Reading signs in the sky

Gulls floated against a blue autumnal sky just off Storm Lake. Finally, combines are in the fields sweeping up corn and beans as if they might be worth the effort amid the trade bluster. It’s always something, never easy out here against the wind.

An election looms, most urgent.

The sun’s angle portends change. I’m not getting old. I am old. The heart and lungs checked out alright in Iowa City. Still, you never know at 69. You would like assurances that freedom will prevail. I wasn’t able to vote in 1968, that year on fire. It was young versus old, not everyone versus everyone like now. Nixon said he would get us out of Vietnam. He won.

This fall cuts even more to the bone.

Liberty hangs by a thread. We are neck deep in a Persian Gulf war on Iran. The president is not lucid. The Iowa Legislature just gave away the farm for a steel mill owned by a company from India tied to the Russian state oil monopoly. You hope AI can read and write because Johnny can’t.

The Republican running for governor is hunting Marxists in school. Seriously.

Ashley Hinson voted against ending the Iran war seven times. She stands by her man, Trump, but insists she gave him a good talking-to. He must be deaf by now. She wants to be your Republican senator from Iowa, a toothy soccer mom in jackboots. It agitates my acid reflux.

This could be it. We might have one more good election in us, enough to save the Republic from itself. Gurgle.

Signs point to, and history suggests, a strong Democratic performance come Nov. 3. Normally the party that controls the White House loses the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. Democrats need to pick up four seats to control the US Senate. In Iowa, three of the four congressional districts are in play. Democrat Josh Turek is in a dead heat with Hinson. He talks more conservative than she does. He runs against corruption. “Who? Me? Corrupt?” She simply takes orders from the Speaker.

Democrat Rob Sand had a lead going into his first governor’s debate with Republican Zach Lahn. Nothing happened to chip into it. Lahn made an evening for interruption.

“You lie.”

“No, you lie.”

“Quit attacking my family.”

“You first.”

Sand has a huge cash advantage and the argument on his side: One-party rule has been a disaster. Sand offers at least a check, maybe some relief from reactionary right-wing lunacy. He should win. Voters are not gaga about private school vouchers for wealthy families. They know where the water and air pollution come from, and it is not from Commies or queers.

Trump and Hegseth act crazy. The secretary of war has a weird fetish with “trannies” and “beardos,” not a healthy sign for someone with a finger on the trigger who is running out of ammo. ICE continues to shoot innocent people in the streets. Whoa, Nellie, slow this buggy down! Put a rein on that beast.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate promised that our election will be clean and smooth. Attorney General Brenna Bird produced a brown scalp of some mope from Marshalltown who was not a citizen but voted in a local election. She looked all over, and that is what she found. The raving hordes have not stolen our vote by mail. Confirmed. Pate will not cook the books. Our election will stand.

A lot of people believe that Trump will somehow set aside the election results. The margins will make the results indisputable. Trump will argue but will fail. The courts set his claims aside in 2020. They will again. Even the judges he appointed are sick of his schtick. He insults them. They have memories and their own power base to preserve. The military chafes under Hegseth.

Fuel prices rise. Test scores fall. Iowa slides sideways. Tariffs stunt exports. We are in a trade war with Canada, which controls our potash supply vital to corn. The GOP should be nervous. A steel mill in southeast Iowa does not make up for a tank of $200 diesel in a Sioux County pickup truck. If it smells like a $1.5 billion scam, it might be.

After the midterms Trump will be left a sputtering mess. He will be a lame duck for two years. Who wants the creepy uncle to come visit? The politicians in Des Moines will be forced back to a pragmatic position, if Sand wins.

If you believe the Republican Party will continue its singular dominion, one of those gulls is about to leave something in your eye as you scan the skies for a sign from God. Be charitable. We all get old.