Narrowing divide between conservative base and GOP establishment. By Jacob Hall, The Iowa Standard
For education purposes ONLY: Fair Use
This is part of our problem when it when it comes to working for the people. We have too many that are working to undermine us!
By Jacob Hall, 03 Feb 2025
Commence Newsletter:
Monday, Feb. 3
Good morning! Another week has started!
Last week I was able to speak with a great group of Iowans in Dyersville as their Tea Party held a meeting. On Saturday I talked at the Monona County GOP Central Committee meeting. Earlier this year I was able to speak with the Five Seasons Republican Women in Cedar Rapids.
It seems like no matter where I go one thing is almost always true — the “grassroots” folks at the local level are incredibly more conservative than the state party as a whole and the elected representatives in the Iowa House and Iowa Senate.
I talk often about the apologetic conservatism many Republicans have and contrast that with the bold, unashamed liberal insanity often espoused by Democrats. Bring up something controversial and many of our Republicans will sort of give a weak-kneed, waffling response while a Democrat will just own their radical ideas.
For years I wondered why that was and I think I finally figured it out — the Democrats actually believe what they say they believe while most of the Republicans in Des Moines really don’t.
There is a huge, wide divide between the conservative Republican base that exists on most GOP central committees (not all, I can think of a handful of Republican central committees that pretty much toe the line for the Iowa GOP and are moderate) and the elected officials and state party.
I mean, look at the extremely poor rating of Iowa’s Republican U.S. House delegation. That group — Representatives Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson and Zach Nunn — score 10 points lower (LOWER) than the Republicans in the U.S. House from New York.
Think about that.
I would argue in the legislature there are about 28-32 real, solid conservatives between the House and the Senate.
The question is how do we narrow this divide? I mean, there is not one single Democrat in the legislature who voted in support of protecting women’s sports, protecting kids from radical sex changes or the bathroom bill. Not one. They all stood with their radical base.
Meanwhile we saw some Republicans vote against those bills.
How and why does this happen? More importantly, how do we stop it from happening?
I would submit that the Democrat Party tends to get more “activist” types who run for office. Therefore once they’re elected, they remain much more committed to their cause — as wrong as it is — than a Republican.
Republicans often recruit candidates that they know will toe the party line and be a “good team player.” People who will “go along to get along.”
The worst response you can get when you ask someone why they are running for office is: “the party asked me to.”
That’s not to say there aren’t conservative strides being made. I would argue more “activists” have been elected in the Iowa House especially the last couple cycles among Republicans.
But there’s still a huge, wide divide between the conservative base and Republican leadership in the state. I think this is partially due to the conservative base trusting what they’re being told by the Republican leadership and not really diving into things.
Politics isn’t much different than everything else in life — we’ll get out of it exactly what we put into it. When we become more educated voters, we’ll have better legislators. When we become more interesting in “verifying” rather than just trusting, we’ll get better results from our legislators.
I hope you find The Iowa Standard a useful tool in that effort. And if you have a local group — whether it’s a central committee or a patriot group — I’d love to come meet your members.
Problems don’t get fixed until people realize there is a problem. Educating more conservatives in Iowa on this divide is the first step in narrowing it.
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The Iowa Standard Newsletter Date 03 Feb 2025: https://mailchi.mp/theiowastandard/may-26-17466067?e=[UNIQID]