Art, Chris Jones has done something important beyond documenting polluted water: he's given people permission to talk about water quality and large corporate power. Rep. JD Scholten is doing the latter, as well, by explaining how giant corporations squeeze farmers.
That gives cover to candidates and legislators who've been told by some party leaders and consultants to avoid talking about agricultural regulation, monopoly power, or even water quality. Jones makes clear that corporations profit by externalizing the costs of doing business, leaving farmers, consumers, taxpayers, and our rivers to pay the price. Democrats won't reconnect with working people until they're willing to explain not just who's hurting, but who's benefiting.
I read this column, then I read it again to be sure I have digested the wisdom of the Oracle of the Lake, Storm Lake that is. Then I read the comments, and read them again. I was born and raised in Mason City. We hated the place when we were young, but deep down inside some of thought we were lucky to live in a decent, hard-working place like Cerro Gordo County. Now the whole state is the captive of Big Ag and you can't even go swimming in about half the state, all thanks to the moneyed interests of said Big Ag. I'd like to hear Chris Jones speak, although I suspect his chances of prevailing against the big money are slim. Yesterday I drove to Iowa City and back for the jazz festival. On the surface the corn and beans look good, but deep down inside I know that our monoculture system is sending our much-vaunted topsoil down the river and that Roundup saves most operators from protecting our environment. I drive through rural IA and in lots of small towns the corn and beans come right up to the yards of local residents. So we ask ourselves what did we do to deserve the sky high cancers rates? If you offered me a nice house on the outside of town adjacent to a Roundup Ready field I would say not only no thanks but Hell No. At least I live a couple of miles from these mad scientist experiments. Thanks to Art for keeping us all informed and conscious of the disaster that is rural Iowa.
We just published a Jim Hightower interview in Barn Raiser and it got me thinkin', why aren't our statewide candidates running as a slate? The Cancer-Free or Clean Water or Fix It Slate? That's why Hightower and his team did in Texas when they won - campaigning as a team, supporting each other and letting voters know there's only one party willing to make real change. Of course, that would require a party that WANTS to make real change. Chris shouldn't have to "channel the outrage" for the others. They can do that for themselves, if they really want to.
Author Brian Goldstone in his book, There Is No Place For Us, which was published in 2025 writes “that since 1985 rent prices nationwide have exceeded income gains by 325 percent. Some fifty-three million Americans, or almost half of the country’s workers between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four, hold jobs that pay a median hourly wage of $10.22, which amounts to a mere $21,000 per year – below the poverty line for a family of three.”
While their president makes billions prostituting the office, we have US workers who end up homeless even though they might be working two jobs. Is there no shame with this man? Where’s the justice?
You mention that Trump is going to dump $500 million or so on various Senate races. It's like that after a while people will tire of the endless propaganda of those expensive TV ads, will fast-forward past them or mute the sound. Maybe they'll remember that shortly after American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were murdered by ICE agents, they were denounced as terrorists, left-wing terrorists, even though there was nothing in their background to suggest this, and what had brought them out to demonstrate against ICE in the frigid January weather was compassion for immigrant families. So with this in mind, the mind-numbing propaganda, the name-calling (every Democrat is now labeled a "Communist) will land on deaf ears, and people will recognize that they've been conned.
Well said, Christine. Every single one of us dreads the nonstop firehose of snarling and manipulative campaign propaganda that's going to spiral into hysteria, including "Republicans vote on Tuesday, Dems vote on Wednesday" cynicism, amplifying the rank stench of "democracy" in our time.
Important to remember that once saturation is achieved--the ENTIRE bandwidth of media--is flooded, it's just a cash bonfire. You're hammering the rat corpse in the trap with a sledgehammer. Republicans deploy the airwaves bludgeon like Trump spurting costly munitions into the Iranian desert or crushing the rubble of buildings where defenseless humans used to live. An act of foolhardy overkill, a strutting, callow pretense of domination bereft of any force of persuasion beyond the expression of swinish character. "Money is Speech," dont'cha know, but no amount of money is going to erase the desperation of creeping subjugation eating us like necrosis.
For those of us who're outraged about Trump's vast profits from the office of the presidency - what a contrast with Harry Truman, eh? - one consolation: if Trump managed to go bankrupt numerous times while owning casinos, he'll find some way to lose this goldmine too. What really bothers me is the continuing power of the Trump-friendly Supreme Court. It's high time for Congress to start doing its job, and representing the American people. Passing legislation to end Citizens United would be a good first step.
One of my many construction business customers, an organized crime figure of much repute and success, told me something that I never forgot. “You can work really hard and you may feed your family. Or, you can exploit human frailties and become wealthy”.
We can earn money, we could “Make” money, or we could just take money. One requires diligence , discipline, and work ethic. The other two are based upon diminished standards of ethics and morality. The more diminished the standards, the greater the wealth.
We go to the effort of raising our children to be honest, diligent, and moral. And the World demonstrates that Mom and Dad were full of beans. Witnessing the makers and takers is one thing. When the makers and takers embrace the Current Zero Sum Strategy, it hurts the earners. The temptation of success has been replaced by unskillful makers and takers. The poor old Mule no longer covets the Carrot but feels the Stick.
I'm not the sharpest crayola in the box, but your decline of the family farm remark sparked the thought that it's not just agricultural tradition & cultural identity that founders in the tar pit when billionaire feudalists buy everything. No city dweller can realistically open a retail shop or go into any kind of business for themselves because predatory capitalism will undercut them and grease palms as necessary to engage municipal government to harrass aspiring entrepreneurs with code violations, denied permits, and any other gangster coercion they can deploy disguised as "law". It's the WalMart effect, rural hamlets lose their town square businesses, and cities' downtowns turn into shabby rows of vacant storefronts with tumbleweeds rolling down the vanishing point like human hope itself. I'm flashing to the meme of Jesus reminding his worshipers, "I know you need health insurance, but it's more important that billionaires get tax cuts."
This is not the forum to hector readers with a new Utopian scheme. But I'm also remembering the words of Lincoln, beckoning us again to "a new birth of freedom". As far as I'm concerned, this is our birthright, and not a contemptuous penny flicked into our tin cups by an arrogant 21st Century warlord or plutocrat.
"Dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Great column as always! Politics is a game and it is rigged more and more all the time! All I have to do is look at poor Doug Burgum and what he has become. He has completely sold his soul to an amoral person who claims to be our president! Unbelievable!
And we definitely need fighters! And you are in that category!
Always of interest; "KNOWING WHO's NEXT" to wipe t-Rump's butt & chin ...to sully themselves to clean-up after his next half-baked, sideshow event — perhaps the FIFA World Cup, eh???
Art, Chris Jones has done something important beyond documenting polluted water: he's given people permission to talk about water quality and large corporate power. Rep. JD Scholten is doing the latter, as well, by explaining how giant corporations squeeze farmers.
That gives cover to candidates and legislators who've been told by some party leaders and consultants to avoid talking about agricultural regulation, monopoly power, or even water quality. Jones makes clear that corporations profit by externalizing the costs of doing business, leaving farmers, consumers, taxpayers, and our rivers to pay the price. Democrats won't reconnect with working people until they're willing to explain not just who's hurting, but who's benefiting.
I read this column, then I read it again to be sure I have digested the wisdom of the Oracle of the Lake, Storm Lake that is. Then I read the comments, and read them again. I was born and raised in Mason City. We hated the place when we were young, but deep down inside some of thought we were lucky to live in a decent, hard-working place like Cerro Gordo County. Now the whole state is the captive of Big Ag and you can't even go swimming in about half the state, all thanks to the moneyed interests of said Big Ag. I'd like to hear Chris Jones speak, although I suspect his chances of prevailing against the big money are slim. Yesterday I drove to Iowa City and back for the jazz festival. On the surface the corn and beans look good, but deep down inside I know that our monoculture system is sending our much-vaunted topsoil down the river and that Roundup saves most operators from protecting our environment. I drive through rural IA and in lots of small towns the corn and beans come right up to the yards of local residents. So we ask ourselves what did we do to deserve the sky high cancers rates? If you offered me a nice house on the outside of town adjacent to a Roundup Ready field I would say not only no thanks but Hell No. At least I live a couple of miles from these mad scientist experiments. Thanks to Art for keeping us all informed and conscious of the disaster that is rural Iowa.
We just published a Jim Hightower interview in Barn Raiser and it got me thinkin', why aren't our statewide candidates running as a slate? The Cancer-Free or Clean Water or Fix It Slate? That's why Hightower and his team did in Texas when they won - campaigning as a team, supporting each other and letting voters know there's only one party willing to make real change. Of course, that would require a party that WANTS to make real change. Chris shouldn't have to "channel the outrage" for the others. They can do that for themselves, if they really want to.
Author Brian Goldstone in his book, There Is No Place For Us, which was published in 2025 writes “that since 1985 rent prices nationwide have exceeded income gains by 325 percent. Some fifty-three million Americans, or almost half of the country’s workers between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four, hold jobs that pay a median hourly wage of $10.22, which amounts to a mere $21,000 per year – below the poverty line for a family of three.”
While their president makes billions prostituting the office, we have US workers who end up homeless even though they might be working two jobs. Is there no shame with this man? Where’s the justice?
You mention that Trump is going to dump $500 million or so on various Senate races. It's like that after a while people will tire of the endless propaganda of those expensive TV ads, will fast-forward past them or mute the sound. Maybe they'll remember that shortly after American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti were murdered by ICE agents, they were denounced as terrorists, left-wing terrorists, even though there was nothing in their background to suggest this, and what had brought them out to demonstrate against ICE in the frigid January weather was compassion for immigrant families. So with this in mind, the mind-numbing propaganda, the name-calling (every Democrat is now labeled a "Communist) will land on deaf ears, and people will recognize that they've been conned.
Well said, Christine. Every single one of us dreads the nonstop firehose of snarling and manipulative campaign propaganda that's going to spiral into hysteria, including "Republicans vote on Tuesday, Dems vote on Wednesday" cynicism, amplifying the rank stench of "democracy" in our time.
Important to remember that once saturation is achieved--the ENTIRE bandwidth of media--is flooded, it's just a cash bonfire. You're hammering the rat corpse in the trap with a sledgehammer. Republicans deploy the airwaves bludgeon like Trump spurting costly munitions into the Iranian desert or crushing the rubble of buildings where defenseless humans used to live. An act of foolhardy overkill, a strutting, callow pretense of domination bereft of any force of persuasion beyond the expression of swinish character. "Money is Speech," dont'cha know, but no amount of money is going to erase the desperation of creeping subjugation eating us like necrosis.
For those of us who're outraged about Trump's vast profits from the office of the presidency - what a contrast with Harry Truman, eh? - one consolation: if Trump managed to go bankrupt numerous times while owning casinos, he'll find some way to lose this goldmine too. What really bothers me is the continuing power of the Trump-friendly Supreme Court. It's high time for Congress to start doing its job, and representing the American people. Passing legislation to end Citizens United would be a good first step.
One of my many construction business customers, an organized crime figure of much repute and success, told me something that I never forgot. “You can work really hard and you may feed your family. Or, you can exploit human frailties and become wealthy”.
We can earn money, we could “Make” money, or we could just take money. One requires diligence , discipline, and work ethic. The other two are based upon diminished standards of ethics and morality. The more diminished the standards, the greater the wealth.
We go to the effort of raising our children to be honest, diligent, and moral. And the World demonstrates that Mom and Dad were full of beans. Witnessing the makers and takers is one thing. When the makers and takers embrace the Current Zero Sum Strategy, it hurts the earners. The temptation of success has been replaced by unskillful makers and takers. The poor old Mule no longer covets the Carrot but feels the Stick.
I'm not the sharpest crayola in the box, but your decline of the family farm remark sparked the thought that it's not just agricultural tradition & cultural identity that founders in the tar pit when billionaire feudalists buy everything. No city dweller can realistically open a retail shop or go into any kind of business for themselves because predatory capitalism will undercut them and grease palms as necessary to engage municipal government to harrass aspiring entrepreneurs with code violations, denied permits, and any other gangster coercion they can deploy disguised as "law". It's the WalMart effect, rural hamlets lose their town square businesses, and cities' downtowns turn into shabby rows of vacant storefronts with tumbleweeds rolling down the vanishing point like human hope itself. I'm flashing to the meme of Jesus reminding his worshipers, "I know you need health insurance, but it's more important that billionaires get tax cuts."
This is not the forum to hector readers with a new Utopian scheme. But I'm also remembering the words of Lincoln, beckoning us again to "a new birth of freedom". As far as I'm concerned, this is our birthright, and not a contemptuous penny flicked into our tin cups by an arrogant 21st Century warlord or plutocrat.
"Dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
THANKS AGAIN, Art, for keeping the embers warm.
Worst thing to happen to America since the VietNam war: RUMP
just remember what bob dylan sang, "money doesn't talk, it swears"...
Another great column. Hopefully people take notice of our troublesome agriculture situation and go vote in November.
One of your best, Art.
Great column as always! Politics is a game and it is rigged more and more all the time! All I have to do is look at poor Doug Burgum and what he has become. He has completely sold his soul to an amoral person who claims to be our president! Unbelievable!
And we definitely need fighters! And you are in that category!
Trump gives new meaning to Warren Zevon's 1978 song "Send Lawyers Guns and Money " to me.
Always of interest; "KNOWING WHO's NEXT" to wipe t-Rump's butt & chin ...to sully themselves to clean-up after his next half-baked, sideshow event — perhaps the FIFA World Cup, eh???
They got the money, but we got the numbers.
Let's go!
You