The best way for me to talk about week four of the 2025 Iowa Legislative Session is to describe my experiences earlier today (Thursday, February 5th). The Capitol was full of law enforcement officers, rallies, protesters inside and outside of the building, and meetings to restore love of country. In this edition of Freedom Watch, what does it all mean?
A pivotal moment in my day came during a subcommittee I was serving on to require a course in American history and civic government for completion of a baccalaureate program at our regent universities. There are a number of content requirements listed in the bill, including teaching the basic principles of the United States’ republican form of government, comparing our republican form of government to other forms of government to include dictatorships and communism, and studying the Constitution and our founding documents, among other things. This legislation is made necessary because many of our young people are woefully lacking knowledge about our history and our form of government, and many do not have allegiance to our country. This was made clear in a recent national survey in which almost half the young people participating said they would flee the country and not fight if we were invaded.
One of the provisions of the bill was “the study and devotion to American institutions and ideals.” The Democrat on the subcommittee stated that she opposed the bill, citing this provision and saying that devotion had to be earned. My response was forceful, because I believe that devotion to our nation has been profoundly earned since 1776 by the blood of millions of Americans who have given their all to preserve our freedom. I was thinking of the over 6,000 Marine casualties just on Iwo Jima alone in 1945, and of the many Marines I saw fall in peacetime during my time of service. Devotion to our country has been earned in blood and it is inexplicable to me why some Democrats are so opposed to teaching devotion to our institutions and ideals.
I left this committee and observed hundreds of protestors outside the Capitol angry that deportations of criminal illegal aliens are taking place. Some protestors were holding our American Flag upside down and I was reminded of watching similar protests in Los Angeles a few days ago, only they were burning our flag. Having just talked about devotion to country, I could not help but wonder how these protestors could believe that disrespecting our flag could somehow help their cause with Iowans.
From there I went out into the open area of our Capitol where Moms For Liberty supporters were holding a rally in support of families and Godly values. They had scheduled this rally in advance, and those who oppose them decided to hold a counter rally to try and silence them. I observed the stark differences between these two groups. Moms For Liberty supporters were respectful people of faith working to protect our children and improve our schools. They began with prayer and were respectful to everyone. They were not there to attack, but rather to build. The counter protestors were angry, held hateful signs, screamed unkind things, and did their best to silence those they disagreed with. Our great State Troopers kept the peace and did their best to respect the free speech rights of all but ultimately had to make arrests when the counter protestors got out-of-control. What a stark contrast.
All of these experiences reminded me that we live in a great state where free speech and diverse views are respected. It also reminded me that we must stand strong on principle and truth as we work to restore love of country and civility in our state and nation. We must fight, fight, fight.
