Earlier I told you about an interesting conversation I was able to have with a young conservative at the Capitol last week. Today I wanted to tell you about another conversation I started — but didn’t really get to have.
I was sitting in the House Lounge awaiting a subcommittee hearing on a bill when a lobbyist sat beside me and posed this question:
Do you think where your support comes from has made you more radical since you first came down here?
That’s as best as I can recollect the question, but may not be exact, so I didn’t use quotation marks. I repeated the question to make sure I understood it correctly. And essentially, I was asked if I thought the source of my financial support was the reason I have seemingly gotten more “radical” the last four years.
As I started to answer this question, my lobbyist friend had a request returned and my answer was never given.
In order to understand where the “lobby” is, even here in Iowa, keep in mind 28 organizations registered on the bill that protect kids from sex-change treatments and surgeries in Iowa. Sixteen of them registered against the bill. Eight registered undecided. Four registered in support.
Four.
As in not even quite a handful — FOUR.
So, might someone like me seem a bit “radical” to the majority of these folks? I suppose it depends on what one considers radical.
This is the fifth year I’ve gone to the Capitol. Just five years ago, I don’t think any of us imagined we’d be debating things like…
*Which bathroom someone with a penis should use.
*Whether sexually explicit materials should be stocked on the shelves of school libraries.
*Whether a 14-year-old girl should undergo surgery in an effort to appear to be a boy.
*Whether someone should be forced to have an experimental drug injected into them or lose their job.
*Should kids be forced to sit all day in school with a mask covering their faces?
*The very definition of the word “woman…”
These are all legitimate debates today. All of them. And it is all in the name of “progress.”
Now, as some of you know, when I was in high school, I wrote that I would vote for Al Gore if I were old enough to vote in 2000. So I have changed politically before. It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that I have changed again.
Nonetheless, I consulted the dictionary in search of a reminder for the definition of the word “radical.”
The most appropriate definition seemed to be: advocating or based on thorough or complete political or social change; representing or supporting an extreme or progressive section of a political party.
While I certainly respect and appreciate those of you who support The Iowa Standard financially, I do not believe any of you have made me more radical. In fact, I probably hold back more in an effort to keep people happy — if at all.
But do I think I am more radical today than I was four years ago? Well…
Four years ago I would’ve said a person with a penis should use the boys’ bathroom. I still believe that today.
Four years ago I would’ve said sexually explicit materials do not belong in public school libraries. I still believe that today.
Four years ago I would’ve said a girl cannot become a boy and a boy cannot become a girl no matter what procedure a doctor, who supposedly promised to first do no harm, tries. I still believe that today.
Four years ago I would’ve said nobody should be forced to have an experimental drug injected into their body for any reason. I still believe that today.
Four years ago I would’ve said there is no way little kids should have to sit through school masked. Same today.
And four years ago I would’ve been more than happy to provide a definition and description of what a woman is. That definition and description would be the same today.
So, am I more radical today than I was four years ago? Are you?
Of course not. We are not the radical ones — they are. The people attempting to turn boys into girls and vice versa — they’re radical. The people arguing it is a First Amendment issue that sexually explicit materials should be given to kids at public schools — they’re radical. The people who advocate for anarchy in the bathroom — they’re radical.
Now, perhaps it is fair to say I give more coverage to these “radical” issues than I did at the beginning. Perhaps at the beginning, I covered “mainstream” or “non-controversial” issues a little more.
But it’s really hard to focus on “mainstream” issues being debated in one room when in another we’re debating whether girls should have their breasts removed and whether sexually explicit materials should be provided by taxpayers to kids in another.
I do not believe for one second that “we” are more radical today than we were four or five years ago. It is just that the other side is pushing a radical agenda harder and further than they were five years ago.
Why? Because they weren’t defeated five years ago.
And yes, I promise that if they aren’t defeated here and now, they will only find more radical things to push. And yes, to some we’ll be the radical ones simply for standing on the side of sanity.
And you know what, if sanity is radical, I’m fine being radical.
I’d love to find 25 new monthly donors this month. That’s really just finding one new monthly donor a day. This email newsletter has 1,592 subscribers. If I could get 2/3 of you to be monthly donors, I’d be where I need to be!
You can become a monthly donor by signing up at this link! Again, just $5, $10, $20, $25 a month helps us get to our goal! You can also mail a check to:
PO Box 112
Sioux Center, IA 51250
Or you can contribute through Venmo at Iowa-Standard-2018.
I appreciate it and am honored you contribute! We have made a HUGE difference at the Capitol. Perhaps in an upcoming newsletter, I’ll lay that out.
And so long as we have your support, we’ll continue making this difference!
Thanks & God bless!
Jacob
