Books acquired at Ron’s Memorial Book Sale at the Solon Public Library.
What does a person do with 1,800 books after the owner dies? If one supports our local library, they have a book sale and donate the proceeds to Friends of the Solon Public Library. That’s what my friend Pat did after her husband Ron died just before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in 2020.
While visiting Pat after COVID-19 had been normalized in Iowa, she offered me what books I wanted. I took one, and said I would just wait until the sale to buy more. Sometimes a person has to show up.
Besides sating my immediate reading wants and perceived needs, the sale was a chance to catch up with people in the community. The people I knew had retired or were scaling back to part time work. Our community has a small yet devoted group of readers and will show up for a book sale.
A younger me would have brought home a lot of books. Instead, I made a free will donation for these seven. I hope to read them all, likely beginning with Pat Conroy’s memoir. It will not be the same as having a conversation with Ron, who was not only well-read but could talk intelligently about almost any topic. Reading Ron’s books is no substitute for those conversations, yet that is where we are.
Iowa is among the least educated states in the country. Those of us outside academia who pursue intellectual interests get to know each other and support our public library. In our community of several thousand people there are not many of us. When someone dies, or experiences a stroke, dementia, or Alzheimer’s Disease it is a substantial loss. We are of an age when that possibility is tangible.
The first snow fell in small flakes as I left for the sale. It continued while I was browsing books, and until I arrived home. Winter has not arrived, just a reminder of it. For me that means hunkering down in the warmth of our home to read and write until spring. Those of us who remain must go on living. That’s what I plan to do.
Big Grove Precinct polling place at the Catholic Church.
Computers for the poll workers were set up below a large crucifix on the wall of Saint Mary’s Church. It was as if Jesus and I (the certified Democratic poll watcher) were keeping an eye on the proceedings. There was no controversy during election day activities. From news accounts, that appears to have been true across the state. When issues arose, the election system addressed them. It was a statewide Republican sweep, with a few exceptions, and that was that.
756 voters cast a ballot under Jesus’ watchful eye. As was expected, more Republicans cast a ballot at the polls on election day with Chuck Grassley receiving 478 votes and challenger Michael Franken 274 in our room. (In my previous post I tallied the main results). Voters have spoken, and that, too, is that.
Father worked as an organizer on the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy. I watched him complete mimeographed sheets with a generic grid for our block printed on it. He recorded the names and voting preferences for each property. When he finished our block, he got a clean sheet from the union hall to start another. Richard Nixon won Iowa that cycle.
I remember us discussing living in a Republican state with a Democratic president. It was a non-issue because we were part of a country that had 50 states after Alaska and Hawaii had been admitted to the union the previous year. JFK was our president, too, he said.
I didn’t understand in 1960, and don’t understand now, how voters could pick candidates that don’t hold similar values and would vote against their best interests. Maybe people have been dumbed down. Iowa is not known for having a lot of deep thinkers. According to a recent article by Samuel Stebbins, Iowa ranks among the least educated states. That has to be part of it yet is not the whole story.
Iowans are conditioned to accept a wide range of outrageous things and such socialization or indoctrination is a key reason for Iowa Republican successes this election cycle. How they got there goes back to the rise of right wing talk radio and FOX. The socialized modern Republican is a primary cause of the infection of social discourse. It feeds upon itself. More liberal people either don’t want to engage in this discourse or don’t have to. Living in a progressive or liberal bubble isn’t good either.
Toward the end of election day, some Republicans hung around the entrance to the polling place. I listened to them chatting after they voted. Most were not aware of any framework, just that their peers can carry on a certain conversation with which they agree. Politics was hardly mentioned even though there we were at the polling place. The subject of conversation did not matter as much as the fact of it. This behavior, of setting existential reality aside to focus on something else, is essential to Republican dominance in modern society.
As film maker Jen Senko pointed out in her book and movie, The Brainwashing of My Dad, this conditioning is reversible if we know how to do it. For my part, I don’t enjoy getting into conversations where participants recount what happened last night while they were getting ready for sleep with the television tuned to FOX News. If we are serious about changing society for the better, people like me don’t need to consume right wing talk radio and television. However, we have to enter into more of these types of conversations. In doing so we become part of the community. I believe our differences will be tolerated in civil conversations and that is better than not being heard at all.
There is a lot to say about the 2022 midterms. There is nothing else to say. I’m moving on to more productive ground as this plot needs to lie fallow for a while. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Seeds went on sale at Johnny’s Selected Seeds and I placed a typical fall vegetable seed order. The cost savings were important, although I’m more anxious to get started with next year’s garden. I labeled packets with the gardening year of their intended use and filed them away. Apparently I decided to grow a lot of Romaine lettuce and got 1,000 pelleted Monte Carlo seeds.
Wednesday was a punk day with negative feedback from the election coming in via all media.
The preliminary results for Big Grove Township are that Republicans swept all the top races. Voter turnout in both parties was much less than in 2020. Chuck Grassley beat Michael Franken 563-473; Mariannette Miller-Meeks beat Christina Bohannan 565-473; Kim Reynolds beat Deidre DeJear 570-434; Dawn Driscoll beat Kevin Kinney 529-503; and Brad Sherman beat Elle Wyant 574-442.
In the county supervisor race, votes were split among five candidates as follows: Phil Hemingway – 580, Jammie Bradshaw – 537; Jon Green – 422; V. Fixmer-Oraiz – 351; and Erick Heick – 34.
Public Measure 1, adding language about Second Amendment rights to the Iowa Constitution, was approved here 562-436.
County-wide, Democrats won all of these races except House District 91, and Public Measure 1 failed.
The best result of the last few days was receiving my first order of garden seeds. Politics has been a disappointment the last few years. I plan to stick to gardening in 2023.
Arriving home after my last shift of knocking doors before the midterm election.
The United States finished voting in our Nov. 8 midterm elections. The results for the U.S. Congress will not be known for a while. Some states passed laws that delay counting absentee ballots until the polls close. It could take days. Not here in Iowa. A spreadsheet of initial election results from the county auditor waits in my inbox. I looked at enough races last night to know the results were not good for Democrats.
Our county party set a goal of creating a 32,000-vote margin in the federal and state wide races to offset Republicans in other parts of this increasingly red state. They fell well short with the U.S. Senate race going to Michael Franken in our county, with a margin of 27,130. It was not enough and Chuck Grassley won his race handily statewide. Johnson County is an irrelevant blue dot in a sea of red.
Democrats did poorly across the state with Republicans sweeping the governor’s race and all five federal offices, according to the Secretary of State election results website. With 97 of 99 counties reporting, State Auditor Rob Sand leads in his race. He would be the only state-wide Democrat to win. Long-time office-holders Attorney General Tom Miller and State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald were both defeated by their Republican opponents. Two counties (Warren and Des Moines) in the First Congressional District have not reported, yet it seems clear from what is in that Mariannette Miller-Meeks will be reelected. All counties reported in the other Congressional Districts.
I spent most of election day poll watching. It became evident early in the day there would be no need to protect the vote. Two of the poll workers had been doing this work for more than ten years and their personalities are of the kind that don’t stand for malarkey. I remembered the poll supervisor from the 2020 election and she did an excellent job of organizing the site and keeping the lines moving, when there was a line. I heard of no voter protection issues county-wide.
This was a hard defeat for Iowa Democrats. Where we go from here is an open question. Some have suggested that a couple of substantial Democratic donors (Fred Hubbell and Jack Hatch) along with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack might pick up the pieces and rebuild the party in the mold of what existed when Vilsack was governor. That would be the wrong direction. We can’t go on like we have been and the politics of Iowa before Obama doesn’t exist any longer.
For now, I’m going to accept the reality that Iowa hasn’t been a swing state since 2016. There is another post coming after I analyze our county election results.
Lunar Eclipse on Nov. 8, 2022 taken with my mobile device.
Election day began with a total lunar eclipse at 4:16 a.m. I’ll refrain from obvious puns and wise-cracks. This election should be serious business.
Before the polls open, I’m not hopeful of turnout. Democratic early voting in our county is running behind the results in 2018 and 2020. According to former county party chair Brian Flaherty, Democrats need to turn out voters on election day at 128 percent of what we did in the 2018 gubernatorial race. Based my Sunday door knocks, too many people are blowing off this year’s election, making achievement of that election-day turnout goal more difficult. Mine was a small sample of voters, so maybe the broader trend is different. It is young, married people on my list — millennials and Gen-Z — who are not planning to vote.
This cycle my engagement with the campaigns changed. I found a home with the Kevin Kinney campaign because unlike the two decades of previous contests, the race to represent our precinct in the Iowa Senate was highly competitive. It is one of the most expensive political campaigns for a statehouse seat in the state. It seems clear the Democrat is the better candidate and the campaign is knocking doors until there are no more to knock. They also have a paid campaign manager, which makes a big difference in accessibility, professionalism, and flexibility. In the past, I aligned with the House candidate for campaign activities. This cycle our candidate, Elle Wyant, is running a less conventional campaign, which made it a bit difficult to plug in. The usual political activists in Big Grove did what they could to support her. We remain optimistic that Kinney can win his race. We should know tonight, although it will likely be close.
I began writing political letters to the editor about our congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks in March 2021 after Rita Hart withdrew her election contest. My letters have been regular until my final one appeared last Thursday. I have written on topics other than the congressional race, yet the focus after the nominating period has been on electing Christina Bohannan to the Congress. In every political poll, Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks held the lead. This race will be determined by turnout. Bohannan’s name recognition has not been good on the doors, even among people who said they plan to vote for Democrats. The only poll that matters is the one today after the polls close.
Other things I did during the campaign include attending the Iowa County central committee meetings, donating what I could afford to candidates, placing campaign signs at home and in our area, discussing the ballot with friends and family, attending a couple of events, and holding one event at the library. I was more active than I thought I would be.
The eclipse is ongoing as I hit the publish button and head upstairs to shower. I signed up as a poll watcher after no one else in our precinct did. It is going to be a long day. I’m hoping for a quiet day in which I can get a lot of reading done. To conserve battery life, I’ll keep my mobile device mostly turned off.
If you are reading this and haven’t voted, the polls are open Nov. 8 until 8 p.m. in Iowa: go vote.
The dry spell broke yesterday with an inch of rain. It’s not enough to slake our thirst, yet was welcome. I got a walk in before it started.
On the final weekend before the midterm election I’m already thinking beyond it. Democrats have a chance in some of the races, so seeing how the statewide effort concludes is paramount. After that, it’s back to writing.
My blog posts are more first draft than polished pieces. I find myself editing them for the 24 hours following when a post goes live. With autobiography there are significantly more edits and rewrites. It takes a different frame of mind and results in a better final product.
Writing a chapter of autobiography begins the same way as short form writing, by getting a story down on a document, usually on the computer. During edits, true idea development occurs. Both my understanding of the subject and the narrative improves as a result of each rewrite.
This winter’s writing session will include reading what I’ve written thus far. I won’t get bogged down in rewrites at this time. I want to tackle the next sections which include time at university, a trip to Europe, military service and graduate school (1970 – 1981). Part of this period is reckoning with my home city and making the decision to leave permanently. It was one of the richest times and is well documented in journals and papers. Because of increased historical record, there is more research and work to do finding everything and pulling it together.
I just finished reading Alice Wong’s memoir Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life. It is the sixth memoir or autobiography I read this year and by far the most engaging. The reason is the subject of a disabled person’s life is so different from mine. The use of fragments of edited previous writing and essays is an issue I’ve been dealing with in my autobiography. Should such texts be included unedited, or edited for clarity? It was useful to see how Wong handled it.
It does not seem necessary to present a single narrative in chronological order, hanging details of my life on a timeline like one would decorate a Christmas tree. At the same time, that narrative technique seems important during the period leading up to my leaving home in 1970. It continues to be needed until I finished graduate school, which marked the end of my formal, youthful experience and education. After that there are diverging threads (marriage, fatherhood, work, politics, creativity, and living in society for starters), too many to attempt to tie together in a single chronology. They all proceed from 1981 until the present.
Another thing is I don’t want to write that much about people still living, especially family. Each person’s memories are different with different emphasis. Sorting that out in a memoir doesn’t seem important. While I will write descriptions of specific events, I seek perspective, not truth.
Rain is forecast until I begin my shift of political canvassing this afternoon. I’m not sure how to dress. I know I’ll be thinking about writing while walking from door to door.
Setting aside Thursday’s dozens of requests to help canvass, donate and generally do my part to help Democrats before Tuesday’s midterm election, I tuned into CSPAN to listen to part of the 45th president’s speech in Sioux City. Oh My God!
He doesn’t drink alcohol, yet his speech was slurred and difficult to understand. Perhaps he is on medication. He claimed to have teleprompters yet the stream of consciousness patter was more than a person could take for long. I listened for fifteen minutes then turned it off.
Promoters had trouble getting rid of all the tickets, according to news sources. There were no crowd shots on CSPAN yet the bleachers behind the speaker were not filled to capacity. The participants seemed restless, which distracted from the speech. Preparing for the camera view is basic event organizing, so event execution was not the best.
Republican Party of Iowa chair Jeff Kaufmann opened the event. His voice was hoarse from public speaking and difficult to understand. He welcomed the ex-president with enthusiasm and denounced news media outlets with opinion sections. He has changed since I met him in 2011. We used to be able to have reasonable conversations, but I don’t know in the post-Trump era. On hand for the event were Iowa governor Kim Reynolds, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, businessman Mike Lindell and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, along with other Republicans. Like all CSPAN videos, this one is archived online.
One had to be deep into Republican culture to understand some of the speech. I picked up the Hunter Biden laptop reference which is totemic in their culture. Much of what I heard was an airing of grievances by someone whose post-presidency period has turned him into the complainer in chief of the Republican Party.
Many of us believe the 2022 midterm election will determine the fate of our democracy now and for years to come. Based on yesterday’s rally, things could turn fascist if Republicans win majorities in the U.S. Congress. Radio commentator Thom Hartmann had some thoughts about this.
“American democracy is under attack because the defeated former president of the United States refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election,” President Biden told the nation (on Wednesday). “He refuses to accept the will of the people, he refuses to accept the fact that he lost.”
I wrote about this six months ago, and it’s time to talk again about what an American fascist government would look like. Because over the next two weeks we may — depending on how these elections turn out and how Trump’s followers react to the outcomes — very rapidly slide into a state-by-state form of fascism much like the old Confederacy.
Like the old Confederacy, it will feature political violence and threats of violence, rigged elections, and single-party rule combined with a corrupt oligarchy that finances the politicians.
And, just like the old Confederacy, it will reach out and try to destroy the historic democracy of the United States of America, only this time in 2024 and the two years leading up to it.
The word “fascism” gets thrown around a lot, but most Americans have no idea what it would look like or how it would actually play out.
[…]
First, and essential to American fascism, Republicans envision a strong-man Leader who will hold power for as long as he (it’s almost always a “he”) chooses, with the transition to the next Leader determined by The Leader himself.
Email Newsletter from Thom Hartmann, Nov. 3, 2022.
Despite the unsettling nature of the speech and the common refrains about fascism in the United States, I slept through last night. If we are turning into a fascist country, self-care will be important to our survival. I’m going to do something on the last weekend to help Democrats win races on Tuesday. I don’t relish the inclement weather forecast, yet I expect to spend some time in it. A lot depends on our participation this weekend.
Painting on the front of Lebowski’s Rock n’ Bowl, Washington, Iowa
Lebowski’s Rock n’ Bowl in Washington, Iowa seemed an unlikely location for a political forum, yet that’s where the local chamber of commerce held the only match up this cycle between State Senator Kevin Kinney and State Senator Dawn Driscoll. Candidates from House District 92, Eileen Beran and Heather Hora, also participated.
I live in the northern part of State Senate District 46 and it was an hour drive to the forum. I picked up a long-time political cohort who lives across the lake, so we had a good conversation on the way down. I had been to Washington a couple of previous times to attend district conventions.
Democrats held a rally on the sidewalk outside Lebowski’s. When Kinney arrived, we all entered the building together and took seats. Governor Kim Reynolds was to bring her state-wide bus tour for a pre-forum rally, yet there were permitting issues that prevented it. When the forum was finished, her bus was parked across the street from the bowling alley waiting to drive north to the next stop in Williamsburg.
The venue was expansive including a large room with a stage for bands, a dance floor, and framed posters of bands that had played there. I didn’t drink anything, yet having a bar at a political event had to have been a nice bonus for the proprietor and a boon to participants. The moderator from the chamber of commerce mentioned we were welcome to stay and participate in dance lessons after the forum. Line dancing and two-step were offered.
It is a late in the cycle for a forum. Democrats have a propensity to vote early and many of those I knew who were present had already done so. Republicans tend to vote on election day at the polls. Seven days from the election is not a lot of time to disseminate information from the forum to voters not present or viewing online.
Both the Democratic and Republican parties are spending more on this senate race than on any other election in the state. George Shillcock posted an article about this in today’s Iowa City Press Citizen. I had a couple of takeaways from the forum.
Kinney and Beran provided real answers to audience questions. Driscoll and Hora parroted talking points that even I know because they and other Republicans repeat them so much. Hora literally read her answers from a piece of paper held up in front of her. Driscoll also appeared to read from prepared remarks in her answers to questions.
Each candidate was asked to which political party they belonged and what it meant to them. Hora’s answer demonstrated how today’s Republican party is devoid of original thought. Hora mentioned her memory of Reagan’s election (when she was age 10) and her positive feelings about his policy. She mentioned part of her political education was listening to Rush Limbaugh. I have written previously about the influence of right-wing talk radio in our society, yet to have a candidate cite Limbaugh as an influence at a public forum was a new one. What Hora didn’t mention was the 45th president. On the road leading to town, her large barn sign displayed next to a larger pro-Trump sign tells that story. Driscoll’s barn sign was also adjacent to the ex-president’s sign. These candidates, and the Republican Party of Iowa, are close to and seemingly subservient to him.
At Lebowski’s I heard Kevin Kinney mentioning to a man wearing a Hora t-shirt that all his grain was in the bin. As we drove back to Big Grove Township there was corn standing in the fields along with tractors, combines and grain wagons. This political cycle is almost over. Forums like this inform us of how much work remains to regain Democratic majorities in the Iowa legislature. It will be an uphill climb for Democrats to gain relevance in Iowa again unless we win a few races. Senate District 46 is an essential one to win.
Senate District 46 and House District 92 chamber of commerce forum in Washington, Iowa, Nov. 1, 2022.
Locals were in their yards dealing with the fallen leaves of deciduous trees. In that peculiar American way they worked autonomously. Each had their own way of handling a natural occurrence. One family makes an annual event of piling leaves high then zip lining into them. Others piled and burned them. Some ground them up with a mower and let them remain. One family bagged them. People like me ground and used leaves as garden mulch. It was a typical autumn afternoon as I went political canvassing in the area.
For the people on my door-knocking list the election was over. A few feigned indecision yet I doubt it. More than half had already voted. The electorate has picked sides and there were few questions for a random canvasser on a Sunday afternoon. The main thing I communicated was the polling place had moved this year from the public library to the Catholic Church. For the many who voted early, that may not matter. It was good to be out with people.
Last night was Halloween beggars night and I had about 30 children and parents. The weather was mild and I left the front door open for the two hours. I bought a bag of candy for treats from the wholesale club. More than half was left at the end of the night. I’m glad to see children and their parents doing something together in our neighborhood.
Golf carts of Halloween central.
I picked more kale and chard in the garden. The color is now deep green after a few nights of frost. Under the weeds I saw a few chive plants. The plot with greens turned into a bit of a weedy mess this year yet there was an abundant harvest.
According to my device I spent 2 hours, 45 minutes chatting on the telephone. Nothing urgent. Just catching up with friends and family. Such phone use is unusual for me. While the weather was perfect, it was a punk day for working outdoors, so the phone calls filled the time. That’s where I am in life.
One of my political stops was a man I’ve known almost since we moved here. If door-knocking is supposed to be efficient, this stop wasn’t as we caught up on what is going on in the community. He lives alone because his spouse is now living at the care center. I didn’t want to rush things and the conversation took many turns. It was good to get caught up.
The plan is to work outside for a couple of hours, getting the yard and garden ready for winter. If snow fell today, I would be satisfied with where things are. We live in a climate, yet it is the people who make life worth living. I enjoy my slice of humanity these autumn days.
I drove across the Iowa hinterland on Saturday. Soybeans look to be harvested with corn not far behind. With dry ground, minimal wind, and cool temperatures, it was as good as it gets for a row crop harvest. Dozens of tractors, combines and grain wagons were deployed across the autumn landscape.
The trip took longer than expected because I stopped three times to check in with a political organizer. I had been done with door-to-door canvassing after the Hillary Clinton campaign, yet I’m working a couple of shifts this cycle because I feel it is needed. The organizer said he expected a lot of people to help this weekend. I’m going out this afternoon.
I have a bag full of cowboy cards to take along. Most candidates running in our district are in there. A door-knocker gets only a couple of sentences at each door. One of them is encouragement to vote on or before Nov. 8. This is paramount. Whether they will is uncertain, yet it is the best we can do in a free, midterm election.
Nine days remain before election day. Already I’ve turned to what will be next. On autumn days one thinks about the future. In a fleeting few days we will try to do something about the future by electing candidates who will pursue what is right for our community. Whatever the outcome, there will be life after the election.
The better question is whether it will be a better life. During this autumn day it is an open question.
Journey Home 
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