Category: Living in Society

In a 589-word article published Monday, July 11, Des Moines Register reporters Katie Akin and Francesca Block managed to reduce Sunday’s Reproductive Freedom Rally of thousands of people at the State Capitol to pabulum.

“Speakers encouraged attendees of the event to vote for candidates who support abortion access, donate to aid organizations that help women pay for abortions, and to discuss the issue with their communities,” they wrote.

It was unclear from the article how any of that would get done.

They featured organizers of the rally, which was reaction to the recent Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center which overturned Roe v. Wade. Akin and Block did little more than touch on enough aspects of it to get a story. The rally happened, the Register reported it, but it was the wrong story.

President Biden encouraged women to continue to protest this Supreme Court decision. Click here to view a video of his weekend statement to media. One assumes protests will continue, yet the unanswered question from Sunday is how can thousands of protesters turn into a functioning, effective movement?

The Democratic answer to almost every contemporary issue is to get out the vote for Democratic candidates up and down the ticket. For some of us, this needn’t be repeated as we get it: do everything we can to elect Democrats. Beyond this there is little depth or consistency in media messaging. Without solid organization and a master plan, Democrats risk being beaten again at the ballot box. This time, a lot more is at stake than in 2020, if that’s possible.

The Iowa Democratic Party is in transition. I’ve known Chair Ross Wilburn since he was mayor of Iowa City. I liked him then and I like him now. It is a mistake to look toward the small cadre of Democratic Party officials or state central committee members for meaningful guidance. By its nature, the Democratic Party and the tactics and tools we use are decentralized. Any get out the vote effort has to be grounded in precinct politics. Local voters must take ownership. I’m confident they can.

To an extent, the several Supreme Court decisions this year have motivated voters to get more involved. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (abortion), West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (agency regulation of the energy sector), Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (school prayer), New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (gun control), Carson v. Makin (state funding of private schools), and others engaged diverse constituencies across the nation. It would seem there is plenty to motivate folks to vote.

I understand many families and friends talk among themselves about politics. The challenge is expanding the circle of contacts to include others in our community. Several prominent campaigns in the state have encouraged just that. Some plans are specific, some nothing more than to contact a few new people each week about the election and why it is important to vote Democratic. It is something yet what are the metrics to determine the efficacy of these approaches? It’s hard to say. This is no plan unless one puts air quotes around the word.

I’m glad there was something in the Register about Sunday’s rally. What we need more than a boilerplate news story is a plan. One that goes beyond advocacy groups that organized the rally.

If you haven’t, give your local county party a call and get involved in the 2022 midterm now. You will be thankful you did.

~ First posted on Blog for Iowa

On June 25, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law S.2938, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

The bill passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 65-33, and the U.S. House by a vote of 234-193. Chuck Grassley, Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of the Iowa delegation voted no on the negotiated bill that rose out of the May 24 mass shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

The White House supported the legislation, saying in a statement, “While the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act does not include additional important steps the President has called for as part of his comprehensive gun crime reduction agenda, it would make meaningful progress to combat gun violence. As communities continue to experience gun violence every day, the Administration calls for swift passage of this life-saving legislation.”

The bill is something, what a divided Congress could accomplish in the wake of a horrific series of mass shootings. It left out popular measures such as expanded background checks, an assault weapons ban, and a higher minimum age of purchase for assault-style weapons. Most Americans support these measures. Even Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said the age to purchase assault weapons must be raised from 18 to 21. Senator Amy Klobuchar summarized by saying, “We’ve taken one step to stop gun violence with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. But we need to do more. Families everywhere are counting on us. This is not over.”

Those who support additional gun control measures will accept this bill for the good things it does: enhance background checks for gun buyers under age 21, support state red flag laws, tighten gun possession on domestic abusers (including closing the so-called boyfriend loophole), clarify existing law regarding background checks, crack down on interstate gun trafficking, fund community violence intervention, invest in mental health services, and provide school safety funding.

For more information about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, here are some links:

Wikipedia

Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence

CNN

Voice of America

U.S. Congress

~ First posted on Blog for Iowa

Republican lawmakers twice passed an amendment to the Iowa Constitution which will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot. I urge readers to vote no.

According to House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl, “The Freedom Amendment is the proposal to enshrine in our state constitution protections for our Second Amendment rights.”

Most Americans appreciate the Bill of Rights. So do I. Here’s the Second Amendment:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

What Republicans propose isn’t the same:

“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The sovereign state of Iowa affirms and recognizes this right to be a fundamental individual right. Any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.”

Whoa buddy! This isn’t the language written by the founders in 1789. It is lawyered up with terms like “sovereign state” and “strict scrutiny.”

Republicans are tampering with our Second Amendment rights. They would infringe on rights that stood since the founders wrote them and the states ratified the Bill of Rights. 

Readers should pay attention on Nov. 8 and vote no on this bogus constitutional amendment that reduces our rights, protecting nothing.

~ A version of this letter appeared at the Des Moines Register on June 23, 2022.

My dance card is rapidly filling and there is no relenting until the end of the year. With the primary elections in the rear view mirror, it’s hammer down until the Nov. 8 election.

I attended what I hope is my last state Democratic convention in Des Moines on Saturday. I participated in the Senior and Retiree Constituency Caucus where we briefly heard from Admiral Mike Franken. The agenda for the caucus was unclear since officers had previously been elected and there was no new business. Some attendees complained about the types of benefits currently received from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other retirement programs. They wanted more benefits, which is understandable. What Democrats need to do in the midterm election is elect majorities in the U.S. Senate and House so we can at least retain what we have. If Republicans win majorities, they have stated publicly they intend to sunset Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid every five years unless the Congress extends them. While Biden will veto such legislation, I’m not sure voters understand this is at stake.

Parade season, a mainstay of political campaigns, is upon us. At the convention I overheard someone who lives in a rural area say, “People are hesitant to walk in parades because they don’t want to get yelled at for being a Democrat.” There has always been some support and hate from crowds at parades. Part of being a Democrat is standing up to both the good and bad by walking in community parades along with any member of the community that wants to join. While voter concerns about harassment in heavily Republican areas are understandable, it doesn’t have to be that way. Republicans could choose decency and respect for people with whom they don’t agree. We Democrats can’t give up before we get started.

The political speeches at the convention were fine. The messaging was consistent: set aside our differences and focus on winning in November. Much is at stake. Continued Republican rule could be disastrous for everything we have come to rely upon in our government. It has already been a disaster.

I’m having to decline invitations to political events because there are so many of them. I don’t know what we can win this cycle, yet we are about to find out. Tally ho!

If Iowa Republicans had their way, society as we know it would be dissolved, leaving scattered family units headed by white, male patriarchs. We would enter a life that was a combination of a Darwinian struggle for existence, non-denominational religion, and rugged individualism. Such families would have many children. Women would be allowed to continue to vote… for now. If one listens to Republican rants from the state capitol, some already believe their chosen tribal relationships are in place.

When Republicans declare war on trans people, or others who don’t lead what they consider to be a traditional life, they will fight until every one of them has been run out of the state or marginalized. The same applies to what’s taught in schools. It’s a crusade. The culture wars are more sinister if we don’t recognize their inherent neoliberalism.

Without saying what they were doing, Governor Kim Reynolds and the Republican crew embraced a conservative form of neoliberalism that includes private school vouchers, reducing taxes, gutting government spending, reducing licensing requirements, and tactics such as under funding the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to minimize the impact of regulations on business. Their unspoken goal is to enable the invisible hand of a global free market to work its magic. It’s as if they were students of Adam Smith at Milton Friedman’s Chicago school. There was even a Grover Norquist opinion in the June 7 edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Understanding the commonalities between Iowa Republicans and neoliberalism doesn’t make us feel better. It helps us understand what is at stake during the coming elections.

Thom Hartmann says the end of the neoliberalism era that began with the election of Ronald Reagan is at hand. What’s next? Voters gave Obama a chance to make changes. When he didn’t or couldn’t make needed changes in our politics, they gave Trump a try.

The surge in Trump support in the 2020 Iowa election is due largely to a lie he perpetrated that he was a populist candidate. His policies did little other than support the flow of money to the richest Americans while impoverishing the rest of us. He was hardly populist despite the fandom. Governor Kim Reynolds and Senator Chuck Grassley enjoy the support of the grifting ex-president. Reynolds posted she was honored to have it.

Where do we go from here?

People don’t like neoliberalism when they know how it impacts their lives. I would argue Iowa under Kim Reynolds is a textbook example of it. We must point out the neoliberalism inherent in current Republican rule every chance we get. We must do so for as long as it takes to get voters to recognize it. Before that, we ourselves must understand and be able to articulate the meaning of neoliberalism in 2022 Iowa.

It is not helpful that voter turnout in the 2022 Democratic primary election was lower in our county compared to 2018. We hear about doing things different and rural outreach, yet 82 percent of Iowa’s Democratic primary votes cast were in the 26 most populous counties. It is hard to see how any rural outreach would benefit Democrats given that scenario.

Iowa Democrats have no one who stands out as a populist candidate at present. While President Joe Biden is doing good work, the slim majorities Democrats hold in the House and Senate prevent him from doing more. Given the partisan divide of the legislature, Biden has actually accomplished a lot in his brief tenure. Biden’s age is apparent in his mannerisms and speech, yet his policies reflect a righteous attempt to reverse the ravages of neoliberalism. He believe society as we knew it is something that should endure, as should we all.

Where do we go from here? It is an open question.