Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Most of the time, a party’s platform does not register as hugely important, as they are typically drafted by each party’s most ideological voters and are usually ignored by mainstream candidates. But veteran Democratic political strategist Ed Kilgore argues that because of Iowa’s place in the presidential nominating process, and because ideological activists have an unusually powerful role in the presidential caucuses, the Republican Party of Iowa’s platform should be taken very seriously.
One of the 367-planks in the RPI platform that has gotten the most attention of late calls for “the reintroduction and ratification of the original 13th Amendment, not the 13th Amendment in today’s Constitution.” The original amendment would have outlawed anyone who accepts a “title of nobility” from a foreign country from ever holding political office. GOP Communications Director Danielle Plogmann admitted the plank was a direct shot at President Barack Obama over accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.
But Kilgore argues that the Iowa GOP jumping on the “Thirteenther” bandwagon is only one plank of concern.
Given that principle, it’s not surprising that elsewhere the platform flatly calls for the abolition of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (along with minimum wage laws), and of the federal departments of Agriculture (!), Education and Energy. It also appears to oppose any anti-discrimination laws of any sort.
Beyond such basics, the Iowa GOP Platform is essentially a compilation of every right-wing consipracy theory-based preoccupation known to man. In a nod to Glenn Beck, the statement of principles mentions “Progressivism” along with “Collectivism, Socialism, Fascism, [and] Communism” as ideologies incompatible with the Founding Fathers’ design. There’s a birther plank. There’s a plank about the “NAFTA Superhighway.” There’s a plank about ACORN. There’s a plank about the “fairness doctrine.” There’s plank after plank after plank opposing the nefarious activities of the United Nations. There’s a plank calling for abolition of the Federal Reserve System. Needless to say, there are many, many planks spelling out total opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage in excrutiating detail, and attacking any limitation on campaign activities or use of tax dollars by religious organizations.
The platform also calls for Republican candidates to be denied party funds if they don’t agree with at least 80 percent of the platform. That portion prompted Cityview gossip columnist Civic Skinny to pose a few questions to prominent GOP candidates.
For Terry Branstad: Do you agree with a plank in the newly approved Iowa Republican platform that says no public official should serve more than 12 years in any office?
For Chuck Grassley: Same question as above. Plus: Do you approve of the plank that says “we oppose agricultural subsidies?” And the one that says, “We call for the abolition of the Federal Department of Agriculture?”
For Kim Reynolds: Do you support the plank that says “a person convicted of driving while intoxicated should never have his record expunged?”
For Tom Latham and Steve King and Chuck Grassley: Do you concur with the plank that says: “We support abolishing the congressional retirement fund?”
For the 14,572 Iowans who were divorced last year: Do you agree that “no-fault divorce laws should be repealed?”
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