We dug a deep hole over a decade

It’s been a tough 10 years. Trump. Covid. More Trump. A decade of decline for Iowa — dead last in mental health beds and women’s health care. Next to last (chasing Mississippi) for economic performance.

Ten years of the worst pollution in America with zilch for real action.

Treading water here, captain!

“I’m afraid you have cancer. Don’t feel so bad — most everybody else has it, too. Iowa is bound to lead the nation in something, and it is not education or fun.”

Why so much cancer? Can’t say for sure. We have no data since we eliminated funding for water quality monitoring. How many hoghouses are there? Couldn’t say for sure because we cut out animal feeding oversight. How much cancer does it cause? Don’t know, because we are ripping down the National Institutes of Health. The University of Iowa is looking into it. They will get back to us in another decade. Bring on more sows!

One-party rule in the state capitol brought us higher property taxes and a billion-dollar deficit. Rich people are not overcrowding Storm Lake or Cherokee for the income tax cuts. That private-school voucher program has been so successful that St. Mary’s School had to drop its athletics program. Good thing Storm Lake shoulders the cost of building a water system for the meatpacking industry, otherwise we might not have a meatpacking industry to subsidize.

A decade ago the nursing homes in Newell and Albert City were open. They closed under Gov. Reynolds’s privatization of Medicaid.

We dug a hole so deep we will be lucky to find our way out.

Tuesday’s election is a start. Rob Sand is running as a Democrat, claiming that he wishes he could run as an independent. His premise is that one-party rule has been a wreck. He urges people to come together. I’m willing if you are. Whatever it takes to get Iowa moving ahead. We scooted backwards 10 years plus four score with book bans and rewriting history so our children are ignorant decades hence.

Iowans woke up after awhile and realized the water is toxic. So is the air. Finally, they are demanding better. Farmers are — you may have heard of them, the Lobe Rangers, two Republicans and a self-described independent, farmers all with big shiny red and green machines and commodious sheds, who say that we need some guard rails on the agro-chemical regime. They are all over the state and social media calling for some good agronomic sense. Change comes slowly. The Rangers should keep riding, because we aren’t there yet.

Trump will remain president on Wednesday, having been first elected a decade ago. He will continue his rampage against civil rights. He said in Sioux City that he has a right to run for a third term even though he knows the Constitution says otherwise in the 22nd Amendment. Take him at his word. As Joe Biden would say, “No joke.”

Net farm income is projected by the USDA to be down slightly this year and for the next five years. Trump will not pay much attention, unless he runs for a third term and needs zealots. There might be a farm bill by the end of the year, four years late. No rush. The Iran War appears to be without end. Trump says everything will be alright. How? He will let you know in a couple weeks. Then diesel should come back to Earth. Fertilizer will be dirt cheap. If you believe, then this is the best economy ever. And China will buy our soybeans at our price.

Except that, sorry to say …

Flat to declining net farm income is a foundational drag on the Iowa economy. More acres will fall into fewer hands, which cannot manage natural resources as carefully as local hands owning the ground. Consolidation ripples through rural quarters geared toward ag manufacturing (Laurens, Pocahontas, Storm Lake, Cherokee, Ida Grove). This suggests more state deficits.

Sand promises to rein in, not eliminate, private school vouchers. Republican Zach Lahn loves vouchers. Neither calls for increasing the income tax. Sand would legalize marijuana to raise some money but the legislature has to sign on.

In short, we leave the Reynolds Decade with declining funding for public education relative to inflation because of a rigged ag economy.

And with polluted water. Sand approached warily but now celebrates the clean water cause as voters made clear its urgency. He might be able to restore funding for water quality monitoring. He might be able to encourage conservation with some more incentives. It will be a long row to hoe. Lahn is into conservation agriculture but doesn’t offer much of a clue how to escape the stranglehold of corporate ag control over our politics.

Trump will do his thing the next couple years. Bomb the Middle East until we run out of bombs. Fight with Canada over nothing. Terrorize immigrants. Persecute political adversaries. Deal with it. 2028 is about to begin.