Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Readers of British newspaper The Observer were given a glimpse this weekend into Sarah Palin’s massive book tour, the increasingly contentious state of American political discourse and Iowa’s upcoming role in shaping the future Republican Party. At least two Iowans, each known for different world views, contributed to the report by Paul Harris.
Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Center, said that Palin has “intense charisma that makes her very exciting and attractive” and that she “will be a force.”
“Watch who the left hates the most – that is somebody with high potential,” says Hurley. “They don’t shoot their bullets at someone who is not a threat to them.”
University of Iowa professor Kevin Leicht, author of “The Post-Industrial Peasant,” views the current economic crunch as a key reason why so many are willing to fill a fear of the unknown with conspiracy theories regarding rampant gun-control laws, American cities being turned into massive concentration camps and even death panels for the elderly.
“We have the perfect storm for some pretty uncivil political activity,” he says.
Harris concludes that the “base of very angry people” described by Leicht exists, but is not the majority of America.
The logic is simple. Obama Nation has embraced the demographically changing face of America while Palin World has not. The Democrats have built a multi-ethnic electoral coalition of young or affluent whites, black Americans and Hispanics, who are the fastest-growing minority in America. The Republicans, meanwhile, have been reduced to a base of mostly southern and rural whites, backed by a wealthy corporate elite. One of these electoral coalitions is large and growing larger. The other is growing smaller.
That’s not necessarily good news for a Republican Party of Iowa that is searching for its identity between two very different politicians from decades past, and still hoping for national influence on caucus night.
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