Iowa Values...

I like Iowa.

I really do. I was born in Iowa, raised on a farm, went to school in a small town... I'm an Iowan, and I'm proud of it.

Iowans used to stand for certain values. You could take it for granted that if you had troubles the guy next door would help – you certainly would for him. If you had a flat tire, someone would stop to help. If your barn burned down, the neighbors would come over to help. Our values were simple, and strong – help other people, work hard, be polite, things like that. I thought that all native Iowans had these traits.

Then I ran across Steve King.

Mr. King hails from Kiron, Iowa – a town of less than three-hundred people, though since his election to office he's lived in Washington, DC. Maybe rubbing shoulders with the 'Club for Growth' crowd has rubbed off his ethics. Or maybe he lost his values during his very brief college career in Missouri. In any case, if Mr. King had traditional Iowa values at one point in time, he's lost them since.

An example:

When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the New Orleans area, Iowans gladly donated money (as did generous souls from every corner of the United States). Aid flowed to organizations such as the Red Cross, who sprang into action. The nation watched aghast, however, as our government did nothing to help. Generous Iowans watched helplessly as one of our representatives, the esteemed Mr. King, did nothing. After four days of watching news reports, seeing people die, watching houses get ruined, witnessing the horrors in the Super Dome, our congressman, Mr. King, finally approached a microphone to address the Katrina disaster. I shall paraphrase: “Maybe now we can drill for oil in the national parks in Alaska since all the Gulf refineries are off-line.”

People are homeless, dying, and our representative was actually happy about the situation as he saw another way for rich people to make money whilst simultaneously keeping the poor people poor.

A full week after the disaster, Mr. King saw another opportunity to flaunt our Iowa values. A bill went before congress that would give $50+ billion in relief money to the victims of Katrina. Mr. King voted AGAINST sending money to the people in need. Thankfully, he was outvoted 507 to 11. People were suffering, bodies were actually floating in the water, and our representative denied help.

Where did he learn that? Hopefully not in Iowa! We're not that kind of people.

Was this an isolated incident? No. March 17, 2006 he voted against a bill that would provide emergency funds to Katrina victims, along with small business loans for New Orleans entrepreneurs. It's not that Mr. King is against spending, particularly – he recently voted in favor of a $136 billion piece of legislation to give money to the military. It's just that he prefers the money to flow towards the rich and away from those in need.

An Iowa value? Hardly.