Book Bans at the Libraries Now, Too
You’d think after the extreme rhetoric from our statehouse and surrounding our schools over the last 10 months that the outrage would start to simmer down at some point. Iowa Republicans have banned your books. They’ve taken your tax dollars for private school vouchers. They passed their “don’t say gay” bill. They control every facet of government in this state. They have won every single one of their legislative battles.
And, as you can see above, the “left” is still somehow the ones indoctrinating our children to Iowa’s Republican legislators. They still portray themselves as the victims. They still channel in grievance. They’re still conjuring even greater frontiers of their fringe – no matter how many Iowa families, businesses, and people are pushed out.
On the book ban front, one retort we heard from Republican legislators over and over again during the book ban debates was that “adults could still check them out at the public library.” Unfortunately, those same legislators are now trying to take them out of the libraries for adults, too. As Republican Representative Helena Hayes put it in the article, now “all they have to do is go on Amazon and click buy.” The concern, of course, is that that all may be true until next session when they could propose a bill banning businesses from selling certain books in Iowa. That might seem far-fetched, but a lot of this seemed far-fetched less than a year ago.
For all the talk of this last session being “red meat for the base” and this next session being one “for the middle” in an election year, this event and so much of their rhetoric this fall is yet another indication that these folks aren’t going to have a change of heart on their own. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, when you feed crocodiles, they don’t go away – they merely get bigger and hungrier.
Concerning News This Summer
Perhaps conservative legislators could argue that their culture wars were a worthwhile conversation if things for our beloved state were going well. They’ve had control of Iowa for going on a decade now, though. They’ve enacted the laws of their wildest dreams (or nightmares depending on where you fall on the political spectrum). As I mentioned on the House floor in July, our population isn’t growing. Businesses aren’t moving here. The economy is declining. They got noticeably angry when I asked, “Where is all the growth? Where are all the people?”
The last month provided a few more sorry indicators for what’s been happening as our leaders take their eyes off the ball. A September report found that Iowa has now allowed half of our soil’s richness to be depleted over the last few decades. I come from a family of farmers. As someone who has planted in several states, I can tell you that our black, beloved soil is the best in the world. It’s a genuine tragedy then that 48 billion tons of soil organic carbon has been wasted away. That’s not just a problem for those of us concerned by the climate, it has a dramatic impact on our broader state economy as well. While new book bans are still being proposed by our legislators this fall, the silence on this far more important concern has been deafening.
We saw similarly alarming numbers in a national report for bridges. Once again, Iowa ranked the worst of all the states for the number of structurally deficient bridges here. That’s too bad because, as a member of the House Transportation Committee, I can vouch that it’s one of the few committees with good work and broad, bipartisan agreement. Unfortunately, though, the willingness to back that support up with dollars has been severely lacking. Instead of paying billions for vouchers or millions for private companies to kick folks off of SNAP, we could be funding the bridges we all depend on. Again, though, there has been little to no action from our state leaders.
As the old saying goes, “show me your budget and I’ll tell you what your priorities are.”
Around the Neighborhood
I’ve been grateful to see a lot of you over the last month, so you know how busy it’s been. Our family was thrilled to spend both days at the Beaverdale Fall Festival last month. Our entry in the parade (above) was our biggest yet. And somehow we still ran out of candy – despite buying more than 10,000 pieces. Our fearless volunteer leaders with the Northwest Des Moines Democrats handed out more than 100 absentee ballot requests at the festival booth that weekend. Over the course of several rounds of doorknocking and lit-dropping this month and last, they’ve contacted hundreds of voters. They also collected 200 signatures to get an early voting station at the Northwest Community Center.
We were amazed at how many people showed up for the Culture All event at Perkins Elementary last month. Hundreds of families, incredible presenters, and some of the best food establishments in Des Moines made it a night to remember. I also got to head out to Indianola for a bipartisan tour of the new IBEW Electrical Worker Apprenticeship Training Facility (you can see our group picture a few sections above).
And many of you know our former campaign manager and treasurer Jaime Yowler. We were immensely proud to attend his graduation ceremony to become a warrant officer in the Iowa National Guard in Johnston last month. Our campaign and our efforts wouldn’t be the same without his leadership.
Bills for the Next Session
As if that all weren’t enough, I’m already getting my bills together for the next legislative session. I’ve spent much of the spring and summer visiting with neighbors and leaders about what we can proactively do that’s good for all of Iowa. My hope is that many of them will be introduced with a Republican to show good, bipartisan support on a number of issues confronting Iowans.
This year, I offered an amendment to require that Brenna Bird restore funding for emergency contraceptives for victims of rape and sexual assault. Although it was defeated, I’ll be offering that legislation again. I’ve talked to a number of families dealing with our national opioid crisis and will be submitting a bill to help tackle part of the issue here in Des Moines. I’ve talked with a number of advocacy groups and will submit legislation to crack down on puppy mills (still, unfortunately, some of the worst in the nation). I’ll be reviving parts of our domestic violence legislation that didn’t make the final cut (but received Republican support) this past session – along with some additional provisions.
Since the state’s education department still can’t issue guidance on the Republican book bans now that we’re two months into the school year, I’ll be proposing we repeal this awful legislation that few commonsense Iowans ever wanted in the first place. After reading some interesting research on policy in other states, I’m hoping to offer a bill that expands childcare resources for the folks who provide childcare for the rest of us (because better childcare would be something that actually attracts the people and families who will help grow Iowa).
And I’ll also be submitting a bill familiar to those watching how the voucher program passed several years ago in Wisconsin is now imploding. Legislators there have proposed that the amount of an individual’s taxes paying for vouchers be included on their tax statements every year. Since both parties at least publicly agree that transparency is always a good thing, I’m hoping that bill will be a slam dunk with easy passage. Hope springs eternal, right?
You’re right. Most common sense Iowans wanted to ban porn books and sexually explicit books, either in the writing or illustrations in elementary schools. Try to read Gender Queer at a school board and you will be silenced because it is inappropriate. Also, no school staff should be telling children that they can be a boy or girl, neither or both. Just listen to your heart they are told.
Get some moral clarity!