Welcome to the bizarre golden dome zone

With apologies to the Twilight Zone creators.

You’re about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of anger and fear but of hypocrisy. A journey into a place where bipartisan thought is extinguished by blind obedience. A dimension that diminishes a state. It refuses to listen to cries for moderation and compromise. It’s a place where no position is too extreme. Bizarre becomes reality. There’s a signpost up ahead.

You’ve entered the Golden Dome Zone

There’s certainly something weird happening under that Golden Dome. Senate File 360 would have made it a simple misdemeanor in Iowa to provide or administer a gene-based vaccine like the one for COVID-19. The March 7 legislative funnel killed this bill.

But did it really die?

Senator Dan Cambell, the author, says, “That bill is gone.” But he predicted the bill would be revamped to remove the criminal penalties, and more closely align with House File 712, which requires manufacturers to waive immunity from lawsuits to make their products available in Iowa.

House File 712 is also dead for now. Both bills sent a chilling message that anti-vaccine legislators are willing to impose their beliefs on all Iowans. But one or both bills may be resurrected in the last hours of the session.

Although some are trying to rewrite recent history, they can’t. Before gene-based vaccines were widely available, schools were closed, businesses shuttered, funerals and weddings canceled, and 10,358 Iowans died from the virus.

These “dead” bills still send a warning to vaccine manufacturers that they face frivolous lawsuit risks in Iowa from anti-vaccine litigants.

Why is the MAGA Party so intent on making it hard to be vaccinated?

In 2020, President donald Trump embraced unproven cures for COVID-19 even though scientific experts rejected them. For example, when he suggested hydroxychloroquine, with no medical evidence supporting it, thousands of prescriptions were requested. It didn’t work

He also suggested injecting bleach. And he claimed, “You know a lot of people think that it goes away with the heat-as the heat comes in. Typically, it will go away in April.”

Many of his followers believe him over science.

Big government is once again crowding into our doctor’s examination room believing it has cures. They don’t.

Iowa legislators have pretended to be teachers, public librarians, professors, in loco parentis, gender experts, and doctors again and again.

There appears to be a red state competition to see which can be the most extreme. Iowa’s not the only state attacking vaccines. Idaho has proposed a 10 year pause on gene therapy. Montana had similar legislation, but it narrowly failed. In Florida, the state surgeon general urged doctors to stop recommending gene-based COVID-19 vaccines.

State lawmakers frequently look in the mirror and see a U.S. senator, a representative, or a cabinet member. In this political environment, proposing this type of legislation helps advance political careers because it feeds the base. Politicians love attention. Cable news noise feeds on extremism.

Yes, vaccination is a personal decision but there’s also community safety. The recent measles outbreak in Texas shows not being vaccinated harms the community. Politicians are free to feed their base, but it’s dangerous when they peddle medical nonsense as fact.

Bruce Lear of Sioux City taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until he retired. BruceLear2419@gmail.com