An elder speaks her mind on the election

It's about time an elder spoke her mind about the recent election. After a lifetime of seeing presidents come and go, I am left heartbroken and distraught at this one's outcome.

I was born in the depths of the Great Depression in 1934 in a farmhouse with no electricity, central heating, or running water. Attending elementary years in a one-room schoolhouse gave me an excellent foundation for life. In 1941 I distinctly remember sitting on our linoleum-covered family room floor beside the Coronado radio hearing Franklin Delano Roosevelt declare war on Japan. Then came Germany, and we did what we could to support our troops, including gathering milkweed pods for life jackets, collecting metal, increasing farm food production, and raising hemp to make rope.

And at the end of the war the impact of the Holocaust is etched into my mind. A merchant in Iowa Falls displayed images of survivors in his store windows. On was a 10-year-old boy who was skin and bones except for his protruding belly and bulging eyes, signs of certain starvation. There I stood, also a 10-year-old, twice his height, well fed and healthy, wondering how anyone could treat a child so cruelly.

After the war came great years with college, a teaching degree, finally the ability to vote at age 22, then marriage, a baby, and return to teaching. In the 1970s I supported the Civil Rights Movement, having been discriminated against all my life because I am female.

Since then I have seen candidates become elected, none of them perfect, but all trying to do their best to be a good presidential model and protect our democratic republic. With the election of Barack Obama, it seemed we were on our way to accepting and building an all-inclusive strong democracy.

Then came Trump and we watched him take advantage of the economy Obama had built but jeopardize the nation with tax cuts for the wealthy, massive increase of national debt and incompetent action during COVID. And we spoke against that trend by electing Joe Biden, who had devoted his entire life to serving our country. He has struggled to restore our national financial stability, pass bills to improve infrastructure, and reestablish our respect internationally.

Now in this election I wonder how millions of Americans — especially Iowans — could have elected as their president a man who is a felon, a traitor, an insurrectionist, a female abuser, and a con man. If he does what he promises, he will continue to do damage to our country for years if not generations to come.

Instead, voters overlooked the best prepared, strongest, most intelligent, most legally experienced, empathetic candidate. All because of the price of groceries. I have yet to hear one concrete act a president can take which will reduce grocery prices.

As a 90-year-old, I just wish more people had lived the experiences I have. They might have voted differently. And on Veterans Day I wept at the thought of the thousands of military people who have given their lives in order to achieve and sustain a strong democratic republic.

Elizabeth A Belden is a retired educator living in rural Linn County.