stone, Roberts, and Black. Photo Credit – Getty Images

Poor Jeff Sessions seemed overworked at an event in Des Moines last week. Sessions is the 84th Attorney General of the United States and apparently a snowflake.

In a room full of judges and lawyers Sessions assailed the judicial branch of government for obstructing the 45th president’s agenda, according to an article in the Aug. 17 Cedar Rapids Gazette. Executive branchers seem to believe their agenda is the only important part of governance and all others should bow down in obeyance.

The flurry of executive orders, proclamations, memoranda, nominations and appointments issued by this president have created a massive workload to hear Sessions tell it. That’s not to mention the lawsuits filed to protect citizens from the troop of marauding grifters the Trump cabinet has proven to be.

Sessions enumerated concerns about his health and some anxiety:

“I may have withdrawal symptoms when this thing is over. The constant criticism kind of wakes you up in the morning. ‘What are they going to say today,’” Sessions was quoted as saying in the Gazette article. “I’ve got lawyers, 100,000 people in the Department of Justice who represent all these federal agencies with all their millions of employees and I’m expected to know everything that’s happening. And when it doesn’t get right, they’re going to put me in jail. That’s kind of sometimes the way I feel about it.”

Poor peanut. Being attorney general is hard.

The 2016 general election was as much about the judiciary as the executive branch. Not only did the Republican Senate obstruct the nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Obama, the current president will appoint two and maybe more associate justices cut from a conservative mold. In addition, the administration is populating the federal judiciary with judges vetted for conservative views. Even if the current judiciary favors Democrats, Trump’s minions are working to change that.

There is a long tail on the process — it will be no relief for the attorney general.

Perhaps most telling in the Trumpian storm of executive orders and deregulation is on Aug. 16, a federal judge “issued a nationwide injunction against the EPA’s delay of the 2015 Water of the U.S. rule, which extended federal safeguards to 2 million miles of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands, securing the drinking water of more than 117 million Americans,” according to Huffington Post. WOTUS has been the bane of regulation for U.S. Senator Joni Ernst who has been resisting it since first proposed during the Obama administration. Not so fast General Sessions. more work for you to do. There are laws on the books and the judiciary said in this case you and your boss have to follow them.

I don’t know what people do under pressure in Alabama where Jeff Sessions was born. However, Democratic President Harry Truman has some advice: “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III should quit whining and get to work. If it’s too much, resign. Some Alabama peckerwood that reveres his namesakes would no doubt welcome him back. Many of us are already working toward a replacement in 2021.

~ First posted at Blog for Iowa

Categories
Living in Society Social Commentary Writing

Newspapers Are Working – So Subscribe

Solon Economist – 2016

Despite significant decreases in staff and other expenses, many newspapers crank out stories relevant to our daily lives.

For example, Jason Clayworth and Brianne Pfannenstiel published a full-page article about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell’s tenure at Younkers in the Gannett newspapers on Monday. I don’t know how many people will read the article but the fact newspapers crank out copy for Iowans addicted to politics says something positive about the fourth estate, even if having to re-litigate the quotes attributable to the Iowa GOP is somewhat annoying.

Also on Monday, the Cedar Rapids Gazette had front page, above the fold coverage of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney’s completion of a 99-county tour of Iowa. Delaney won’t likely be our next president but having the field to himself gives him name recognition he won’t be able to get once more Democrats jump into the presidential race.

I’m told newspapers run non-political stories as well.

Blog for Iowa encourages people who read newspaper coverage on line to subscribe. Without paid readership advertisers won’t buy ads. Without revenue, newspapers will cease to exist. If newspapers cease to exist… well that would be a much different bag of cats. In fact, I predict cats and dogs is all you will read about. While personal, funny, sad, and sometimes delightful, a story about pets is not news.

There may be no saving larger newspapers. As we’ve seen in our county, large news organizations are consolidating, and local coverage has been stripped from daily ink. Instead of getting the Iowa City Press Citizen, most people here read the Cedar Rapids Gazette because of its breadth and depth of coverage. There isn’t even a Sunday edition of the Press Citizen here, and the opinion page runs only a couple of times a week. Team Gannett produces valuable coverage, but it is not local. It is not enough.

Small, local papers with subscriptions of a thousand readers are doing well in Iowa, so if your community has one, spend the nominal annual fee and subscribe. It’s a great place to start and coverage of city council, school board and community activities is second to none. Even though your large local paper may be on the decline, subscribe. I prefer digital so I don’t have to recycle the newsprint. But either way would be better than the alternative.

Thomas Jefferson is reputed to have said, “Were it left to me to decide if we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Just imagine what our lives would be like with government but no newspapers. Subscribe.

~ First posted at Blog for Iowa

Categories
Living in Society Social Commentary

Late Summer in Iowa

Summer Vegetables

A pall fell on Iowa as the family prepares for tomorrow’s funeral of Mollie Tibbetts, the 20 year-old college student who was murdered near Brooklyn, Iowa.

Many of us feel a connection to her whether we knew her or not. She went jogging and never came back. We grieve with her family and friends.

Many, including the 45th president, seek to politicize her death. We can’t let that stand. We won’t let it stand. May she rest in peace.

Tragic summers are part of living in Iowa.

While the current midterm election cycle will continue toward its fall conclusion, we live our lives outside of politics. The politics I have come to know recalls a few triumphant moments: Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 re-election; Dave Loebsack’s 2006 election; and maybe Barack Obama’s 2008 election. So few celebrations in the wicked world and none of them perfect. Politics is not why we go on living.

Set aside our work and endeavors to make society better, and what’s left? For some of us it is a deep and abiding love of life — including its comedic and tragic drama. If we tell ourselves stories to live, what story will we tell about this summer so we can go on living?

Division among us makes it harder to craft a narrative for holding back tears — tears of loneliness, of sadness for the loss. Tears unexpectedly salty and wet pulled down by gravity to our tongue. Impartial tears of grief. I am heartened by the idea there is no other side, just one country of which we are all a part.

In the wee hours of morning lightning and thunder preceded rain. I couldn’t sleep. I got up to get a drink of water from the kitchen and felt dizzy walking down the hall. I drank a few ounces and went back to bed, sleeping fitfully.

I’m still tired yet ready to go, ready to take on what’s next. To make the next effort worthy of a life, honorable to our predecessors and invigorating for who’s next. Despite summer’s tragedy we look forward to winter, and ultimately to spring and the chance to renew our lives.

In this moment it’s hard to contemplate the garden’s bounty. Even though it is hard, we will persevere and make something of it. A meal for today and ingredients for the future. What else will we do in the face of tragedy but go on living?

Categories
Writing

Writing in Summer Rain

Monarch Butterfly on Milkweed Plant

Thunderstorms have been rolling over all day bringing needed rain and a chance to get caught up indoors.

I’m less freaked out about the amount of food processing ahead. There have been more cucumbers than normal and I canned the last seven quarts of sweet pickles this morning. That will be the last, I promise. I also canned pints of tomatoes, apple sauce and a jar of the same pickles. While the water bath was bubbling I made a pot of chili for supper with fresh tomatoes and Vidalia onions. We’ll cook the remaining sweet corn of the season. My retirement has had that effect — things are less freaky.

Tomatoes are next, although the plan is to eat as many fresh as possible. With only two of us at home, we can’t eat fast enough to keep up with the growing and cooking so some will be canned and turned into tomato juice and sauce. I’m taking it in stride.

Two weekends ago the orchard hosted our back to school weekend. A balloon artist/magician entertained children, and of course there were apples to pick and eat. It was a chance for parents to have one more family fun event before school begins.

Getting ready to attend grade school was one of the great pleasures of life. Each fall began with friends, new clothes, new pencils, and lined, blank sheets of paper. I needed new clothes after growing out of mine. I was first born, so no hand-me-downs. The sensation of hope and opportunity to begin anew is memorable, unlike anything I experience these days. It was something. I hope today’s graders feel the same way.

A Dad walked into the sales barn at the orchard carrying a young child on a backpack and a two-year old on his shoulders. He looked very fit. After they picked apples the toddler helped me transfer apples from our basket to a bag. “Do you want to count them?” I asked. At two, children aren’t really sure what counting is, or how exactly to do it. He just pick up one apple after another and let me do the counting after one and two.

I can see why people return to work after retirement. When we’ve worked our whole lives in stressful situations there’s no slowing down. It will take work to settle in more comfortably after 50 years in the workforce. What I once thought were extra things — cooking, gardening, reading and writing — are now life’s main event. Not sure how I feel about that. I won’t be for a while.

August is the last month to cover editorial duties at Blog for Iowa. I’m not sure what will be next. We’re moving quickly through the procession of apples, Red Gravenstein, Sansa, Akane and Burgundy this week. We have family Friday events through the month of September, so with work at the home, farm and auto supply store time will fly — almost like I’m working again.

Not really. Living one day in society at a time as best I can, hopefully with enough money for seeds in the spring.