So what gets cut first?

By The Quad-City Times

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The voter sentiment that put a Republican majority in the Iowa House and U.S. House spoke loudly in support of the Republican platform emphasizing deeper tax cuts and an end to deficit spending.

In our editorial board interviews, we asked every candidate to describe the sacrifices and cutbacks voters should expect to reach those goals. Their answers exclusively focused on eliminating waste and fraud, a worthy, bipartisan goal that even our region's top Republican victors, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley and soon-to-be U.S. Rep. Bobby Schilling agree are in no way enough to end deficits.

This voter tide demands more. Tuesday's result affirms our governments must stop doing things. The challenge for our newly elected leaders is determining in short order what those cuts will be.

Our states' and nation's future course won't be a mystery. In Iowa, the playbook is a 31-page, 11,700-word document that outlines the Republican party platform that aims high:

“We declare that the government, namely the federal government, has grown too large, too intrusive and too oppressive to the point that government now stifles the productivity, the freedom, the ingenuity and the very spirit of the American people.”

Then, the playbook gets specific:

“We call for the abolition of the Federal Department of Agriculture, returning control to the state and local governments.

“We support the elimination of the Iowa Department of Education and of the U.S. Department of Education.

“We believe, with the eminent failure of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Republicans should take any and all necessary actions to abolish these programs, over time, and replace them with private solutions.

Those published goals endorsed by state and county party convention are aimed at eliminating top-down, Washington and state Capitol influence on farming, schools, retiree support and almost every aspect of government.

That's going to require extensive local civic participation as leaders in city halls, school and county boards grapple with the implications.

Voters' work only began Tuesday. On Election Day, they told new majorities in Congress and the Iowa House that state and federal government must do less. Much less.