Thanks for asking this question, Barry. Iowa is no longer the state in which I grew up. The political leadership is more than disappointing-it is corrupt. I hope they are not a reflection of who we are. I guess we will find out in November.
We're about the same age, so your article really resonated with me. I was a "young Republican" at UI at the same time you were at ISU, but I was a great admirer of Gov. Ray, whom I'd gotten to know just a bit through my father's activity in Republican politics. He set an admirable standard, but one that wasn't all that rare at the time. Anyway, thanks for sharing this. I shared your article on my FB page & posted this comment with it:
This is the question that I was asked a few months ago from a west coast interlocutor, and it needs to be repeated. Barry Piatt of the Iowa Writers Collaborative asks the questions and frames his answer against his experience as a cub reporter at ISU, where he interviewed then-governor Bob Ray about the growing Watergate and Agnew scandals. Ray said if the allegations were true (it was still early), the individuals involved should be “scalded.” In other words, Ray was willing to go against the sitting Republican president & vice-president. Compare that to today. Of course, this was 50 years ago. Bob Ray was an extraordinary politician and office-holder (yes, I'm biased), but it was the norm. But the Republican Party is now long-gone.
So why are so many Iowa voters drinking down the MAGA Kool-Aid? My theory is that it's a result of (relative) economic and demographic decline, just fake culture wars that appeal to the ugly emotion of resentment and a disabling sense of nostalgia. This is what MAGA sells; nothing much in the way of concrete actions to address real problems. Grassley hugging Trump to get re-elected for over 50 years in Congress shows how stuck Iowa is. Sad, but true.
My term for what happened to Iowa: intellect erosion. I think it fits better than "brain drain" which sounds a bit crass. It also echoes Iowa soil going away down the Mississippi. Anti-intellectualism is a unifying character of current Republicans, although many of them react to the charge as if it means stupid. Those two states may often coexist, but anti-intellectualism is more specific to rejection of reality and objective evidence.
Thanks for asking this question, Barry. Iowa is no longer the state in which I grew up. The political leadership is more than disappointing-it is corrupt. I hope they are not a reflection of who we are. I guess we will find out in November.
Barry, I loved Governor Ray's response to your question. Unfortunately, Republicans with his integrity appear to be the exception in Iowa today.
I am delighted you are sharing your views on Substack. It has been years since we crossed paths at ISU.
Mr. Piatt,
We're about the same age, so your article really resonated with me. I was a "young Republican" at UI at the same time you were at ISU, but I was a great admirer of Gov. Ray, whom I'd gotten to know just a bit through my father's activity in Republican politics. He set an admirable standard, but one that wasn't all that rare at the time. Anyway, thanks for sharing this. I shared your article on my FB page & posted this comment with it:
This is the question that I was asked a few months ago from a west coast interlocutor, and it needs to be repeated. Barry Piatt of the Iowa Writers Collaborative asks the questions and frames his answer against his experience as a cub reporter at ISU, where he interviewed then-governor Bob Ray about the growing Watergate and Agnew scandals. Ray said if the allegations were true (it was still early), the individuals involved should be “scalded.” In other words, Ray was willing to go against the sitting Republican president & vice-president. Compare that to today. Of course, this was 50 years ago. Bob Ray was an extraordinary politician and office-holder (yes, I'm biased), but it was the norm. But the Republican Party is now long-gone.
So why are so many Iowa voters drinking down the MAGA Kool-Aid? My theory is that it's a result of (relative) economic and demographic decline, just fake culture wars that appeal to the ugly emotion of resentment and a disabling sense of nostalgia. This is what MAGA sells; nothing much in the way of concrete actions to address real problems. Grassley hugging Trump to get re-elected for over 50 years in Congress shows how stuck Iowa is. Sad, but true.
My term for what happened to Iowa: intellect erosion. I think it fits better than "brain drain" which sounds a bit crass. It also echoes Iowa soil going away down the Mississippi. Anti-intellectualism is a unifying character of current Republicans, although many of them react to the charge as if it means stupid. Those two states may often coexist, but anti-intellectualism is more specific to rejection of reality and objective evidence.
Thanks for being part of this group and for this insightful piece.