Viewpoints

To the Editor:

We all want leaders who put Iowa first. No matter our political party, we expect the people we elect to represent us, not any president, party, or special interest.

Sadly, Iowa’s U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators prioritize loyalty to Trump over addressing the needs of their constituents. These elected officials, who are of the same party as Trump and who control the House and Senate, voted for Trump’s  tariffs even though these raised the cost of groceries and essential goods.  They voted six times to support Trump’s war of choice in Iran even as the conflict has driven up fuel prices and farmers’ fertilizer costs with no end in sight.  They voted for Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires (H.R. 1) paid for on backs of ordinary Iowans, through cuts to healthcare, educational loans, food assistance, Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and programs that assist Iowa families.

To the Editor:

There is a phrase, The American Dream, that we could believe means the same thing to everyone. However, a conversation with our family, friends and neighbors could reveal there are many different versions of the phrase. Are any of the versions affordable food, gas, housing, child care or education?

My version of the American Dream is a fully funded health care system at the county, regional and national levels. County public health serves as investigators for local cases of contagious diseases and much more. Regional rural hospitals and medical professional serve citizens who live a distance apart from each other and services. National health care insurance is essential.

Everybody is Carrying Something

The cashier smiles and asks if you found everything you needed.

A farmer fills his pick-up with gas before heading back to the field.

A teenager scrolls through her phone while waiting for a friend.

A couple argues about which cereal to buy.

It seems like an ordinary summer day.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned this summer, it’s this: almost everyone you meet is carrying something you cannot see.

I just got back from Alaska, where I cared for my mother-in-law during the last week of her life. Though I work as a hospice chaplain, I had never experienced death from the family’s perspective before. Caring for someone you love at the end of life is not easy. It was so much harder than I imagined.

When I finally came home after the funeral, I expected the whole world to feel different.

To the Editor:

I’m tired of the corruption that has gripped our elected officials at federal and state levels. At one time, to be elected to office was the highest form of public service. One chose to work for the greater good. Those days are behind us.
President Trump has led the trend to corruption and grift. He increased his personal wealth by $1.2 billion last year through his crypto schemes. His family businesses also grew rapidly by billions of dollars due to the licensing deals in countries that were negotiating with the U.S. over tariffs and military aid. His son’s company has got contracts with the defense department to build drones. Trump wants the IRS to promise never to audit him, or his family, so there will be no pretense for honesty nor legality.

The Present Moment

The air was already hot and humid. Even though it was still early morning, my  hair stuck to the back of my neck.

I was kneeling in a small garden, next to a single oil bean tree, its dried pods scattered like spiraled ribbons on the ground. There were no flowers or grass, only some weed clusters at the base of the 12-foot concrete wall topped with rolls of barbed wire, that surrounded our compound in inner-city Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

After years of talking about Africa, planning to go to Africa, I’d finally arrived.  I had my entire 10-year plan laid out after I returned home, but it all changed that morning. “Joanna, all the plans you have are your plans, not Mine.” That was it - so simple, yet so thoroughly and completely destructive to the future I had all mapped out.

To the Editor:

Iowa has a nitrate problem in its water. A large part of the problem stems from water run-off from crop land fertilizer as well as farm animals’ waste.

We know that Iowa has multiple creeks, streams and rivers which feed into the Mississippi River. In fact, most of Iowa’s waters flow east. That takes in millions of farm acres where run-off accounts for the large majority of the nitrates getting into our water. Adding tile in the fields quickens the water movement.

In Allamakee County, our drinking water comes from wells, both private and municipal. Our porous bedrock is the problem. Go further south and some west, and many of the larger cities in Iowa pull their drinking water from rivers.

The Raccoon River is central Iowa’s main drinking water source.  The Des Moines River is used for the Des Moines metro area. Cedar Rapids pulls water from the Cedar River. Iowa City draws water from the Jordan Aquifer.

“All Men are Created Equal”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These are words every United States citizen should cherish and hold dear from the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4th, 1776. These are powerful words. Yet, these ideas are nothing new in the history of the world. While they might be unique in a founding document for a nation, they are not new. These ideas are rooted in Christianity. 

To the Editor:

Iowa is facing a public health emergency that demands honest conversation. According to the National Institutes of Health, Iowa now ranks second in the nation for cancer incidence - with an overall cancer rate more than 10 percent above the national average - and is one of only a handful of states where cancer rates are still rising. Every year, more than 21,000 Iowans are diagnosed with this disease. We deserve to know why.

The answer, increasingly, points to our environment. A March 2026 report from the Iowa Environmental Council and The Harkin Institute - the result of 16 listening sessions held across the state - identified four major environmental risk factors linked to Iowa’s cancer rates: pesticides, nitrates in drinking water, PFAS (“forever chemicals”), and radon.

To the Editor:

Maybe you’ve heard, Texas has a screw worm invasion from Mexico, caused, say government officials, by President Biden letting in all those “illegals”.

Fact Checks:
1) As of June 10, the invasion of five infections: three cattle, one dog, and one I don’t know what. But it can easily grow. (Editor’s Note: The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reports, as of July 1, there are 31 active infections).
2) The last time the U.S. had screw worms was in the 1960s, and they were eradicated with the sterile male flies, and then a monitoring program was put in place to keep an eye on the little buggers.

But, in March of 2025, when Secretary of Agriculture Rollins took over, the monitoring program was cut. Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) decided it was an unnecessary cost, I guess, or maybe the Secretary of Agriculture made the decision.

To the Editor:

I don’t know a thing about soccer, but I am enjoying the reactions of the soccer fans who have followed their country’s teams to the USA. The World Cup games are being played in small and large cities across our country. The interactions between these visitors and ordinary Americans have been fun, respectful, and joyous.

Videos of the Scotts drinking Boston dry, the Norwegians rowing, the Aussies discovering Walmart, an Englishman gushing about being able to drink Pepsi with free refills. It’s a reminder of what it means to be an American. We are the land of opportunity, of welcoming the stranger, of helping others improve their lives.

It’s only fitting that this year, our 250th as a nation, we remember who we are. That we are more alike than different. That we are guaranteed the freedom to express ourselves in our speech, our religion, our free press.