Tag: politics

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Living in Society

Another Derecho

Sun shining through clouds the afternoon of the Dec. 15, 2021 derecho.

While Wednesday’s extreme weather manifested as a blustery thunderstorm in Big Grove, meteorologists have since categorized the multi-state storm as a derecho. It was nowhere as severe as the Aug. 10, 2020 derecho. (Update: The National Weather Service said it confirmed 43 tornadoes on Dec. 15, 2021. On Jan. 7, 2022 the number was revised to 61).

The good news is with generator and fuel standing by, and gallon jugs of bottled drinking water stored downstairs, we are ready. Practice makes perfect, as they say.

I spent 30 minutes chatting with a registered Republican, small business owner, and FOX News watcher this week. Things went well. We had plenty in common. The challenge is turning points of commonality into votes for progressive ideas. When push comes to shove, abortion is the dominant wolf in the pack. It is a firewall against political persuasion because if raised, the chat stops right there. People who oppose a woman’s right to choose raise the issue early in political conversations.

I have no choice but to interact with Republicans. They are and have been a part of our community since we lived here. During election cycles when I’ve had access to the voter rolls, I looked for the Democrats and increasingly they are in a minority where I live. I’m not complaining, just saying.

On a Zoom meeting with Iowa gubernatorial candidate Deidre DeJear last night, I asked what we should be doing to organize between now and the June primary. The response, somewhat predictably, was we should sign up to work on her campaign. It was her event, so I’m okay with that. A challenge remains unaddressed, though.

Democrats have three U.S. Senate candidates, two for governor, an unknown Democrat for the First Congressional District, and no declared candidate for either my state senator or state representative. There is a lot of work ahead if we want to elect more Democrats.

There is a case to be made the party primary election should be eliminated in favor of selecting candidates at a convention. It sounds undemocratic yet we could pick our people soon after the February precinct caucus rather than wait until June. That would give us four additional organizing months. We need every one of those in the current environment.

Back in the ancient days when megafauna roamed Earth, during the run up to the 2020 Democratic precinct caucuses, Iowa’s system failed to produce a clear winner in the presidential race. Instead results were delayed, the winner barely won the delegate count, and a loser asked for a recanvass of selected precincts. It wasn’t much better in 2016 when Hillary Clinton bested Bernie Sanders by a few delegates. There is no perfect system yet we can do better than the Iowa caucuses.

What I do, talking to Republican neighbors, is part of the political process yet I don’t see how it dovetails into the broader, state-wide politics. Politicians should concentrate on counting votes, yet there are endless conversations in all settings going on every day. These local conversations matter more than the vote-counting of politicians. They are valid and useful if sometimes frustrating. Often people who are different in political views put their best foot forward to get along in society. That may be all we have together. Democrats have yet to define our values in a way that resonates outside our clan.

I’m glad to have survived my second derecho. Now if I can survive our politics. That would be the rainbow at the end of a storm.

Categories
Writing

Blog Year In Review – 2021

Looking at the moon rising in the east at sunset.

Eight of the top ten new posts on Journey Home were about the Solon School Board election. It demonstrates that when a blogger covers something in which people have interest, there will be views. I’m thankful for people who follow all of my writing.

To get a fairer picture of which blog posts garnered views, I include my work at Blog for Iowa. If I mix the two together, here are my top posts for 2021.

10. Book Review: Equity. Aug. 30, 2021, Journey Home. A book review of Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives by Minal Bopaiah.

9. 2021 School Board Candidate Forum. Oct. 21, 2021, Journey Home. This post was coverage of the only school board candidate forum prior to the election. It includes a link to video of the forum.

8. Solon School Board Election. Sept. 19, 2021, Journey Home. My first post about the Solon School Board election.

7. Here Comes Carbon Capture Technology. Nov. 24, 2021, Blog for Iowa. One of a series of posts about Carbon Capture and Sequestration plans of Summit Carbon Solutions and Navigator CO2 Ventures in Iowa.

6. The Climate Crisis is Accelerating – Now What? July 6, 2021, Blog for Iowa. Encouragement to act on the climate crisis. “While we need to do everything possible to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis, the longest, most complicated journey begins with a single step.”

5. Solon School Board Election Update. Oct. 3, 2021, Journey Home. A newsy post with facts about the Solon School Board election.

4. Is Jessica Reznicek a Terrorist? July 15, 2021, Blog for Iowa. “Jessica Reznicek, a 39-year-old environmental activist and Catholic Worker from Des Moines, Iowa, was sentenced in federal court June 30 to eight years in prison for her efforts to sabotage construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.”

3. SSB Candidates Respond. Oct. 9, 2021, Journey Home. A verbatim reprinting of Solon School Board candidate responses to my questions via email.

2. Book Review: The Hidden History of American Oligarchy. Jan. 19, 2021, Blog for Iowa. “In The Hidden History of American Oligarchy: Reclaiming Our Democracy from the Ruling Class, Thom Hartmann recounts three periods of increased hegemony of oligarchs in American society.”

1. A Nonpartisan School Board. Sept. 25, 2021, Journey Home. A look at the Solon School Board election through a partisan lens. Disclosure of party registration of the seven candidates.

Thanks for reading. Hope you will continue in 2022.

Categories
Environment

Miller-Meeks, COP26, and the Climate Crisis

Woman Writing Letter

Miller-Meeks attended COP26, but her record on climate isn’t promising

To address global carbon pollution everyone must get involved. Even Republicans understand this. In response to the climate crisis, and to political pressure, Republican Congressman John R. Curtis (UT-03) launched a “Conservative Climate Caucus” last June. My member of Congress, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks joined.

Solutions to the climate crisis will take government at all levels. In the United States, only the federal government has the reach to take effective national action which could impact the globe.

To my surprise, Miller-Meeks showed up at the 26th Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, Scotland, where she participated in a podcast with other caucus members extolling the positions of conservatives on climate.

“As a member of the Conservative Climate Caucus this issue is important to my colleagues and myself,” she wrote me in an email.

Well okay. Welcome aboard, I think.

Miller-Meeks’ votes against the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act and the Build Back Better Act, both of which address the climate crisis, indicate she is not really on board with federal climate action.

For a Republican to admit they have a problem is the first step toward recovery. Let’s hope Miller-Meeks can resist her addiction to D.C. talking points and do something positive to address carbon pollution.

~ Published in Little Village Magazine Dec. 6, 2021, Iowa City Press Citizen on Dec. 8, 2021, Cedar Rapids Gazette on Dec. 11, 2021.

Categories
Writing

Writing About Politics

Iowa City political event during the 2010 campaign. Note U.S. flag incorrectly displayed. We fixed it before the event began.

Voting and politics have been part of my life since the earliest days. I remember discussing Dwight Eisenhower with my parents. He was a Republican and we didn’t like him for that. When he started building the Interstate Highway System, it had a direct impact on our lives. We revised our position to say he wasn’t so bad and looked forward to cutting down the time it took to drive to my aunt and uncle’s home in Nashville, Tennessee.

Harry Truman was president when I was born. I have no memory of him in that role. I recall seeing news footage of Truman taking a walk from his retirement home in Independence, Missouri. Mostly, I reference his memoirs to see what he had to say about decisions he made as president. I’ve read the passage about his decision to drop the atomic bomb several times.

Father campaigned for John F. Kennedy in 1960. He had mimeographed canvass sheets he got at the union hall and diligently filled in the names of everyone on our block and how they would vote. When he finished our block, he worked on nearby ones. Kennedy lost Iowa to Richard Nixon and, as we know, won the general election.

The 1964 election of Lyndon B. Johnson framed the way I thought Democrats should govern. LBJ had a big majority in the legislature and was able to pass legislation. In his book The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963-1969 he listed them inside the front cover. It’s a long list. If his political legacy is tainted by the war in Vietnam, it is dominated by many policies and legislation that changed the United States for the better. I was shocked when Hubert Humphrey failed to win the 1968 election as I felt he was cut in the LBJ mold and would be a great successor. Nixon beat Humphrey 301-191 in the Electoral College. It wasn’t even close.

I have nothing good to say about the Nixon years. 1972 was the first year I was eligible to vote and I don’t recall if I did vote for George McGovern. I remember some confusion about whether I could vote in Iowa City, where I attended university, or whether I had to vote at home. I recently wrote about the 1972 election and McGovern here. Nixon was a liar and it was with a sigh of relief I welcomed his resignation in 1974. I didn’t care who was president. Gerald Ford? Fine.

I didn’t vote in the 1976 election as I was engaged in military training. We were rid of Nixon, so I didn’t much care who was elected. My thinking was “America, figure it out.” From my perch in Mainz, West Germany I thought Carter was doing an okay job. I felt he was unjustly criticized for lack of support for the military when I saw the results of his policy and spending not far from my caserne. During a major field exercise in which I participated, our commanding officer would travel back to the states each week to provide an update to the White House. I saw some of the ideas we discussed in a tent in Germany turned into policy in Washington. It was a heady feeling.

Reagan was the beginning of the decline of America’s greatness with its focus on reducing the power of the central government, favoring the rich. Maybe we were just receiving a comeuppance after the LBJ years. The Reagan administration began overturning reforms of the New Deal, something that would persist with every subsequent Republican president. Each played a role in dismantling the social fabric we had come to depend upon. The years since then left us with with hyper-partisanship and a flow of wealth to a small percentage of people.

My early years, through exiting the military in 1979, were formative. It would be difficult to write about the politics as a separate topic in an autobiography. The challenge is to incorporate these stories in the flow of the book without having them dominate. Figuring this out is where I am this Monday morning.

Categories
Living in Society

Laying Low

Sunrise Over Lake Macbride

It is a weird, in-between time in Big Grove Township. Since the beginning of the pandemic it’s been quiet. As people turn inward to family and friends for the end of year holidays it is quieter still.

Quiet is good. We need it to have a belief the world remains malleable. That it is possible to step into society anew. That reason will prevail. I need to have hope. Quiet helps yet it is not enough.

I hiked on the state park trail to the sound of weapons discharge. The season is ducks, geese and other waterfowl. I couldn’t tell the distance yet the shots sounded like they were coming from the reservoir or the Iowa River. I have not been a hunter, although I understand the interest in getting together with friends and doing things outdoors. Being in the military was the closest I had to what hunters experience. Live and let live, I say. That is, except for the geese and other wildlife.

I went to the orchard to get Gold Rush apples. The owner was there and we chatted about the new Iowa house district. We’re not sure how things will shake out, what with the eclipsing of reason by something akin to emotional ranting. In addition to being a long way from most towns in Iowa County, there are only 2,490 Democrats out of 10,783 registered voters there. If we are to win the district, the votes will have to come from Johnson County. I’m laying low on politics until I get the lay of the land in the new district. In addition to Gold Rush, I bought Honeycrisp and Golden Russet. The orchard had an overall great year, the best ever he said.

Jennifer Rubin wrote an article for the Washington Post titled, “It’s not ‘polarization.’ We suffer from Republican radicalization.” In it she writes,

While it’s true that the country is more deeply divided along partisan lines than it has been in the past, it is wrong to suggest a symmetrical devolution into irrational hatred. The polarization argument too often treats both sides as equally worthy of blame, characterizing the problem as a sort of free-floating affliction (e.g., “lack of trust”). This blurs the distinction between a Democratic Party that is marginally more progressive in policy positions than it was a decade ago, and a Republican Party that routinely lies, courts violence and seeks to define America as a White Christian nation.

Washington Post, Nov. 18, 2021, Jennifer Rubin.

I don’t know if this will blow over. I don’t think it will. Yet I’m going to lay low until we figure out an approach to resolving the problems. I believe reason will prevail, although reason is on the ropes at present and needs our help. There is no roadmap of which I’m aware. There was a bumper crop of apples, though.

Categories
Living in Society

Reaching For Status Quo

Voter turnout was high during the recent school board election. The result wasn’t what many had hoped. The election was revealing, just in case we weren’t paying attention during the 2020 general election: conservative voters are rising.

In our school district there were no claims of fraud in the election and almost everyone appears to have accepted the results. One candidate decided to pursue removal of their child from the district after seeing what the electorate had wrought. The simple truth is we live in Iowa and this election result mirrors the state more generally. People have created a life around what they know and don’t want to change. They prefer the status quo.

Change is coming, like it or not because what society is experiencing with extreme weather, agriculture, and work life is not sustainable. The impact for the electorate will be for the majority to further entrench themselves in conservative values. It goes beyond the school board to include religion, women’s rights, agriculture, shopping, coping with this and other infectious disease outbreaks, greenhouse gas emissions, extreme weather, work life, LGBTQ+ rights, the whole shebang. Iowa is in for tough times ahead.

Conservatives I know are good people. The disconnect comes in avoidance of politics in everyday discourse. It is not surprising conservatives feel the litmus test for a candidate is whether or not they approve of abortion. What is surprising is how well this belief is kept hidden and how little people talk about their politics in society. We shouldn’t be surprised when these attitudes show up at the polls.

There is not much to do except go on living. For me that means talking more to neighbors and engaging in community activities as a first priority. I used to work to influence people statewide yet I’m not sure I would do it again.

When I was on the county board of health we addressed the challenges to health of coal-fired power plants with board of health members statewide. I sent a letter to many of them. One chiropractic orthopedist wrote back, “While I can appreciate your immediacy to the proposed power plant, I take exception to the global warming spreading paranoia over an unfounded politically contrived ’emergency.’ We as humans do not control the warming or cooling of the earth. The research is bogus that claims such… In my opinion the global warming paranoia is a Democratic manufactured ploy to simply increase government control of its people.” At least I got him to say what he really means.

I don’t know what “status quo” is other than a good headline. It is malleable, yet people have their limits. There is a lot to do in modern lives and many don’t want to reach much beyond their comfort zone.

To make progress as society, we must.

Categories
Living in Society

Can Iowa Democrats Defeat Chuck Grassley?

Senator Grassley in Williamsburg, Iowa. Jan. 12, 2010.

If Democrats repeat the campaign strategy and tactics of the 2020 Theresa Greenfield campaign, we are destined to lose any challenge to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley.

Greenfield was a good candidate, despite the loss. She had the best advice and raised a lot of money. If Democrats are engaged, we should now understand support from highly paid consultants, combined with stellar fund raising, did not get the job done. A repeat seems futile as we take on the incumbent’s campaign machine.

What makes Grassley so potent a campaigner? He is like a 1949 Ford 8N tractor. He may look old and out of date yet he’s still working, and for his Republican constituents, gets the job done. I attended a couple of his events over the years and he has been well-familiar with the turf everywhere he spoke. He knows the county margin of victory or loss from the most recent election at each town hall. He has deep connections to local Republicans. His campaign staff provides support to state house candidates in the form of analyzing local voter databases and targeting key voters with his folksy direct mail. Whoever is the Democratic nominee will have a lot of catching up to do.

I supported Mike Franken in the 2020 Democratic primary and am inclined to do so again. There are too many shades of Greenfield with Democrat Abby Finkenauer, who could not win reelection to her congressional seat. While Franken served decades in the U.S. Navy away from Iowa, we are at a point where a high level military veteran and Washington insider could best represent our interests as U.S. Senator. There are other Democratic candidates running to beat Grassley. None of them is as strong a candidate as Franken.

Is this an endorsement? Endorsements of baby boomers matter less each election cycle. It is time for my cohort to let go the grip we had on the Iowa Democratic Party. While I’m saddened to see long-time Iowa senators and representatives with whom I worked call it quits, it is time to move on and let the next generation work on campaigns. If successful, they should take the reins of power. Given the shellacking Democrats took in 2020 there is no case for letting old timers run the show.

One might say, “isn’t Franken old?” What matters more than age in the race to beat Chuck Grassley is policy and experience. The only Federal office holders with whom I spent more time than with Mike Franken are Dave Loebsack and Tom Harkin — I know him. Franken is right on policy and his experience is relevant, timely and evident. I don’t know if others will like him, but I do. I believe he could win the seat.

If I have been enamored of a political campaign for the experience alone, that time is past. Like most people I seek a secure, livable future. I believe Iowa Democrats can beat the incumbent if we avoid mistakes of recent campaigns, if we adapt to the times. I believe Franken is here for that.

In the meanwhile, we have a primary next year in which we will have to choose sides. I hate the distraction yet it’s part of the Democratic process. Here’s hoping we can rally around the winner and defeat Chuck Grassley next November. Our chances are better with Mike Franken as our candidate.

Categories
Living in Society

Election Week 2021

Trail walking at Lake Macbride State Park on Nov. 4, 2021.

It was a good week to be a Democrat. Unemployment was down as the Biden administration generated more jobs this year than the last three Republican presidents combined. CNBC reported:

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 531,000 in October, beating the estimate of 450,000.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.6%, a new pandemic low and better than expectations.

Wages rose 0.4% for the month and were up 4.9% from a year ago.

Leisure and hospitality led job creation, followed by professional and business services and manufacturing.

Job creation roars back in October as payrolls rise by 531,000 by Jeff Cox, Nov. 5, 2021.

Even cynical traders on Wall Street enjoyed the news, sending major indices to record highs.

Around midnight the U.S. House passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill the U.S. Senate passed on Aug. 10, alongside a framework for the Build Back Better Act which is the core of President Biden’s social agenda. Biden is walking the walk in getting things done in Washington. My member of the House voted against the measures.

Locally, the school board election confirmed what I had believed, that our community was happy with the status quo, returning two long-time incumbents and adding another female to the board. Cassie Rochholz has been supportive of the current direction of the board, so she fits right in. A positive outcome of the election is better gender equity with two females on the five-person board. In other good news, by reacting to the outbreak in October, the Solon Community School District reduced the number of COVID-19 cases in the school from 67 to zero in four weeks, KCRG reported. It would have been better if the district had prevented the outbreak by following the science of contagious diseases, yet the reaction of the superintendent and school nursing staff created a positive out of the disaster they made.

State Senator Joe Bolkcom announced he would not seek reelection to the State Senate in 2022. Joe is among the best Iowa Democrats and a leader when leadership is needed. When Democrats held a majority in the Iowa Senate, Bolkcom held the line against Republican efforts at hegemony. I lost track of how many conversations I’ve had with him over the years. He has been very responsive and on the right side of issues that matter. He will be missed when his term ends in 2023.Thank you Senator Joe Bolkcom!

Finally, my new House District #91 is having the first of what I hope will be many political events before the 2022 general election. On Veterans Day, the Iowa County Democrats will host U.S. Senate candidate and retired admiral Mike Franken at a meet and greet event in North English. I had to look on the map to see where that is, yet the hour drive to the event will help me get acquainted with the Iowa County political landscape. That’s important if we are to work together to elect a Democratic state representative.

We’ve had a good week so far. Let’s see what the weekend brings and keep it going!

Categories
Living in Society

After the 2021 Election

Fall Colors 2021

While the 2021 school board election was not momentous, it is over and provides catharsis for those of us involved in the community. Voters chose to continue the status quo this cycle.

Fall arrived and the colors are past peak. Deciduous trees began to shed leaves and shelter the buds of next year’s growth. Our Autumn Blaze maple tree dropped more than half its foliage in a few hours leaving a big puddle of fallen leaves below. There is a lot of work to do before snow flies.

The plan is to run errands in the county seat. I’ll stop by the orchard to see if Gold Rush apples are for sale. If they are, I’ll buy enough to stock the refrigerator. After that, a trip to the county administration building, and then to the landfill. I have four old printers and a computer monitor to recycle. On the way home I’ll pick up groceries, although I don’t know which store I will visit. It’s early.

We haven’t much noted year-end holidays since our child left Iowa after college. That means the next major event is hunkering down at my writing table and making progress on my autobiography while dealing with whatever winter brings. I’m not ready for winter yet. I also am.

It’s quiet in early morning. Here’s hoping it stays that way the rest of the day and beyond.

Categories
Living in Society

2021 Solon School Board Election Results

Election Day in Big Grove Precinct, Nov. 2, 2021.

Tim Brown, Dan Coons and Cassie Rochholz bested the field of seven candidates for directors of the Solon School Board. Here are the unofficial results from the Johnson and Linn County auditors.

Combined unofficial results from Johnson and Linn Counties.

I congratulate everyone who ran for school board and wish the winners good luck in their upcoming terms. Thank you readers for following my coverage. God willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll do it again in 2023.