Charles Bruner was a state legislator from 1978 through 1990 and ran his campaigns as an advocate for children and families, turning his Senate district blue after two decades of Republican representation. More resources on the Kamala Harris care agenda for children are available on the Harris for Kids website.

The image above is a refrigerator magnet I created for this election. I served in the Iowa legislature from 1978 to 1990, which were “kinder and gentler” times.

Molly Ivins has said that “if the state legislature didn’t have its share of fools, it wouldn’t be a truly representative body.” Yet she also said that democracy works because there are enough decent people elected who take the time to listen and learn and act diligently to try to do what is in the public interest. Moreover, they earn the respect of their less-diligent peers and influence them. They may not always be right, but they are right-thinking and open enough to prevail.

One of the most heartening things I have heard throughout this election season is Tim Walz’s interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. It’s worth watching in full.

Walz even softly rebuked Jon Stewart for his complete animosity to Dick Cheney, reminding him to respect whenever someone acts with integrity and courage. His remarks struck a chord with me, reminding me of what I found most fulfilling during my time in the Iowa legislature, and what we most need in our elected officials today.

I agree with Molly Ivins about the diversity of state legislatures, and, while I was seen as representing the far left of the Democratic Party, I had both Republican and Democratic friends. As a first-term lawmaker, I was a minority member of the Joint Human Resources Appropriations subcommittee chaired by the quite conservative farmer, Horace Doggett. (He told me he was appointed as chair because no one else in his caucus wanted the position.)

Horace and I didn’t agree on many things, but he listened to me and spent a great many hours hearing from others and visiting human services programs and facilities. We found common ground on some issues and agreed to disagree on others. We both learned, and I think the human services legislation we enacted was better for it.

Similarly, I often worked closely with Dick Drake on the Senate State Government committee. Although our areas of interest and expertise were different, we shared a respect for one another and a commitment to find a way to get enough consensus to move forward. I also enjoyed Senator Drake’s sense of humor; in many ways, his personal style was like Tim Walz’s.

Dave Heaton came to the Iowa House after my time as a state legislator, but I followed his dogged/Doggett-like work and commitment to being the best human services appropriations chair (or ranking minority member) he could be. He established a close relationship with House Democrat Ro Foege, and to this day I believe they are recognized as exemplifying the best in bipartisanship leading to the public good.

When I was a state senator in my first term, Art Small always started his floor speeches saying, “Gentlemen and Gentleman,” there being only one woman, Julia Gentleman, among the fifty state senators. I used “gentleman” on the magnet because I think these remarks should be directed mostly to the male population. We need to recognize that strength is not brandishing power to impose our will, but standing up for others’ rights and seeking to do what is fair, with compassion.

The last two weeks of the campaign is filling the airways with a lot of “gloom and doom” noise that attributes evil ulterior motives to one’s opponent. Voters will probably tune most of this out on the specifics, but we cannot allow them to conclude that all candidates are cynical and self-serving politicians and the only thing that government can do is inflict harm. We need to elect people who we know want to move beyond that.

Walz’s interview certainly shows that other path. “Manning up” is being a lot more like Tim Walz and a lot less like Donald Trump.

Polls show that women disproportionately know and act on this.

My advice to them, particularly if they are experiencing election anxiety, is to go to the website www.harrisforkids.com, and use what’s there to inform others about the Harris Care Agenda for Children. The webpage www.harrisforkids.com/three-tweets has some message-and-graphic-ready ways to use their electoral superpowers to do so.