Author: Paul Deaton

CEDAR RAPIDS–It was a great night for Iowa Democrats as the state party hosted five announced presidential candidates during its annual Hall of Fame celebration at the Cedar Rapids Convention Complex yesterday.

Former Cedar Rapids mayor Kay Halloran, one of seven inductees, received the outstanding supporter award. Congressman Dave Loebsack reminded the audience of her work dealing with the record 2008 flood that had much of downtown Cedar Rapids under water, including significant damage to the venue where first in the nation Iowa held the event.

Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders and Jim Webb spoke in alphabetical order by last name.

This post captures fleeting reactions before they disappear into the ether of a busy life. No analysis of policy here. C-SPAN live streamed the event and has the video up here.

Because this is Iowa, I have heard all of the candidates, except Chafee, in person before. This was Chafee’s first trip to Iowa since announcing.

Both the audience and candidates were reasonably “Iowa Nice.” The candidates gave speeches reflecting Democratic values, serving them up like a rarified buffet in the desert of corn and soybeans that is Iowa. The majority of the audience stayed until party chair Dr. Andy McGuire wrapped things up. While Hillary Clinton left immediately after her speech according to reports from the national media, the four other candidates stayed to hear the last words, and some mingled with the audience afterward.

The playing field is not level, despite the use of the alphabet to set the speaker order. It is reflected in how candidates approached their speeches.

Lincoln Chafee and Hillary Clinton were the only two to acknowledge the inductees to the Hall of Fame–the nominal reason we gathered.

Bernie Sanders briefly acknowledged he was in Iowa, and could have given the same speech anywhere and probably has. The audience did not mind, supporters responding as if in church to his every jeremiad. Chafee had a wrestling connection, he was a wrestler and knew of Iowa’s program, Clinton talked about current Iowa issues, particularly the recent closure of two state-run mental health facilities, O’Malley talked about the Newton Maytag closure in the context of NAFTA and his opposition to the TPP, and Webb also briefly acknowledged he was in Iowa. Points to Clinton for weaving important current Iowa issues into her speech.

Clinton and Sanders said very little about their resume to be president. Chafee, O’Malley and Webb spoke about their credentials as if they were applying for a job. Name recognition is always an issue in campaigns, and at this event, Clinton and Sanders had it and could focus their speech in other areas. The others did not and made their case via qualifications.

Chafee, Clinton and O’Malley gave props to President Obama. Sanders and Webb did not. Webb has concerns about the recently negotiated agreement between the P5 + 1 nations and Iran to shut down Iran’s growing nuclear program. He carefully articulated his position without criticizing the president.

The surprise was none of the five mentioned two important words: Tom Harkin. The group of moneyed Democrats who could afford the minimum donation is well familiar with Harkin and how he speaks. Clinton, Sanders and Webb served in the U.S. Senate with him. It was brilliant that Clinton wove some classic Tom Harkin into her speech, talking about how the Republicans want to take the country backwards, and Democrats want to move forward. Clinton didn’t mention Harkin, but her speech reflected Harkin-like phrasing with which audience members are very familiar. From an oratory perspective, Clinton gave the best speech.

There were no “yikes moments” for the five, and only a naysayer couldn’t find something positive in each of the candidates. Next comes the organizing where Clinton, O’Malley and Sanders are ahead of Chafee and Webb. As Loebsack said during his remarks, the caucus season has officially begun.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

Elections matter. They have mattered for a long time. A more pertinent maxim for political life in 2015 Iowa, however, is:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana.

If elections matter, understanding the intellectual context for them, from a conservative perspective is equally important.

In the 20th Century we rose from the Great War and the agricultural experiment that led to the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. We created the military industrial complex and its prosperity for many. We bought into an illusion of unending opportunity.

This has always been more story than truth. Because so many like the story, it persists. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) taps into it.

“At a time when millions of American workers have seen declines in their incomes and are working longer hours for lower wages, the wealth of the billionaire class is soaring in a way that few can imagine,” Sanders said on his website. “If you can believe it, between 2013 and 2015, the 14 wealthiest individuals in the country saw their net worth increase by over $157 billion dollars. We live in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, yet children go hungry, veterans sleep out on the streets and senior citizens cannot afford their prescription drugs. This is what a rigged economic system looks like.”

Our lives have been coarsened by the unending work of the wealthy and their politicians. It has been no accident.

“36 men created the economic mental model that has delivered the mess we’re in,” wrote L. Hunter Lovins, president, Natural Capitalism Solutions. “Meeting in 1947 at the Mont Pelerin hotel outside Montreux, Switzerland they built the intellectual architecture of an economy of small government and individual decision-making in an unfettered free market.”

If austerity, and that’s what we’ve come to call it, began after World War II, it found its home in the Reagan administration.

“Let us remember that the basic purpose of any tax cut program in today’s environment is to reduce the momentum of expenditure growth by restraining the amount of revenue available and trust that there is a political limit to deficit spending,” said economist Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chair from 1987 to 2006, in testimony to the U.S. Finance Committee July 14, 1978.

“Starving the beast” is a political strategy employed by American conservatives in order to limit government spending by cutting taxes in order to deprive the government of revenue in a deliberate effort to force the federal government to reduce spending.” (Source: Wikipedia)

“My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years,” Republican Grover Norquist said. “To get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

These statements are not abstractions. They find their way to Iowa, where Governor Branstad and the Republicans take an approach of cut the budget, cut taxes, then repeat the cycle. The segregation of funding for K-12, community college and higher education this legislative session, and Branstad’s subsequent veto, are out of a playbook with roots in 20th Century conservative thought.

Government is often inefficient and programs outlive their usefulness. An example is the recent closure of two of Iowa’s four mental health facilities. The idea that those who need in-patient mental health treatment should not be warehoused in a few central locations has merit. What better than to re-integrate people into local communities and settings? The fact that this devolved into a dispute between the governor, certain legislators and an Iowa union does a disservice to people who need the treatment. It’s no way to make sensible or reasonable changes in our governance.

Each of the five Democratic candidates for president said unlimited money in politics is a problem for our Democracy. This is a core problem with elections post-Citizens United. The unstoppable advancement of the ideas of shrinking government, looting the commons and war profiteering are the context in which Citizens United is possible. The culture is so pervasive that even small business owners have bought in, displaying signs like the one in the picture all around Iowa.

Elections matter and the moneyed interests know it. Their ability to indoctrinate an electorate that often votes against its own interests has been stunning. Using mass media they own, literally, or with unlimited monetary resources to buy programming, the depth of their penetration into an American psyche has given us Ronald Reagan, and a legion of Reagan wannabes.

Our hope is more of us recognize elections matter. One has to have faith the American electorate will wake up, the scales will fall from their eyes, and people will focus on what’s right, and not what the wealthy tell us must be.

If we care about our country and the people in it, we can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. I’m grateful most people I know agree and are willing to work for the change we need. What about you?

~ Written for Blog for Iowa

When I spoke to Rob Hogg about his July 8 announcement, he emphasized it was an exploratory committee to consider a run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Chuck Grassley. If Hogg was precise about framing the discussion, it matches his personality, and represents a desire to be clear when it comes to elections and the laws surrounding them.

Hogg has little to lose and everything to gain by running for U.S. Senate. He was re-elected to a four year term to the state senate in 2014, so his seat is secure. Already well known in Iowa as chairman of the senate judiciary committee, Hogg has a track record that goes beyond his signature issue of acting on climate change. Even if Hogg loses to Grassley, a challenge has the potential to burnish his credentials as a state-wide politician, and puts Grassley in a position where he has to organize and spend some of his campaign war chest locally. Hogg may win if he runs.

Before the 2015 legislative session, Hogg traveled around the country to promote his book America’s Climate Century: What Climate Change Means for America in the 21st Century and What Americans Can Do About It. Connections made on the book tour may translate into financial contributions to his exploratory campaign. He also toured much of Iowa speaking on climate change.

Mitigating the causes of climate change and dealing with its real world effects is Hogg’s signature issue. In a letter to colleagues in the environmental movement he wrote, “I am considering this candidacy, in part, because I believe it is long past time for Congress to act on climate change. By running, I would give voters a chance to vote for climate action. As I said in my release announcing the formation of the exploratory committee, ‘If we had a Congress that worked better, we could confront the challenge of our century–climate change–through solutions that work for our economy, our health, and our environment.’”

There is expected to be a Democratic primary for U.S. Senate next year. Hogg hasn’t formally announced, and plans to use the time raising money and discussing issues with party activists, two necessary prerequisites to making a decision to run.

Here is the text of Hogg’s announcement:

Hogg forms Exploratory Committee for possible U.S. Senate run

CEDAR RAPIDS–Today, I am announcing that I have formed an exploratory committee to consider becoming a candidate for the United States Senate in 2016. Like many Iowans, I believe we need Congress to work better for all of our citizens and our country’s future. If we had a Congress that worked better, we could:

> Build a vibrant, full-employment economy that works for all Americans.
> Improve public health and public safety through prevention, prevention, and more prevention.
> Strengthen Social Security and Medicare and fulfill our commitments to seniors, veterans, and people living with disabilities.
> Confront the challenge of our century – climate change – through solutions that work for our economy, our health, and our environment.

In order to get Congress to work better, Iowans know it will require new leadership. Iowans also know it will require significant reform in the way we conduct our political campaigns.

Over the coming weeks, I look forward to visiting with Iowans across our state, to have a conversation about our Congress, our country, and our future, as I make a decision about running for the United States Senate.

For more information, please visit http://www.robhogg.org, email Senator Hogg at rob@mail.robhogg.org, write the Rob Hogg Exploratory Committee at P.O. Box 1361, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406-1361, or call the exploratory committee at 319-360-3401.

~ Written for Blog for Iowa