As we prepare to begin week three of our federal government
shutdown over 45’s border wall tantrum, I’d love to know where individuals’
heads are. While we struggle, living paycheck to paycheck, our out-of-touch
legislators seem to think we have unlimited savings to tide us over.
And when I say legislators, I’m talking at the state
level, too. In Iowa, we’ve continued to elect Republicans to the statehouse who
blindly support the agenda of corporate America. This includes stripping many
Iowans’ health and mental health care via our Medicaid debacle, strangling
funding for public schools, and cutting corporate taxes and thus shifting the
tax burden to individuals and local property owners. I suspect many of these
state legislators don’t even realize they’re working against the interests of
their own communities and constituents. They simply follow the party line
without questioning what they’re told.
Years ago, as a school board director, I was engaged
in conversation at the statehouse with a former Iowa senator. We were chatting
about education and her work as a senator, and she began to tell me about a
fabulous retreat she’d been to out of state at a balmy resort. As she was “educated”
about various policies, she had plainly been bedazzled by the setting. Her enthusiasm
struck me at the time and stuck with me.
Several years later, I began to read about the work of
the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). This group, funded and led by
the Koch Brothers, works to write legislation called “model bills,” which they
introduce to federal and state legislators at swanky conferences. Although ALEC
works to influence legislators of both parties, over the years they’ve
determined the Republican party fits their agenda best. The Center for Media
and Democracy has researched and published about ALEC’s work at https://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off over my head. This legislator, a Republican,
had been attending ALEC conferences.
Do we want state laws written by corporate attorneys
from who knows where? But that’s what’s been happening. Much of Iowa's recent legislation bears a striking resemblance to ALEC's body of model bills. And thanks to corporate media outlets and shrinking independent
media sources, citizens don’t know.
How did this happen? Back in the late 70s and early
80s, Terry Branstad was involved in the initiative to build ALEC. Then, Iowans
elected him governor. Iowa’s ability to fund schools and other services for the
common good have been shrinking ever since. We’re on the road to Kansas.
Meanwhile at the federal level, in 2016, underinformed
Americans were scammed into voting for the current occupant of the White House.
And what has the 45th president done for them? He’s alienated our trading partners and allies,
wrecked our markets, and now he’s left thousands of federal workers with no
income. Congressional Republicans have been no help.
So, I’m ready to get my pitchfork out and protest. If
you want to see any progress, you better, too. Because until GOP politicians
can feel our pain, I don’t think they intend to move.
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