Real chaos prevents real problem solving

In college, I worked as a security guard at a window factory. The job was to make rounds ensuring there were no intruders or fires. Usually there were two guards working in two connected factories.

The factory was dark; guards were alone.

Most nights I read and dozed. The guards hired were either college students or people who couldn’t find another job, since $2.20 an hour was a lousy wage even in 1978.

One of the guards was a failed undertaker who tried to entertain us with mortuary, horror stories. He also frequently left his building to jump out and scare the other guard on duty. Most nights, it was a joke.

But one night, things changed.

I was making rounds focused on a Shakespeare final. He jumped out from behind a double pane window. Adrenaline surged. Instantly, both hands clutched his windpipe as his feet left the floor. My hands wouldn’t let go.

I was embarrassed; he was shocked.

But after that, he never jumped out again. I’d apparently choked the chaos from the graveyard shift.

That incident reminds me of our politics now. There are a few loud political vandals creating chaos, and it only stops when leaders and voters of their own party step up and figuratively choke it off.

Both parties have fringe legislators. The difference is those on the far-left are still interested in governing. Those on the far-right don’t want to govern and they’re puffed up by loud, right-wing media and represent safe political districts.

Nationally:

There are really two Republican parties in the House. There’s a governing party, and there’s the “Chaos caucus,” that loves to be elected but hates to govern. This group has infected the body. That infection allowed a small group to paralyze meaningful work while they ousted a speaker and then searched for someone who could get the blessing of Donald Trump and satisfy their extreme requirements.

They found him.

“MAGA Mike Johnson,” election denier, crusader against LGBTQ people, and women’s rights is the new speaker. If he compromises on anything, he’ll be deposed by the same caucus that recruited him.

The Senate has a few chaos characters of its own. The most deliberative body in the world, can’t affirm senior military promotions because Sen. Tommy Tuberville, put a hold on them because he doesn’t like the Department of Defense policy reimbursing travel expense for women needing reproductive care if stationed in a state that restricts it. It’s dangerous and irresponsible in the face of two wars.

State:

Iowa has always been politically center-right. Leaders of both parties kept the fringes from unraveling real governing. For example, public schools were generally protected by both parties in different ways. Democrats fought for more financial support. Republicans fought against consolidation. Both parties knew their towns would dry up and blow away without a public school.

That’s gone now.

Chaos caucus members feel free to say teachers distribute pornography and groom children. They try to sanitize history to avoid admitting an ugly racist past and present.

It sends the message to the rest of the country that Iowa is not welcoming.

Locally:

This chaos trickled down to school board races, one of the last nonpartisan elections in the state. Now, we had a few chaotic school board candidates, turning local elections into brutal partisan battles.

Board members certainly may disagree, but they don’t need to be disagreeable.

So, how can the chaos be controlled? It will take brave statespersons to step up and stop it, and voters must reward their bravery. I understand compromise doesn’t get the blood boiling. But it’s how governing works.

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