Dear Friends,
HERE’S THIS WEEK’S MOST EXCELLENT PODCAST!
Oops, I erred last week. The title of the short documentary we discussed is Dear President Biden, not Dear Mr. President. Yeah, close, but still, an error that shouldn’t happen. Apologies to the film’s producer, Jon Bowermaster, and please watch it.
David Osterberg (left) discussing renewable energy with Darrin Ehret, who we met on a 2017 march across Iowa.
My guest this week is David Osterberg. David’s one of the smartest people I know — to which he points out that I take his advice less than half the time. (I guess that implies I’m not too smart, which is fine as I like to keep expectations low.)
On this program, David and I discuss (1) How Democrats might avoid a November shellacking, (2) Why President Biden’s gas tax holiday is not such a good idea, and (3) Why electric cars are awesome even as the industry faces technical and political challenges.
To the question of how Democrats in Iowa might avoid the rout predicted for this fall’s election, David speaks from experience. Arguably, a big part of why he was elected to the Iowa House in the 1980s was his decision to live in a chicken coop.
What? Yeah, for real!
At the time, David taught economics at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon. He wanted to make a point about the importance of living simply, and the opportunity arose when a friend invited him to live in her renovated hen house.
The experiment went well until zoning authorities got wind of it. David pushed back, and his battle with county officials gained national attention. Eventually, David’s fight won him the support and admiration of independent-minded voters who felt government had no right telling a fella he couldn’t live in whatever kind of structure he wanted to live in.
Jessica Wiskus
Fast forward to 2022. The passion for freedom, liberty, and keeping gu’mint out of our private affairs is stronger now than it was in the ’80s. (Note to the radicals pushing abortion bans and other personal-liberty-negating nonsense: your attacks on our freedoms will not prevail!)
The chicken-coop issue of the 2022 election is CO2 pipelines. Big corporations think of themselves as not only too big to fail but too-big-to-not-get-everything-they-want from their pals in government. In Iowa, pro-CO2 pipeline corporations are running into huge opposition to their get-rich-quick schemes.
How huge? Like Osterberg”s campaign in the 1980s, potentially huge enough to impact legislative races this fall. Take Jessica Wiskus of Linn County, whose farm is in the path of the Wolf Pipeline. Not only has the threat of eminent domain made an activist out of Jessica, she’s decided to run for the statehouse this fall. She’s a Democrat, and normally, that seat is one a Democrat couldn’t win — just like the seat Osterberg captured in the 1980s.
Other legislative races across Iowa numerically favor Republicans. Yet given local sentiment about CO2 pipelines and the threat of eminent domain, they could flip blue.
Of course, it doesn’t help local Democrats when the leadership of the Iowa Democratic Party remains embarrassingly wishy-washy on CO2 pipelines. So, even though the Republican Party’s support for CO2 pipelines oughta cause a shake-up in races across the state, the anemic response by leading Democrats might negate that advantage. We’ll see.
SUGGESTED ACTION: Tell all elected Iowa Democrats you know to grow a backbone and speak out against CO2 pipelines and the threat of eminent domain to build them!
Thanks for reading, listening, and giving a darn! – Ed
*******
LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S FALLON FORUM:
(01:18) How Democrats might avoid a November shellacking;
(18:56) Why Biden’s gas tax holiday might not be a good idea;
(36:03) Electric cars on pace to race over regulatory speed bumps;
(53:20) July Garden Q&A, with Kathy Byrnes.
– KHOI 89.1 FM (Ames, Iowa)
– KICI.LP 105.3 FM (Iowa City, Iowa)
– WHIV 102.3 FM (New Orleans, Louisiana)
– KPIP-LP, 94.7 FM (Fayette, Missouri)
– KCEI 90.1 FM (Taos, New Mexico)
– KRFP 90.3 FM (Moscow, Idaho)
– WGRN 94.1 FM (Columbus, Ohio)
Please support the local businesses and non-profits who make this program possible. Click on their logos on the Fallon Forum website and in our weekly email, and visit Dr. Drake Family Psychiatry, Story County Veterinary Clinic, Bold Iowa, and Birds & Bees Urban Farm. Thanks for supporting the civil alternative to the shock jocks!
Ed Fallon