From Richard Foster
Lamoni
This last week was very revealing for the country politically, but it also revealed a minor irritation of mine, and I hope I’m not alone in this.
When I worked at Subway and I made a sandwich, I didn’t pause for a golf clap because I overcame the difficulty of making it with double meat. It irritates me to no end when elected officials expect a “thank you” for showing up to a “hostile crowd.” That’s their job; representing hostile crowds as well as friendly ones.
Besides that, we’re Iowans. We aren’t what most of us imagine a hostile crowd to be; chasing people out with pitchforks and torches. If you’re an elected official serving Iowa, and you haven’t spoken with the opposition party once, or at the very least, reached out to speak with them, you aren’t doing your job.
Is your position so tenuously held it can only withstand softball questions from friendly crowds? Can you not defend your position against any opposition to the point that reasonable people on both sides can say “I disagree with your opinion, but respect your basis for it?” What are you doing in any level of government if you aren’t meaningfully engaging your ideas to help make things better?
This is an election year: we need to vote for people who won’t be rubber stamps for their parties. The only thing they can be counted on is supporting the will of their leaders, not their people.