Representative Sandy Salmon (R-Janesville) posted a video on Facebook Saturday afternoon encouraging Iowa to reopen its economy.
“I have been in contact with many business owners in my district over the past several weeks and have urged the governor several times to open up Iowa’s economy,” Salmon said. “I am hearing from folks, some are sinking, some are about to go under, and too many are going to go under if we don’t act now.
“We will have a lot more problems than we do now if we don’t get the economy going. And by that, I mean the fallout from an extended lockdown. It could be mental health issues, suicides, crimes, social unrest, and many other issues like that may be difficult for our law enforcement to handle.”
Salmon said it is not a matter of money versus people.
“If we don’t get people back to work and paying in, there won’t be the money for education, Medicaid and public safety and different services that people want to have from their state government,” Salmon said. “Because those services take money. And to have that money, people have to work. They have to pay in. It’s as simple as that.”
Salmon said not getting people back to work will make more people depend on the government and fewer people paying in to support them.
“We haven’t even begun to talk about the right to liberty. The right to an opportunity to make a living and provide for your family,” Salmon said. “This is a precious freedom we enjoy in this country. Our Declaration of Independence talks about this very thing when it speaks of our right to the pursuit of happiness. This freedom does not have to be cut off. We can still practice the health mitigation measures…and for the most part, keep working. It’s not an either, or.”
Government, Salmon said, must preserve that freedom to the greatest extent possible. It must protect health and safety with the least restrictive means possible on our freedoms.
“That’s what freedom requires,” Salmon said. “Iowa is doing much better respecting freedom than I’ve seen in a lot of states, but we still need to do better.”
Salmon said she supports Gov. Reynolds, but noted she needs to hear from all Iowans.
“This is not the time to sit back or we’ll all go under,” she said. “There are loud voices out there that want to keep us in lockdown for months. We can’t do that. You have to make your voices heard. I would encourage you to contact Gov. Reynolds at 515-281-5211 and urge her to make Iowa work again.”
