Iowa, escape the boiling water

There’s an old story about how to boil a frog. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will quickly jump out. If you put a frog in tepid water and gradually heat it, the frog stays until it boils to death. Like the frog, Iowans failed to recognize the danger of political climate change. And Iowa is now boiling.

I began teaching in 1979 in a tiny central Iowa town. It was a great place to begin. But I was a Democrat surrounded by Republicans. They weren’t moderates.

They were conservative to the core. But not Kim Reynolds conservative. They were Bob Ray conservatives. They preached from the gospel of small government and were so tight with money, they squeaked. But they governed with principles.

I disagreed with their policies, but even as a young Democrat, I could talk to them, and they listened with respect. They were able to rationalize why schools just couldn’t have more funding. After all, the price of corn was bad.

They always answered the phone and attended forums. Generally, they disagreed but were not disagreeable.

Iowa was considered a tepid state, not too hot, not too cold. Most of the time there was a search for the middle and the extreme ends of both parties were quieted by adults in the room. If a politician from either party had called for teachers to be arrested for books they were teaching, they’d have been laughed out of the chamber.

So, how did Iowa go from tepid to boiling?

• In 2010, there was the second coming of Terry Branstad as Republican governor. But he had a harder edge and different advisers. The Legislature was split between parties which dulled his edge until the 2016 election when Republicans gained the trifecta of power.

He immediately sought revenge on public sector unions for grievances he held from his first go as governor. He quickly trashed public sector collective bargaining that had created relative labor harmony for 40 years.

• Second, Donald Trump morphed from narcissistic businessman to narcissistic politician by harnessing grievance politics. If that brash politics worked for “The Donald,” why not try it at the state level?

• The COVID pandemic polarized us, and America chose sides, with the uniforms being masks versus no mask. Republicans refused to acknowledge medical science, while Democrats became loud, evangelists for staying home, shutting down schools, and getting immunized.

• The MAGA base branded compromise as capitulation and punished any who dared extend a hand to the other side. Real problems were ignored, like access to affordable child care, poverty, mental health issues, and public-school funding. Republicans created solutions in search of problems, branding anyone who disagreed as “woke.”

• The right’s scream machine, Fox News, blasted out propaganda, lies and conspiracy theories that drowned out any chance of compromise between the parties.

The water boiled.

The only way to jump out of political climate change is to escape via the ballot box. Iowa voters can rescue the state.

Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to public schools for 38 years, teaching for 11 years and representing educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until retiring.