The world bears less of a burden with Iran’s supreme leader and his ruling junta dead in the rubble. Israel and the United States joined forces to decapitate the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world. They achieved their immediate goal. They also started a war whose course cannot be predicted.
It may all turn out well. It did not in Iraq or Libya. Iran could shed its theocracy and form a government that respects civil rights. We can have our dreams. Settling for regional stability would be enough, but even stability seems fantastic in a region that has never appreciated the concept.
We have joined forces in a war with the Jewish state against a Muslim state in a tinderbox. Imagine the endless possibilities if you dare.
You can dance on the ayatollah’s grave. You can celebrate the possibility of freedom. You can hope that terrorism will abate. Here’s the problem:
President Donald Trump just went ahead on his own and committed the United States to bombing the hell out of Iran and hanging around to see what happens next.
He did not notify Congress. The administration started to divert arms last summer from Ukraine to our own stockpile in anticipation of this. We knew we would attack and fortify Israel and the Gulf states. Congress did nothing, and Trump never asked. Why would he?
They were fussing in the Capitol this week over a war powers vote but it is a few days or months late. Congress has rendered itself irrelevant while Trump builds his own kingdom while fostering a holy war.
The Supreme Court said only Congress has power to levy taxes in the form of tariffs. Trump immediately upped the ante with a 15% tariff while calling the court disgraceful and shameful. Congress steps aside and lets Trump do what he will to consolidate power.
Likewise, only Congress has the authority to wage war. Republican senators say the president was right to bomb Iran and put American soldiers in harm’s way. The ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said there was no imminent threat to the United States posed by Iran. Its nuclear production facilities were bombed to smithereens last summer. Iran’s military commander was assassinated. The people were in mass protest. The ruling class was on its back foot.
Trump and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu saw their opening. Iran’s political and military leaders were to gather at the ayatollah’s compound. With that tip in hand, Trump and Netanyahu called in the air force. No forewarning. No selling it to the public. No bother with Congress. Bombs away.
The invasion may be justified — if it is done by the people through Congress. Trump acts on his own. He sends in his secret police to grab innocents from the streets of our cities and murder protesters in broad daylight. He ignores the courts. He stifles freedom. Add it up and you have a king or a dictator. Trump is doing whatever he wants when he wants. Congress will not fulfill its obligations to rein him in.
We are careening into a Middle East war without an elocuted strategy and with a strongman for a leader who is not clearly in command of all his faculties. The constitutional balance is tilted. The nation is foregoing the separation of powers. That is more dangerous to a free Republic than any number of radical clergymen cloistered in the desert.
Iowa legislators again expressed their hostility toward legal immigrants when the House last week passed a bill, 58-30, that will require tests for a driver license must be conducted in English. We suppose this counter-productive and harsh bill will be signed into law.
We should remember that it is illegal for an undocumented immigrant to apply for an Iowa driver license. This bill is aimed at legal residents and citizens for whom English may not be a first language. These folks have jobs and children in school. They pay taxes. To keep on working and paying taxes they need to drive. We are making that difficult, if not impossible.
This is done to harass our new neighbors who are trying to learn English, play by the rules and live the American Dream.
Storm Lake grows and prospers because of legal immigrants who speak English, Spanish, Lao and numerous other languages. This legislation will frustrate them. It is intended to. President Trump has said that immigrants from Haiti and Somalia are “human garbage.” We build a system that seeks to humiliate them in an attempt to drive them out. Our political leaders have been clear that immigrants are not welcome, legal or not. The Trump Administration has been arresting and detaining law-abiding legal residents and citizens in an attempt to drive them out. Leading Iowa Republicans routinely disparage immigrants.
This bill could drive citizens with poor English skills to drive without a license and insurance if they can’t read the exam. People could lose their jobs and as citizens collect welfare benefits as a result, because of piggish politicians. This will make places like Storm Lake and Denison weaker. It will isolate our neighbors and make them resentful.
We let jobless idiots drive when they are too stupid or lazy to learn Spanish. We elect fools who fail to recognize vitality in young immigrant families that want to plant their American flag in Storm Lake. This is cruel and stupid, which is why the legislature probably will make it more difficult for Latinos to get a license.
While we wait for Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, to mount his steed to ride in defense of education, we are happy to hear that he is attracting more opposition. First, he has a primary challenger in Cherokee County Supervisor Shane Bellefy, a banker. Last weekend, our friend and former higher education executive Mike Frantz of Storm Lake announced that he is running for the state senate as a Democrat. Good for the both of them.
Evans is a former school superintendent and private college graduate who has not exactly championed the cause as community colleges and others seek to undermine higher education and put a slow smother on K-12. Evans is trying to avoid all the controversy and thus is a participant by not standing up.
Frantz has been peppering Evans with difficult questions for a few years as Republicans have made a shambles of school funding and oversight. It helped drive him to run for office. There is no question that Frantz would stand up for Buena Vista University as community colleges lobby to offer four-year degrees. He would defend against threats to the Iowa Tuition Grant. The Senate Higher Education Committee is threatening the existence of private colleges, and there should be a groundswell of opposition to these attacks.
Evans should come out loud and clear for education. His Senate bill offered less than the 2% allowable funding growth for K-12 schools signed into law by Gov. Reynolds. This is not how we recover our standing as the Education State. Evans is pandering to an ultra-conservative base by not being a more ardent champion of education. That may be the safest way to the Republican nomination in this deeply red district. Republicans should remember that private colleges are located in conservative strongholds like Orange City, Sioux Center, Oskaloosa, Waverly and Storm Lake.
Frantz doesn’t stand much of a chance and he acknowledges it. He believes that no seat should go unchallenged. His commitment to our civic life will push the discussion froward, especially as it relates to education in general and higher education in particular. Frantz is smart and relentless. He was an admissions recruiter, so he doesn’t give up. Evans would be crazy to debate Frantz but it would be worth paying to see.
Evans must defend an agenda that is extreme. He is not an extreme man. Bellefy and Frantz may be able to pull him back into moderation. Iowa needs to stop attacking education. Frantz has ideas about that. So should Evans.
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