Bolkcom: Are Iowa’s rural communities better off than they were five years ago?

Iowa Republicans’ tax and economic policies have hollowed out Iowa’s small communities and rural landscape. Their big business approach to every problem has resulted in everything getting bigger: worker shortages, farms, packing plants, chemical and fertilizer companies, tractors, consolidated schools, convenient store chains, food and child care deserts, water quality problems, floods, windstorms, COVID deaths, and agricultural subsidy payments.

The global corporations that have bankrolled their campaigns have sucked the money and jobs out of small towns and turned Iowa farmland into an expensive out-of-state investment. The “run government like a business,” “tax cut” party has made it much harder for rural Iowans and farmers to live and prosper.

In 2022, Reynolds and legislative Republicans are proposing more tax cuts and more rural austerity.

The new 2020 census data highlights the problem. Sixty-eight rural counties continued to lose population over the past decade.

Since Republicans control state government and represent virtually all rural Iowans, they have had a front-row seat to rural decline. They have failed to adequately support their local schools and health care workers and services, the backbone of life in every community.

Gov. Kim Reynolds and legislative Republicans created teacher shortages in rural communities by habitually underfunding local schools, gutting collective bargaining and stable good jobs for educators, state, city and county public servants in every school district, city and town in all 99 counties. Their plans to privatize local schools will only make the teacher shortage worse and consolidate more rural public schools.

Reynolds and legislative Republicans hurt rural health care jobs and hospitals when they turned the management of Iowa’s $6.2 billion Medicaid program over to large out-of-state insurance companies. Medicaid privatization, another corporate get rich scheme has not saved money or made people healthier. That sucking sound is the tens of millions annually (that used to provide good jobs for people taking care of Iowans with mental health and medical problems) funneled to fat cat CEO and shareholders.

Climate change is a major threat to all of us and has really hurt Iowa rural communities and farmers. Virtually every county in Iowa has had multiple floods or droughts or extreme weather disasters resulting in more than 1,000 presidential disaster declarations in the last 30 years. Iowans have suffered billions in damages to homes, businesses and farms. Reynolds and legislative Republicans have made things worse by denying and delaying action.

Just recently, federal Republicans, Sen. Joni Ernst, Reps. Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, all voted against rural Iowa communities and farmers when they voted no on generational funding for rural internet, roads, bridges and water systems. Democrats passed the infrastructure bill that will bring blue state money to fix our dilapidated red state infrastructure. What are they thinking?

Reynolds and legislative Republicans have controlled all of Iowa government the last five years. Every decision. Are rural communities better off today than they were five years ago? More consolidated schools? Longer bus rides? More closed businesses? More low wage jobs? Poor internet services? Population decline? More COVID deaths? More anger. Massive tax cuts for Des Moines millionaires and big corporations time and time again have only made things worse for the average rural Iowan.

If their policies were working, why are they not telling rural Iowans how great they have it? Instead, they peddle rage, grievance and victimhood to Iowans with racial fear, anti-immigrant, anti-government slogans and constant name-calling.

In 2022, Reynolds and legislative Republicans are proposing more tax cuts and more rural austerity. Tax cuts have failed to grow jobs or quality of life in rural Iowa. Tax cuts will not educate our kids or keep them from leaving, create higher wage jobs, solve the teacher or workforce shortage, create more health care services for rural Iowans, improve internet services or clean up our filthy rivers and lakes.

How much longer will Iowans tolerate Republican rhetoric and record of failure?

Joe Bolkcom is a Democratic state senator from Iowa City.