DES MOINES, Iowa — The number-one issue in America’s heartland isn’t inflation. It isn’t the January 6 Committee. And it isn’t the war in Ukraine. No — it’s the right of parents to oversee their children’s education and to control the curriculum.
That’s what I learned on a recent visit to the area, after attending a political event for local candidates in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny, and after interviewing congressional candidate Zach Nunn, who is challenging a Democratic incumbent.
State Sen. Mike Bousselot (R-Ankeny), elected in a special election last year, handed out cards at a local rally, and they listed his top three issues, in order. The first two are “Empowering Parents and Protecting Students” and “Ensuring Iowa Stays Safe.” The economy — “Jobs and Prosperity in Iowa” — is third. The conventional political wisdom is that the economy is the number one issue facing voters. And it is fair to say voters have lost faith in the Democratic Party’s ability to manage it.
But what is motivating people to go to the polls, or (elsewhere) to mail in their ballots, is a shared sense of outrage that distant bureaucrats, teachers’ unions, and progressive activists are in charge of education, rather than parents themselves.
At Ankeny High School, locals talk about a performance for students by several drag queens, at which some students allegedly threw cash to the dancers. Though the show was apparently after school, many of the students were underage.
Parents feel they were kept in the dark about the show. Many want schools to provide a safe and tolerant environment for students to express their identities, but they do not want radical ideas and inappropriate materials imposed on their kids.
The frustration that drove voters to turn out in Virginia and New Jersey against Democrats like Terry McAuliffe, who told parents they had no right to tell schools what to teach, has not abated. If anything, parents are even more motivated to vote.
President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, who once promised to run an apolitical Department of Justice, kicked over a hornet’s nest when they began investigating parents who showed up at school board meetings to complain.
The revelation that the White House colluded with the National School Boards Association to prepare a letter asking the government to investigate parents as “domestic terrorists” has placed Democrats on the defensive nationwide on the issue.
Other issues are also important, of course. The average gas price in Iowa is now over $4.56 per gallon — more expensive than California before Joe Biden took office. The cost of fertilizer is hurting agriculture, and will also cause food prices to rise.
Public safety — even in Iowa — has become a major issue. And Democrats’ ambivalence is hurting them: incumbent Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IL) faces criticism from Republicans for accepting campaign funds from a political action committee controlled by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, allegedly on condition that she agree to cut funding for police. Meanwhile, she also faces protests from local Black Lives Matter activists for sponsoring a bill that would fund suburban and rural police.
One issue that no one seems to be talking about is the Capitol riot. The January 6 Committee may have highlighted doubts among some Republicans about Donald Trump’s potential candidacy in 2024, but few take it seriously. Republicans still court his endorsement, not because they need it, but because they don’t want to be aligned with the Never Trump faction.
Nor are people talking about the 2020 election. They are talking about schools. And Republicans elsewhere should listen.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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