I was born, raised and educated in Iowa from the mid-1940s through the '60s. As I look back to the Iowa I once knew and the good people I met, I conclude that Iowa was a great place to grow up with a solid Midwestern work ethic, good government and strong civic leadership.
Having said that, I am elated and lucky to live my life in Minnesota .
The announcement that Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, would be the Democratic Party's vice presidential candidate was welcome news for progressives who look forward to the next generation of political leaders representing all of us, not just some of us.
We are two states, Iowa and Minnesota, joined together by geography and majestic rivers but divided by a political culture in Iowa that I do not recognize or perhaps do not understand. I don’t know why Iowa has become an extreme case of state government making bad political and social choices for a people's health and education, then compromising those who are less fortunate with punishing laws and archaic standards.
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Were Iowa's schools so bad that it had to pour money into an expensive private educational system, draining resources and funding from the public schools? The Iowa Legislature’s efforts to purge school libraries and ban certain books has to be a throwback to banning alcohol and the macabre era of McCarthyism.
From Gov. Kim Reynolds to the Legislature, Iowa is misrepresenting what government is for and what it does or does not do to improve your quality of life, your family and your economic future.
We are not different people. We have more in common than we know, but we choose a society and laws in Minnesota defined more by our diversity of culture and our history and what people of our state are demanding.
Yes, we are progressive or liberal. So what? The result is a state that is successful as defined by our national standing in education, business innovation, health, technological efforts and in helping fellow citizens who lack resources to improve their chances of becoming more productive. We do not make rules that are obstacles or barriers to success just because some of us are different or come from diverse backgrounds or are immigrants or native Americans. We are moving ahead with our agenda and a new, revitalized Democratic way of life.
We are not interested in pushing or exporting our standards south to other states. But watch us as we continue to grow, learn new ways of adopting to the changing and challenging world, and, in the end, prosper. Our government in this state works for and with our citizens, not against them.
We are not utopia. We are not in Iowa (or heaven), and we are certainly not extremist. We are here in Minnesota to grow, prosper and give back to the community. We all rise or fall as a group from our choices we make. However, it’s not our government that says what we do or how we do it when it comes down to life decisions. That is our call and our responsibility.
Kamel Aossey is an Iowa native who lives in Minnetonka, Minnesota.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Minnesota under Tim Walz and Iowa under Kim Reynolds diverge. I'm glad to be up north.
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