Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiring.

There’s an old story about how to boil a frog. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will quickly jump out. But supposedly, if you put a frog in tepid water and gradually heat it, the frog stays until it boils to death. 

Like the frog, Iowans failed to recognize the danger of political climate change. And Iowa is now boiling.

I began teaching in 1979 in a tiny central Iowa town. It was a great place to begin. It was also a great place to try politics. But I was a Democrat surrounded by Republicans. They weren’t moderates.

They were conservative to the core. But not Kim Reynolds conservative. They were Bob Ray conservatives. They preached from the gospel of small government and were so tight with money, they squeaked. But they governed with principles. They were consistent, predictable, and accessible.

I disagreed with their policies, but even as a young, shoot from the hip, Democrat, I could talk to them, and they listened with respect or at least without showing disdain. They were able to rationalize why schools just couldn’t have more funding. After all, the price of corn was bad.   

They always answered the phone and attended forums. Generally, they disagreed but were not disagreeable. I can’t remember any issue where I was treated as the enemy. 

Iowa was considered a tepid state: not too hot, not too cold. Most of the time there was a search for the middle and the extreme ends of both parties were quieted by the adults in the room. If a politician from either party had called for teachers to be arrested for books they were teaching, they’d have been laughed out of the chamber.

But that was then; this is now.

So, how did Iowa go from tepid to boiling?

Anyone who thinks they have the whole answer probably doesn’t. But I think there are a few contributing factors.

Terry Branstad made a political comeback in 2010 as the resurrected, Republican governor. But he didn’t govern like before. He had a harder edge and different advisers. The legislature was split between parties, which dulled his edge until after the 2016 election, when Republicans gained control of the state Senate as well as the House. 

Branstad immediately sought revenge on public sector unions from grievances he held from his first go around as governor. He quickly trashed meaningful public sector collective bargaining, which had created relative labor harmony for more than 40 years. 

Second, Donald Trump morphed from narcissistic businessman to narcissistic politician by harnessing grievance politics. If that brash, in your face politics worked for “The Donald,” why not try it at the state level?

The water began to heat.

The COVID-19 pandemic polarized us, and America chose sides, with the uniforms being masks versus no mask. Republicans refused to acknowledge medical science, while Democrats became loud evangelists for staying home, moving schools to remote learning, and getting immunized.

The MAGA base branded compromise as capitulation and punished any who dared extend a hand to the other side. Real problems were ignored, like access to affordable child care, poverty, mental health issues, and public school funding. Republicans created solutions in search of problems because they were rewarded for branding anyone who disagreed with them as “woke enemies.”

The right’s scream machine, FOX News and numerous talk radio hosts, blasted out propaganda, lies, and conspiracy theories, which drowned out any chance of compromise between the parties.

The water boiled.

The only way to jump out of political climate change is to escape via the ballot box. Iowa voters can rescue the state. We need to wake up, or like the frog, it’ll be too late.

Top photo of boiling water by Africa Studio, available via Shutterstock.