Sad for representative government in Iowa

What a shame. Schultz won, and won big.

He had the money- thanks to a lobbying group- to out advertise Freidrichsen big time. How tragic for Hoffman, that the voters in our district would choose idealogical extremism rather than honest and reasonable public servant-hood.

As a Christian, I want Christian voters to wake up and realize that the far right brand of religiosity that King and Schultz represent is one of pure legalism like the Pharisees, not the grace, mercy, forgiveness, love, and compassion of Jesus Himself.

Right-wing religion isn't about Jesus and His teachings, it's about fear, anger, and the desire to control society- not about helping others or first changing yourself. Stop abortions, stop gay marriage, stop immigration- We know what you hate, but what are you for?

Want to go back to the days of coat hanger abortions? Especially the girls who are victims of rape and incest.

Rather have the gay folks in freaky night clubs than mundane, monogamous domesticity?

Prefer those immigrants to be bringing all kinds of diseases, involved in crime, uneducated and wallowing in decrepit ghettos instead of working withing the system and contributing to, even though they're culturally different than you and me?

Okay then, make sure you put all of your energy into preventing anything you don't like from happening. Keep trying to make sure those you distrust are driven underground.

As a fiscal conservative, someone who opposes deficit spending and seeks accountability and reform in government- I wish that conservative voters would wake up and see that being beholden to ANY PAC, lobby, or interest group means that you have THEIR interests at heart, not your constituents. No matter how just and righteous their positions seem.

Iowans for Tax Relief? No one likes paying taxes, but we all like decent roads, safe bridges, and competitive schools. Tax Relief is a red herring for Republicans to swindle voters out of paying attention to real issues and it always has been. ITR was an easy way to get some bucks for campaign. Lets say we want to deport all the illegal immigrants, prevent all the abortions, and deny all the homos spousal benefits- we have to have some revenue to pay to enforce all those socially conservative laws. What the Hell, let's go out on a limb and say that we are going to stay in Iraq for another hundred years. How ya gonna pay for it? Taxes are a necessary evil, my friend.

The keys are how you structure the tax burden and what you spend the revenue on. Republicans want to tax the working class the most and millionaires, billionaires and corporations the most and they want to spend the money on no-bid military contracts to corporations they hold stock in. Democrats prefer a progressive tax structure where the more you can afford, the more you're asked bare. And we want to spend it on silly, frivolous things like infrastructure, education, law enforcement, scientific research, and who knows, maybe even health care.

Even more sad than Schultz winning Hoffman's seat in the Iowa House is that the Democrats of Dist. 55 don't have their act together enough to even field a candidate to oppose Schultz this Fall. Come on team, wake up and get it together by 2010!!!

I didn't want to write about this in my actual column in the PRESS. I don't want to alienate too many of my readers, because I honor and appreciate their sensitivities to "traditional values," and I realize that to many of them King and Schultz are "favorite sons," and local boys done good. And in spite of how vehemently I've written here, I don't want to create any animosity or make any personal attack on Schultz. I'm sure he holds all of his beliefs as sincerely as I hold mine and I even imagine that he doesn't see the ITR or any other Committee or group with the experience that Clarence did, so he doesn't see anything wrong with taking their money. They're a means to an ends and the ends is just a means by which to fight for his "values." But I just had to vent, so I did it here. So here it is.

People accuse Liberals of being "elitist" snobs who think we're all better than everybody else. That's because we think things all the way through and don't oversimplify them into their most base black-and white forms. Here's what I mean; no one is "pro-abortion." I value life and love babies, but the fact is that when more restrictions are put on abortions, then abortion rates rise. The Bible may disallow homosexuality, but the Constitution guarantees equal treatment under the law, and Jesus cavorted with tax collectors and prostitutes, not religious and political leaders. And Latinos come here for jobs and a better way of life, not to dilute or undermine traditional white Anglo-Saxon Protestant society. We should investigate employers who offer them jobs at bellow minimum wage with no benefits under the table so they don't have to withhold FICA and Social Security taxes. If we don't reach out to them in their native Spanish language, we increase things like TB and other diseases among them, and increase their crime rates and decrease their literacy rates. That makes them more of a drag on our society, not less of one.

Thinking things through is not bad, and it's not snobby or elitist.

Sigh. Enough ranting. I need to finish yearbook pages, order supplies, maybe even write a real column or draw a cartoon. Isn't there anyone else in Western Iowa who can see how short-sighted our supposed representatives are?