Letters: Freedom to flourish? Iowa is famous for the wrong reasons.

Iowa is famous for the wrong reasons

As Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the new slogan for Iowa, “Freedom to Flourish”, she said that “Iowa’s national profile is on the rise, our reputation is strong, and Americans have taken notice.”

Americans have noticed that Iowa is destroying public education by funding private schools with public dollars. Teenagers can work longer hours. The governor wants abortion outlawed. Gender-affirming care for transgender children is now banned. Transgender children now must use the bathroom that aligns with their biological gender. Water quality is worsening. Privatizing Medicaid has made it harder for those Iowans who qualify to obtain their legally entitled benefits. Quality of life in Iowa is worsening, and our reputation for quality public education will be history. These are the reasons Iowa’s national profile is on the rise.

— Diane S Kolmer, West Des Moines

Flourishing reserved for only some

Will the new highway sign Iowa: Freedom to Flourish include fine print “unless you are transgender, needing an abortion, nonwhite, or not Republican”?

— Randy Naber, Muscatine

Haley defends life as Reynolds does

Iowans take protecting unborn life seriously. We are lucky to have a governor who makes the case for defending life with passion and compassion.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had such a leader in the White House?

Nikki Haley is a mother who speaks openly about the trouble she had having her two kids and her husband’s adoption. As governor, she stood up for unborn babies and moms. As United Nations ambassador, she was a forceful voice for human rights. Haley focuses on creating a culture of life and persuading people who disagree instead of yelling.

Our country desperately needs Nikki Haley in the White House to tackle our porous southern border, foster an environment for economic growth for all Americans and work with other nations from a position of strength.

For those reasons I’m supporting Haley as our next president.

— Bob Brunkhorst, Waverly, former state senator

‘My body, my choice’ doesn’t extend to killing humans

You can feel free to do whatever you like with your body – as long as it does not involve the killing of another human being. Whether it's shooting someone with a gun or having an abortion, it's still killing.

— Gary Goldstein, Ankeny

Steve King is right about eminent domain, pipelines

Thanks to the Register for putting former U.S. Rep. Steve King on the front page of Metro & Iowa section. King is right on this one: Eminent Domain should be reserved for when vital public interests are at stake. The CO2 Pipeline is not in the public interest. It may sustain the ethanol investors for a few years. However, it does not help with the CO2 problem.

Over half of Iowa’s corn is used for ethanol. Producing that corn generates as much CO2 as the pipeline project claims to reduce. Corn has better uses, such as feeding people and animals. Tearing up century farms, compacting soils, reducing productivity of the best land in the world — for what? Profits to the same investors who gave us ethanol plants and hog CAFOS? Really?

Then, Gov. Kim Reynolds stacked the deck of the Iowa Utilities Board. So heavy-handed! The public is not being heard by the powers that be in this state. We voted for the Iowa Natural Heritage and Land Legacy legislation. But no funding has come from our current leaders. A billion federal dollars for conservation could really help Iowa — long term.

— Mike Delaney, Windsor Heights

Educated people don’t find Iowa appealing

After reading Mariah House's July 23 guest essay documenting a "brain drain in Iowa, I now understand why Iowa has turned completely "red." Apparently, educated Democrats and independents are leaving the state in droves.

— Tim Knoblauch, Urbandale

‘Brain drain’ a good strategy for GOP

In July 23’s "Abortion law speeds Iowa brain drain," the author hits on what I believe is the GOPs new tactic: Run the liberals out of enough states to maintain power in an increasingly hostile (to them) change in demographics. It's the modern version of them playing chess while the Democrats play checkers that started when they set out to quietly take over the courts decades back.

— Jeff Clingan, Van Meter

Birth control should remove need for abortion

I understand that many women do not want to be forced to carry a baby inside their body for nine months and then have the responsibilities to care for it for 18 years. Having a child is an enormous burden to bear. My question is, given the seriousness of this situation, why don't these women use birth control methods like millions of women all over the world do?

Avoiding pregnancies is cheap or free and requires only the will to do it for most women. Those raped by strangers, or such, should be allowed to receive the day after pill for free from the state of Iowa.

Laziness is not a reason to legalize abortion.

— Michael Montross, Winterset

Editorial board caved, fulfilling fireworks advocates’ plans

The Register editorial board’s decision to throw in the towel on fireworks is exactly what the pyrotechnic industry and pro-fireworks legislators want them to do. Except for those who make money selling fireworks and legislators who cultivate contributions to their political action committees, any impartial observer would deem the legalization experiment in Iowa a dismal failure.

There is no better example of corruption and graft in our State Capitol than to analyze how fireworks legalization came to be. GOP legislators failed to listen to the medical, fire and police professionals, but instead cozied up to the lobbyists and the ones that stood to gain financially.

Any so-called Fourth of July fun that comes from legal fireworks comes at the expense of the countless veterans with PTSD, elderly Iowans, children, people with special needs, pets, police officers, fire departments, and emergency room workers that suffer from the senseless consequences that non-stop loud explosions have on individuals and a community’s psyche. The perverse notion that blowing things up at all hours of the day has anything to do with patriotism is a sad commentary on those who peddle this falsehood.

I applaud the Register for ample coverage of the fireworks issue in the past, but instead of throwing in the towel, the editorial board needs to focus on the money that changes hands and those in the Statehouse that allowed this travesty to happen and continue.

— Dale Todd, Cedar Rapids

Editorial board should not capitulate on bad laws

I was disheartened to read that the Register editorial board has “surrendered” to the reality of the difficulty of enforcing local laws that limit or ban use of fireworks. Those at the state level who crafted and passed the “terrible” fireworks law assumed that complacency would be the eventual outcome and were willing to endure a few years of annoying outcry against the policy to get to this day.

While it is difficult to enforce a ban on fireworks, I believe that we are creative enough to find solutions to enforcing reasonable limitations on fireworks.

I fear that the public surrendering of the fight for an issue because solutions are difficult could be a signal to others that it is inevitable that we accept complacency on other issues. Issues whose solutions challenge us to sacrifice for the greater good, protect vulnerable citizens, and call on us to look beyond our own selfish interests. What if we become complacent about the rights of vulnerable populations, support for public education, reproductive rights, gun control, and so on? Many of us are weary of the many poor laws that have been passed by the Iowa Legislature.

Even though fireworks are very low on the scale of importance, complacency should not be an acceptable response.

— Cynthia Erickson, Des Moines

Editorial board looks the other way as Biden’s offenses mount

It’s been a while since former congressman Steve King was besmirched in the Register, but with Democratic whistle-blowers provably accusing President Jo Biden of the worst examples of presidential influence peddling in memory, calling King a racist “bigot” is apparently more news-worthy to the editorial board than the impeachable crimes committed by the guy the board endorsed.

King’s appropriate suggestion that immigrants should be able to speak English is not on par with what Biden has blurted out when his pedestrian IQ and quick temper have gotten the better of him. Biden's 2007 cretinous remark that Obama is "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean” would have ended GOP political careers. Biden gets a pass.

Biden praised Democrat Robert Byrd, the longest serving senator of either party and Ku Klux Klan Exalted Cyclops, as “one of my mentors.” Biden also remarked that racial-integration bussing was like assigning children to "a jungle.” He told a Black blogger “if you don’t vote for me, you ain't black.” Those and other remarks should raise red flags when selecting a president, or at least whom you endorse.

The above barely scratches the surface regarding Biden’s decades-long intemperate and outright bigoted comments, but if he (God forbid) runs against Trump again, his solicitous media will likely be in his "amen corner."

— John Burns, West Des Moines

Ernst follows through for small businesses

It’s rare to hear about bipartisanship in Washington. But Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa should be commended for her recent bipartisan work as ranking member of the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee to modernize the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Along with fellow small-business owners who are alumni of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses (10KSB) Iowa program, I had the opportunity last December to visit with Ernst about challenges small-business owners are facing. We all agreed that modernizing the SBA to make the agency as nimble and innovative as small businesses was critical. The senator vowed to work on behalf of Iowa small businesses to unlock the SBA’s potential.

True to her word, Ernst and the Senate Small Business Committee passed legislation recently that includes several provisions recommended in our original meeting last December, including unlocking access to capital, updating entrepreneurial development, and counseling, enhancing small businesses’ abilities to compete for highly skilled workers, and increasing affordable childcare for individuals who small business owners employ.

We are hopeful that Sen. Chuck Grassley and Iowa’s House delegation will join her in supporting the measures as they proceed through Congress.

On behalf of 10KSB alumni in Iowa, I thank Ernst for keeping her word, taking action, and working on a bipartisan basis to deliver for Iowa small businesses.

— Kat McClure, Prairie City, owner, Katherine McClure Photography

This shouldn’t be difficult or complex. Abortion is evil.

I'm tired of reading and seeing comments about women's rights, constitutional rights and abortion "rights." I never see or hear about the baby's rights! Call it an embryo if you must, but as far as I am concerned it is a human.

Also, reading and hearing about late-term abortions is an abomination. Doctors whose job it is to protect and heal humans apparently think it is OK to murder babies!

I'm really surprised that so many people think abortion is acceptable.

— Cheryl Weidmann, West Des Moines

Friends with opposing views both see issues in abortion ban

A pro-life friend and I were talking about Iowa’s new abortion law. (I am pro-choice. Yes, I have a pro-life friend, and they have a pro-choice friend. Imagine.) We both saw problems with it.

While I was relieved to see in the bill some exceptions for rape, incest, and the life or disability of the mother, the qualifications for those exceptions are onerous to the point of being fanciful.

For example, if you want the product of a rape to be aborted, you have to report that rape to law enforcement within 45 days of the violence. Rape is one of the most underreported crimes in the country, for a whole host of reasons. None of those reasons is addressed in the bill.

The difficulty with exceptions for the life of the mother is that, if you define exactly when a pregnant person qualifies for the abortion, you make legislators into diagnosticians; if you don’t define it precisely, you make health care providers consult with attorneys before acting, to see if they will be arrested for making a judgment call. Doctors should be able to act on their best judgment in the moment, as needed.

But my friend’s reservations were at least as compelling. They asked, how does a state legislature that is so flush with cash (see their recent provisions for $7,000-a-child payouts for school vouchers) pass such a bill without providing for prenatal and post-natal care? Without making adoption both easier and safer? Without making it possible for poor women to afford delivery, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars, even without complications or pediatric intensive care? Without increasing enforcement of mandated child support? Without providing for parental leave, and covering at least some of the expenses immediately after birth? My friend has a number of children, and so is familiar with the inescapable needs of parents and children.

Any abortion law that is passed will anger those on the furthest reaches of the issue. Some want to ban not only abortion but also contraception. Some want no restrictions on abortion at all. (No one, by the way, is in favor of post-birth abortion, just to call nonsense the nonsense that it is.) But whether a bill is touted as pro-life or pro-choice, my friend’s suggestions should be part of the care that is taken with parents and their children. Just as a matter of course.

— John McAndrew, Dubuque

So, Trump’s bullying was OK, until Reynolds was the target?

State Sen. Jeff Reichman was fine with Donald Trump making false and derogatory comments about people he didn't like, but when Trump said something negative about Kim Reynolds, Mr. Reichman changed his mind. Seems to me that is the same as not minding a bully at school beating up kids until he beats up one of your friends. Then it is not fine anymore.

Trump's comments have always been wrong. We need more courageous politicians like John McCain who told a woman that Barack Obama was a decent family man after the woman made a false statement about Obama at a town hall meeting during the 2008 presidential campaign.

— Paul Grinvalds, West Des Moines

Abortion law could worsen doctor shortage

Iowa, particularly rural Iowa, has a major shortage of doctors. How many doctors do you think will even consider locating in Iowa now, due to the new abortion law passed by the Republicans?

— Chris Brown, Urbandale

Anti-abortion Iowans need to adopt children from unplanned pregnancies

The anti-abortionists have put tremendous energy into getting the laws changed in their favor. They have also spent a great amount of money to advance their cause. I assign them to put the same amount of energy and money into adopting all unwanted children and providing them with the love and care they keep referring to. Gov. Kim Reynolds should put her conviction where her mouth is by adopting at least two of those babies.

— David Fischer, Des Moines

What about fertilized eggs the body discards?

Steve Perlowski’s July 23 letter regarding abortion exhibits the sort of faith-based certitude that makes so many anti-abortion zealots blind to the nuanced human calculus involved. Insisting that he is not a “raving fascist” imposing an “unreasonable” restriction on women’s rights, Perlowski criticizes abortion rights advocates for failing to accept the “fact” that abortion is “killing another human being.”

The embryo/fetus is “not a bunch of carrots,” he instructs us, but is rather part of a “miracle.” The miracle begins, according to the life-begins-at-conception view, with a fertilized egg, the very earliest stage in God’s system of human reproduction.

But it is textbook biology that the human reproductive system routinely discards – flushes from the body and destroys – about a third of all fertilized eggs. It is impossible to square this feature of God’s handiwork with the claim that God treasures these early stages of human development, and wants us to do the same.

God’s own design for human reproduction has resulted in the natural abortion of untold BILLIONS. Those who nevertheless insist that God loathes and forbids abortion may not be Perlowski’s “raving fascists”, but they are indeed imposing an “unreasonable” restriction on women’s rights and choices.

— Steve St. Clair, Decorah

Nuclear war? Time to wake up!

With the war in Ukraine bringing threats of nuclear weapons use and plans for the U.S. to spend $1.7 trillion on nuclear upgrades over the next decade, we are again challenged to look at the risks of nuclear war, the deaths of hundreds of millions of people and the destruction of our planet. The newly released "Oppenheimer" movie calls us to come together and face this existential threat to our planet.

A coalition of peace and justice groups offers you the opportunity to come together to ask questions, to learn more, and to look at what actions we can take together to challenge the status quo of the U.S. military power structure. Please join other concerned people on July 30 at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church (1001 Pleasant St., parking in the back).

— Carolyn Uhlenhake Walker, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the Catholic Peace Ministry

Reynolds’ actions deliver a message of greed

With Gov. Kim Reynolds deciding our state’s new motto, it clearly shows how out of touch she truly has become.

Unlimited opportunities for which Iowans? Certainly not women. Certainly not the vulnerable languishing in nursing homes. Certainly not the disabled. Certainly not the public schools that are underfunded amid her money grab for private schools. Certainly not the poor and hungry. Certainly not those looking for affordable housing. Certainly not any group of marginalized people.

Reynolds is pushing a selfish and dangerous agenda that helps those supporting her message of greed.

— Deb McMahon, Des Moines

Some qualifications for ‘Freedom to Flourish’

No doubt some are basking in the cleverness of the new state slogan, Iowa Freedom to Flourish. However, for this slogan to accurately reflect the condition of our state in 2023, the word “unless” needs to be added.

For example:

Iowa Freedom to Flourish, UNLESS you are female of child-bearing age. Then, you can expect to endure highly intrusive state interest in your decision to bear a child, and then deny any responsibility to care for or educate that child once they are born.

Iowa Freedom to Flourish, UNLESS you are an LGBTQIA+ youth. Then, you can expect the state to engage in whatever misbehavior may be necessary to deny you medical care, educational and extra-curricular opportunity, and access to supportive adults as you make the already perilous journey toward self-acceptance and actualization.

Iowa Freedom to Flourish, UNLESS you are a teacher or administrator in one of our public schools, state universities and/or community colleges. Then you can expect the state to consistently low-ball your budgetary needs and programming so that you are faced with no choice but gutting your educational offerings and supportive services.

Iowa Freedom to Flourish, UNLESS you are a minority. Then, rather than making it easier for you to make a home in Iowa, lawmakers will make it harder in hopes that you simply move away, regardless of our already shrinking workforce.

Iowa Freedom to Flourish, UNLESS you are part of the medical establishment. Then you can expect Iowa Republicans to pass legislation to criminalize your best efforts to care for patients in a manner which best suits their needs, exacerbating the already abysmal doctor-to-patient ratio from which our state already suffers, particularly in rural counties.

Iowa Freedom to Flourish, UNLESS you hope to enjoy the out-of-doors. Then, expect polluters of air and water to be given a wide berth in the interests of Big Ag and its lobbying arm, the Iowa Farm Bureau. There is no stream they are not willing to foul, no warm breeze they will not make malodorous in furthering the economic interests of those who have never known Iowa: Beautiful Land, our first state slogan.

No, in 2023 Iowa is LONG way from being the place where freedom flourishes, UNLESS you are white, male, and vote Republican. In their eyes, Iowa IS heaven.

— The Rev. Jack L. Mithelman, Urbandale

In fact, Iowa has flourished in the past half-century

Jim Walters’ July 20 essay’s descriptions of Iowa today and 50 years ago don’t align with my own.

My first RAGBRAI was in 2000. I’ve driven more than 2.5 million miles throughout Iowa in the past 50 years and am well-traveled throughout the lower 48 and Hawaii. Our country has definitely evolved, but Iowa’s changes compare quite favorably to much of the country. I still drive by thousands of Iowa family farms, fields of grain more abundant than ever and by CAFO farms that no longer emit foul orders as they once did.

Along with our state, county and city parks, our state is bordered on both west and east by two of the nation’s largest rivers, which harbor an abundance of wildlife and recreational opportunities. I never saw a bald eagle 40 to 50 years ago in Iowa. Now I often see as many as 100 together in one location. Turkeys were introduced here in the late 1970s and now almost seem domesticated, there are so many.

I’ve seen at least one hawk per mile for 10-plus miles while driving on numerous occasions. They were scarce by comparison in the ’70s.

While highways have been updated and many bypass the Main Street of small towns, the reduced commuting times allow more people to live in a small town yet work in larger communities.

We have an abundance of towns that provide excellent schools and peaceful, idyllic surroundings. Some of the safest communities in the country.

I’ve lived in Iowa 72 of the past 76 years. I’ve been to almost every city and town many times and the Iowa I know has improved overall in that time frame. The longer I’ve lived here, the happier I am that I never left. We have much more to be thankful for than many other areas of this country. Areas that haven’t survived as well over the last 50 years. There are many. I’ve seen them.

— Tom O’Brien, Urbandale

Freedom not available to all

Iowa’s new slogan, Freedom to Flourish, is more farce than fact. “Flourish” means “to blossom, to grow.” Gov. Kim Reynolds made it clear, in introducing the slogan, who the intended recipients of opportunities to blossom and grow are. The Reynolds-led Republican Legislature is determined to clear the path for businesses to rake in the green, while they pollute and destroy Iowa’s farmland and waters, use child labor for dangerous jobs, and trample on workers’ rights.

Meanwhile, public school students are restricted from learning much about our nation’s true and full history and denied access to reading materials that offer ideas that enlighten and challenge developing minds. Women are denied access to a full range of health care opportunities, which would ensure their chances at their best health and well-being. Adult Iowans have less opportunity to exercise their right to vote.

I do hope that the slogan that we’re now stuck with for a while will someday be true for all Iowans.

— Kathy Byrnes, Des Moines

Sheumaker breaks her promises

Indira Sheumaker has proven to be the exact opposite of the hopes her ward had in the beginning of her term. From her name calling of fellow council members, to her fight with Des Moines police, to her selfishness in not responding to her ward's communication and then disappearing for months, she has shown herself to be the worst elected representative in Des Moines' history.

Best of luck to her ward in naming anyone else to represent them. The City Council needs to codify future rules of termination for an elected representative who has no respect for anything.

— Marti Sivi, Des Moines

Bottle bill leaves rural Iowans racking up fees

I went to the grocery store last week and purchased 24 cans of my favorite beverage. The state of Iowa fined me $1.20. When the Republican-controlled Legislature finally passed a new bottle bill, leaders were warned by the Democrats that it would not be effective in rural counties. Closest redemption center is 45 miles. If your county is not big enough to have a Walmart you do not count. The good news is I live on the Missouri border, so I am better off than most Iowans.

— Merle Walter, Mount Ayr

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters: Freedom to flourish? Iowa is famous for the wrong reasons.