With dismay I opened up my morning paper today only to read that the second funnel deadline passed without the single most important issue having been addressed – the budget deficit.
It is unconscionable that the legislature took up bills that should never have seen the light of day, such as the criminalization of rear-end accidents. What? Have legislators never heard of torts law to remedy issues like this?
And texting – what a silly use of legislative time and energy especially considering other distractions were ignored such as talking on a cell phone, a distraction that ranks up there with DUI. Again torts law ought to provide the remedy for the very few times damages do occur and victims need restoration.
One overarching problem with legislative bodies is that they try to micromanage and after a time the law of unintended consequences kicks in causing all kinds of problems that require further tweaking, problems best resolved in the marketplace.
When decisions rightfully made in the marketplace are moved into the legislative arena citizens ALWAYS lose individual liberties. Iowa would be a far better place if about one-half of the legislative regulatory laws were removed from the Code (and out of the aegis of administrative regulators).
As debilitating as the $1 billion budget deficit is, the huge elephant in the room remains the issue of Iowa’s DOMA law in the wake of the Iowa Supreme Court’s power grab in Varnum. It is constitutional law 101 that the judiciary cannot make law – that is the duty of the legislative branch.
The Court can opine on the constitutionality of a law and it must review appealed decisions from lower courts adjudicated AS TO THE PARTIES. Under long accepted juridical principles only the parties in Varnum should have been granted marriage licenses. The Court far exceeded its constitutional authority to order the counties to issue marriage licenses in contravention of 595.2. Has the Legislature repealed 595.2 yet?
And why has the executive branch shirked its duty to uphold the law as encoded (easily the Governor could have stayed the decision of the Court until the Assembly disposed of the matter). In all of this legal mishmash the point has been overlooked that the justices could be impeached for its egregious abuse of power as defined in the Iowa Constitution.
Notice, that few have even addressed the convoluted, juvenile reasoning the justices used to arrive at their decision which attempts to codify injustice into Iowa law. Can anyone defend the racist notion of the Court that chosen behaviors of individuals can be equated with skin color? The very thought that such is possible, as the Court has held, is repugnant to intelligent Iowans.
Instead of the legislature defending the constitution, we have a morass of conflicting opinions and the spectacle of the Iowa Legislature being an impediment to allowing the will of the people to be heard on the matter under the sovereignty clause of Article I, Sec. 2 of the Iowa Constitution.
But then why would we, the people, expect good governance from our elected officials when the leaders are corrupted by huge amounts of money flowing into their campaign coffers. It is not difficult to search the internet to find how much special interest money from outside Iowa goes to Iowa legislators to buy their influence. And those who have taken what amounts to bribes are in the forefront in a concerted legislative movement to thwart the efforts of Iowans desiring to bring forward a proposed constitutional amendment to codify self-evident values that have hitherto been recognized throughout human history.
The deplorable and dishonest actions of the few in power also negatively paint the good character of the honest politicians who do listen to the concerns of their constituencies and work valiantly to represent everyday Iowans instead of outside interests. Sadly, they are fewer than is required to get the good government we in Iowa deserve.
As an independent voter I am not dismayed at the workings of the majority in our state legislature. The Democrats are who they are: big government, drunken spending, high taxation, crazy social ideas out of touch with everyday Iowans, unworkable social programs and lots of them, and arrogance towards those who have elected them. The Democrats represent the worst of Iowa – they have become the party of greed both for money and for power. They should not disappoint believers in constitutionally limited government because we all know they do not uphold those cherished values of Iowans – and yet we keep voting them into office where they quickly entrench themselves into careers at our expense.
What does disappoint are the Republicans who appear to go along to get along. Yes, they work to the extent they can to blunt the crazier notions that surface in the majority party, but they lack in an area that could go far to protect Iowans from the excesses and tyranny of the majority.
The Republicans in the Iowa Assembly have failed to find a way to present a reasoned and united front to counter the bad governance of the Democrat majority. Instead they compromise far too often to avoid being labeled obstructionist. When the ship is going down is no time for compromise in favor of failed policies. Someone has defined insanity as continuing to do what does not work. That applies to this legislature as well as to the Republican minority. And it hurts Iowans.
Stand up Republicans and be heard to “just say No” to the irresponsible actions of the majority before Iowa overall sinks to a level of mediocrity already reached by its once vaunted educational system. The people are depending on you.
Frank Adams
Mason City, Iowa
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