‘Iowa Nice’ is a myth when it comes to Iowa politics

Gov. Kim Reynolds likes to use “Iowa Nice” to describe our state, and she used it again during her rebuttal to the president’s recent State of the Union address. But are we Iowans nice, really?

Sure, we shovel snow off our elderly neighbor’s sidewalk. That’s nice. But when the man with the shovel curses and screams at a school board meeting, that isn’t nice. When another natural disaster strikes and a woman takes food to the rescue workers, that’s nice. But when that woman supports politicians who deny aid to disadvantaged families but cuts taxes for the wealthy, that’s not nice.

It’s awfully nice when football fans wave at ailing kids in the hospital. But when the game is over and those fans vote for someone who signs a bill banning transgender girls’ participation in sports with other girls, that is not nice. It’s so nice that Iowans say they stand for liberty, freedom, and equality. But when they applaud leaders who believe that mass shootings is not a gun problem, that women should not be paid the same as men for equal work, that children should not be taught all the facts of our great nation’s history — good and bad, that women do not have the right to make choices about their own bodies, that it’s OK to make it difficult for Black citizens to vote, that just isn’t nice.

"Iowa Nice" will remain a myth until we start voting that way.

Sheri Albrecht

Walford