SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 27, 2018
Sullivan’s Salvos 1/1/19
In this edition:
*Welcome to 2019!
*Welcome Pat!
*Serving as Vice Chair
*Election Turnout
*Government Shutdown
*Yes, Virginia…
*”Leaning In”
*Did You Know?
*Welcome to 2019!
Happy New Year! Here’s to a better and brighter year ahead! I have never been big on New Year’s resolutions – you can see that by my weight! But I certainly welcome the “fresh start” feel of the New Year. I hope 2019 is good to you and yours!
*Welcome Pat!
Pat Heiden joins the Board of Supervisors as of January 2nd. Pat was elected back in November, when she was the top vote-getter in a three-way race.
I am excited to be working with Pat. I didn’t know her particularly well until she started running for office in 2016, but I have learned that she is smart, thoughtful, kind, and progressive. I look forward to working with her! Welcome aboard, Pat!
*Serving as Vice Chair
I will be serving as the Vice Chair of the Board this year, while Supervisor Green Douglass serves as Chair. If things go according to plan, I will then become the Chair in 2020.
The Vice Chair assists the Chair in setting the meeting agendas, ands runs meetings in the absence of the Chair. It amounts to a little extra work, but not much.
*Election Turnout
The recent Special Election for Supervisor had a turnout of just under 10%. In almost any other endeavor, that would be considered an abysmal failure. Get 10% correct on a quiz, and you had best drop the class. Get 10% of your work done, and you will be looking for another job. Even in baseball, where getting a hit 30% of the time is outstanding, 10% finds you picking another line of work.
But for some reason, Americans accept very low voter turnout rates. And in special elections, we are even more forgiving. I really hate the fact that we Americans are so willing to ignore these abysmal rates.
I am intrigued by the way Australia does it. Voting there is compulsory; if you fail to vote, you get a fine. On the other hand, they have extensive mail in and early voting options, as well as an Election Day holiday.
I don’t know – I certainly do not have the answers. But I sure wish more than 10% of eligible voters actually voted!
*Government Shutdown
I was saddened to see yet another shutdown of the federal government. The country deserves better!
Just remember – this shutdown occurred while Republicans had control of the Presidency, Senate, and House. In theory, they can do anything they want. The fact that this shutdown happened simply reinforces how terrible this group has been when it comes to governing.
*Yes, Virginia…
Over Christmas I was telling the kids the story of Francis Church’s 1897 masterpiece editorial, “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” I went back and reread it.
I can be overly sentimental. But this is one of the finest pieces of writing in the history of the English language. And he wrote it for a daily paper! There was no opportunity for lots of rewrites and editing.
Please take a moment and read it again. Especially in these times, it will really warm your heart!
*”Leaning In”
I was one of many people who celebrated when Michelle Obama called out the idea of “Leaning In”. By now we are all familiar with Lean In, the book written by Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg. Lean In (according to Sandberg herself) “meansto be assertive, to move toward a leading, rather than a following, role.”
There is nothing wrong on the face of that message. I’m sure that for many women and girls, it is good advice. Michelle Obama’s criticism is not that. Obama’s criticism is that the whole idea behind Lean In is that individual success is completely up to each individual woman, who just needs to pull herself up by her bootstraps. It is putting lipstick on a pig – in this case, the old American myth of rugged individualism. And that is crap.
We live in a world where literally billions of women are second class citizens. They do not enjoy the rights that men enjoy, and various combinations of government, religion, and big business are comfortable keeping them subjugated.
Things are better in the global West, but only when in comparison to the rest of the world. In America, women still only make about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. We still have policies that punish motherhood. And wealthy white women like Sandberg pile on by blaming women themselves for their lack of “achievement”.
When Johnson County raised the minimum wage in 2015, I was struck by the fact that it affected many more women than men, and that many of those women were mothers. Why are we blaming these women for that situation?
When the Iowa Legislature convenes in a couple of weeks, you will hear all kinds of stuff from leaders in businesses, education, and politics about how Iowa needs to do more to train its’ workforce. While I am certainly not against training, that is NOT the issue!
I would love someone to stand up at one of those meetings and say, “Want workers to do better? Why don’t we raise the minimum wage? Why don’t we mandate paid sick leave? Why don’t we offer free Community College? Why don’t we ensure that every Iowan has adequate health care? Why don’t we address our childcare crisis? Why don’t we do more to promote public housing and public transit? Why do we continue to blame all our problems on a lack of training?”
Women didn’t cause our problems. The men who run big businesses and the mostly-male politicians who grovel at their feet caused these problems. They should be held to account.
Unfortunately, Sheryl Sandberg joined her fellow big business partners in blaming women workers for our current state of affairs. Fortunately, Michelle Obama keenly noted that women workers are not the problem!
*DID YOU KNOW? What was the last county to relocate its courthouse from one city to another? The surprising answer - Linn. The Linn County seat was Marion from 1839 until 1919. However, the bond issue for the present Linn County Courthouse was not approved until 1923, and the county's records remained in Marion until completion of the courthouse in 1925. Source - Leroy G. Pratt, The Counties and Courthouses of Iowa (1977).
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 11:40 AM
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