In Defense of Native Iowans

All right, I’ll bite.  It seems to be the trendy thing to do these days: to jump all over University of Iowa Journalism Professor Stephen G. Bloom for his poorly received essay, "Observations from 20 Years of Iowa Life."

I'm not going to address his tone.  I'm not going to address his misconceptions.  I am going to admit that I have never made a Jell-O mold and I have no clue what a Red Waldorf cake is.  My wedding reception was a catered affair at the country club of one of those "skuzzy" Mississippi River towns he describes.  And my dad didn't give my husband's family a cow as a dowry, either.  Nor does he carry a penknife.

No, my argument is that in his essay that purports to explain why Iowa is not worthy to initiate the caucus/primary season, he actually laid out every single reason why Iowa is perfect for hosting the inaugural event of the 2012 election.

In the midst of his biting and unflattering commentary, Bloom makes several points about the state of affairs in the state of Iowa.  Give me the chance to refute them, one-by-one, and I’ll show you why they make Iowa more like the rest of the country than Bloom realizes.

1. Our "skuzzy" river towns are faltering under the weight of urban decay and unrepaired infrastructure.  This is a problem representative of any urban area – take Minneapolis as an example, in August of 2007, one of the bridges on I-35 collapsed into the Misissippi.  There's a town that is literally crumbling into the Mississippi River.
2. Our political electorate is "schizophrenically" divided,  as is the majority of the electorate in the country.  That is why we’re seeing gridlock in Washington – half of us think and feel one way about voting and the other half thinks and feels exactly the opposite.  This is true of any swing state, which appears to be all 50 of them for the 2012 election.
3. Gay marriage is a passing phase.  Iowa was among the first states to legalize interracial marriage, which was, at one point, considered a passing phase, too.  This is a particularly hot issue in the state, but given the number of times Proposition 8 has hit the ballots in California, I daresay it's a hot issue in more places than just here.
4. We grow the oh-so-unglamorous cash crops of corn, soybeans, pigs and cattle.  This is an important point because farmers elsewhere in this country grow the glamorous crops of tobacco, cotton, chickens, and rice.
5. Our dilapidated landscape dares to offer the visage of grain elevators as you pull into smaller towns.  I know they are jarring to non-native Iowans, perhaps like the rhythmic, rusty, creaking oil pumps of rural Texas are to non-native Texans.  Or the stretches of scarred land left behind from coal mining in the Appalachians that seem painful to those not mining them.
6. The "real" version of Iowa that boasts high rates of unemployment for the minimally educated, manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas, an influx of undocumented workers, and mental health care that fails our rural citizens.  Yes, we are aware that these are issues.  Issues we share with places like Detroit, Chicago, New Mexico, Alaska, and other rural areas in every state of the union.  When these problems become unique to Iowa, this might be a point.  Oh – that goes for the drug use and abuse, too.  When Iowa is the only state dealing with a meth problem, then we can talk.
7. He feels that we are surrounded by religion, that it is pervasive in every aspect of life.  Yes, we are.  As is anyone living in the Bible Belt, which seems to be creeping higher and higher across our continental waistline.  I am a non-Christian who manages to not be offended when someone wishes me "Merry Christmas."  Heck, I'll wish it right back at them because I do want them to have a good time, what Grinch wouldn't?  If you wish me "Happy Hanukkah," I'll return that greeting, too.  Or "Happy Holidays."  Why?  Because it is important to you, therefore, it is important to me.  I'm all for a celebration in whatever cultural way you choose to celebrate.  Compassion isn’t belittling a belief that you don’t agree with – it is cherishing the believer and allowing them their expression.  Kindness is universal.

The problems facing the state of Iowa are far, far from unique.  Every single state in the nation is addressing the same issues, and we, as a nation, are tackling them coast-to-coast.  I think that this makes Iowa the perfect place to be first in the nation, we're not the dismal and irrelevant place Bloom thinks we are.  And this is coming from a fourth-generation college graduate who chose to return to this state.  Oh – that's four generations of women who graduated from Iowa colleges and lived their lives in Iowa, by the way.