Vote for Harris, Melton
An editorial from the Storm Lake Times Pilot, Oct 29, 2024
This newspaper always has published institutional editorials that reflect the views of the owners and editors. Many believe that editorials are an anachronism, that you don’t need to interpret the facts in this Disinformation Age. Obviously, we disagree. The editorial is an argument in the court of public opinion, supported by facts that point to a conclusion. We always have endorsed candidates and issues. We get insights from our reporting that the average reader doesn’t, and we are obliged to share them. For example, we have reported extensively through the years on the danger of tariffs to pork and soy exports to Asia. Readers should know what Trump intends for immigration, food and agriculture. Even if we are spitting into the wind, we must say what we think.
Endorsements do matter. That’s what readers and writers of The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times cried when the respective owners spiked endorsements of Kamala Harris for president late in the campaign. The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and the LA Times is owned by a wealthy doctor and biotech entrepreneur. Their staffs and readers believe they are shielding future business (each has significant interests with the government outside the newspapers) from drawing the wrath and retribution of Donald Trump should he be elected. Readers expected the newspapers to tell them what they think, in the end. Especially the Post, which exposed so much of Donald Trump’s corruption.
Editorials are relevant because they express the view of an institution that is informed and tempered. It is not just one person’s opinion. In this space, it is the shared opinion of the Cullens, primarily John and Art, the owners. Ultimately it is the owners’ prerogative. We have no other interests or money to speak of. Our interest is Storm Lake, Buena Vista County, Iowa. What you get from us is unvarnished by mercantilism, other than to serve the paying reader and to always promote the greater enterprise. We hope to spur discussion and make you think. That is what editorials are for: to inform, enlighten, entertain and, sometimes, persuade.
Today, we beg you to vote for Kamala Harris for president as we did in late July, when we said:
“Kamala Harris has what it takes to lead this country. She has an ability to turn down the temperature and to narrow our divisions. She is the daughter of immigrants who knows what it is like to earn your way to the top. Her agenda is the Biden agenda: fairness to the working class, strength and security with our allies, a commitment to the democratic process and the lawful order, and a fealty to the facts and our certain reality. Trump promises chaos and contempt for freedom.”
President Biden had just announced that he would drop out of the race. He was trailing Trump badly and was growing feeble (as Trump is now). We endorsed Biden repeatedly out of fear that Trump could return to the White House. When Biden dropped, we immediately endorsed Harris. There can be no other conclusion if you believe in democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Trump is a convicted felon awaiting sentencing for fraud. Trump said Sunday that he is determined to deport millions of people, citizen or not, including prosecutor Jack Smith, and ferret out “the enemy within.” His former chief of staff, John Kelly, considers him a fascist, and the former military general knows one when he sees one.
As we said July 24:
“We could hope that a breath of fresh air with Harris would restore Iowa to its moderate good senses. Trump has an uncanny hold on this state. If he deports the undocumented immigrants, as promised, it will wreak havoc on Storm Lake specifically and the ag economy generally. His trade war with China destroyed soy export markets, requiring massive taxpayer bailouts for farmers and agribusinesses. Trump’s call to insurrection should offend every Iowan’s sense of patriotism that we lost somewhere along the way.”
Not all of us have lost our way. The most recent Iowa Poll showed Harris within striking distance of Trump in the Tall Corn State. If an endorsement can shift a few votes her way in hopes that Iowa can tack back to center, the ink is well spent.
Vote for Kamala Harris, the rule of law, freedom, democracy and human dignity. Trump is a loser, a criminal and a threat to civil order.
WE ALSO ENDORSED Democrat Ryan Melton of Nevada for Fourth District Congress against Rep. Randy Feenstra, a Hull Republican. Feenstra is a corporate lackey who swore off earmarks so we get almost nothing here in BV County. The Linn Grove dam: Zilch. Roads: Nada. Help for Storm Lake’s water system: $500,000 on a $100 million project, chump change. Resilient ag? Not seeing it. Feenstra gets money from hog consolidators, including the Chinese, which spreads a lot of stench but not that much wealth. He is one reason we don’t have a farm bill. Vote for Melton. It may cause you to twitch if you are a Republican, but you will get over it and eventually feel better with a decent farm bill.
Art Cullen is the editor of the Storm Lake Times Pilot in Northwest Iowa, where this editorial appeared. For more columns and editorials, please consider a subscription to the Times Pilot. Or, if you wish, you can make a tax-deductible gift to the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation to support independent community journalism in rural Iowa. Thanks.
The Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Have you explored the variety of writers, plus Letters from Iowans, in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative? They are from around the state and contribute commentary and feature stories of interest to those who care about Iowa. Please pick five you’d like to support by becoming paid. It helps keep them going. Enjoy:
How do people pretend that Trump is what they think he is? He has a "secret plan" he's cooked up with Speaker of the House, Johnson. Or was that a secret concept of a plan? He either gets his way or he'll bring violence and hell to those in his way.
I've seen his plan in action--January 6, 2021. I cried for my country and what Trump's done to it.
Thanks, Art. You made a succinct and powerful argument for voting for the VP and Melton this time. We should want people in government who know how to make government work for everyone. Every civil society needs a functioning government.