Marginalized lives are not ‘distractions’

“Republicans know their policies are unpopular. They offer culture wars to distract us from the fact that they have nothing to offer the American people.”

This has become a common message among Democrats, liberals, and progressives. A prominent Iowa Democratic lawmaker said something similar during a call with supporters earlier this year. I’ve heard it from politicians and cable TV hosts more times than I care to count.

So-called “culture war” issues are those meant to divide people into “us” versus “them.” As in, “Those people are ruining our country. We have to fight to take our country back.” If you follow politics, you’ve probably heard this kind of statement.

But can we stop for a moment to think about the PEOPLE at the center of those culture wars?

Iowa’s majority-party members are doing their damnedest to turn our state into a monoculture that favors themselves at the exclusion of everyone else: The elimination of all inclusion of minority peoples across state institutions. A crackdown on reproductive care and other women’s health care. A growing list of anti-transgender laws. Pushing the dominant religion into public spaces. These policies hurt people who already live on the edges of society.

We must take more care with the words we use in politics. Stop thinking of harmful policies that target people as mere “distractions.” This reduces people’s lives, struggles, and well-being to dismissive political rhetoric. Let’s remember the people who suffer under the weight of our words.

Gordie Felger

Hiawatha