SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
April 13, 2023
Sullivan’s Salvos 4/18/23
In this edition:
*Evil and Medicaid?
*Evil In Iowa’s Government?
*Secondary Roads Stats
*The Politics of Bridge Building
*Did You Know?
*Evil and Medicaid?
The following originally ran in Salvos in 2017.
Evil. What does it really mean? The dictionary definition is, “Profoundly immoral and malevolent.” There are three parts there:
Profound: It has to be intense. This cannot be something small. It has to have serious consequences.
Immoral: Not conforming to standards of decency. This has to be something no reasonable, decent person would do.
Malevolent: Desiring to do evil to others. This means you have to intend to do evil. You need to know that what you are doing is wrong.
I happen to believe that “profoundly immoral and malevolent” is a very fitting description of Iowa’s failed Medicaid privatization scheme. It touches all the bases!
Is it profound? Medicaid serves the most vulnerable members of our society. First, you must be incredibly poor. Then you need to fit a second category of need. For example, most Medicaid recipients are children. The next biggest group is people living in nursing homes. The third largest group is people with significant disabilities. These are people whose health can easily be negatively affected.
I would argue that the impact has been profound. In addition to targeting the most vulnerable Iowans, Medicaid serves 1 in 6 Iowans. So the scale is profound, too. It is a very big deal!
Is it immoral? Who amongst us would take medicine from a child? Who amongst us would throw a senior citizen out of a nursing home? Who amongst us would throw a person with disabilities out of her group home? Aren’t those acts immoral?
This is EXACTLY what the privatization of Medicaid has done! So, it follows that the privatization of Medicaid has been immoral.
Is it malevolent? This is the toughest piece. That it is profoundly immoral is not in question. Now we must determine if a person KNOWS it is profoundly immoral.
There are two options here in the case of Governor Reynolds. If she understands that her decisions have been profoundly immoral, she has committed a truly evil act. If she does not understand, then she is too ignorant to serve as Governor.
It is really quite simple. Medicaid privatization was an evil act. Evil is in our midst. There is no point calling it anything else. Disagree? Please explain your reasoning. I would like to be convinced there is more to this; I really would.
So I ask you – faced with this evil, what are we going to do?
*Evil In Iowa’s Government?
Given the piece above… it is pretty hard to say that the GOP efforts in Des Moines to limit the rights of trans kids, cut SNAP benefits, etc. is anything else.
Look, it doesn’t make me happy to have this conversation. It sucks. But I don’t see any other way to view it. Kim Reynolds and the GOP Legislators have intentionally, seriously, hurt vulnerable people. That is evil, plain and simple. Reynolds is quoted as saying, “I don’t like it, but I had to.” No, you didn’t.
So again, I ask you – faced with this evil, what are we going to do?
*Secondary Roads Stats
The Board of Supervisors reviewed our Five-Year Roads Plan recently, as it is due to the state by April 15th. This is an annual endeavor, but it brought to light some statistics I thought you might find interesting.
*Johnson County has approximately 920 miles of roadway. That consists of 41 miles of dirt, 585 miles of gravel, 122 miles of chip seal, 138 miles of asphalt, and 32 miles of Portland Concrete Cement (PCC).
*That means there are 1840 miles of ditches that require maintenance. This includes several thousand culverts.
*Roads are designed to last about 30 years between major reconstructions. Maintenance and rehab projects hold things together between reconstructions.
*Johnson County has over 220 bridges of over 20 feet in length. All bridges over 20’ in length are required to be inspected every two years by federal law.
*Iowa has an inordinate number of bridges, and unfortunately, ranks low nationally in terms of the quality of bridges. Of Iowa’s 24,215 bridges, 5,067, or about 21 percent, are classified as structurally deficient. Six are located on Interstate highways. Bridges are regularly rated for safety on a scale of 0 to 9, with 9 meaning “excellent.” To be considered structurally deficient, one of its major components must measure 4 or below. This does not necessarily mean they are unsafe, but they need to be fixed.
*Johnson County is in very good shape compared to most of the state. Despite this fact, we have 23 bridges that are structurally deficient (aka load limited) and 1 that is functionally obsolete (too narrow).
I found these statistics quite interesting. I hope you did, too! If you want to view the Five-Year Roads Plan, just visit the Secondary Roads page of the Johnson County website.
*The Politics of Bridge Building
I find that there are often disconnects between reality and the political narratives we choose to embrace. The issue of rural bridges is a good example of this disconnect.
First, a bit of background: every Iowa county has hundreds of miles of gravel roads. In addition, many of these roads have multiple bridges. Some are concrete, some are steel, and some are timber, but they all serve the same purpose. We replace a few of these bridges every year, and I can tell you the cost is pretty much always between $300-$800,000, depending upon the length.
These bridges are lifelines for the people who live in the area. This is how farmers get to their fields. This is how farmers get to town. The rural economy functions best when these bridges are well maintained.
In addition, there is a public safety factor. Fire trucks, ambulances, and Sheriff’s vehicles need to be able to access the residents of the area via a quick and direct route.
On the other hand, the cost of these bridges adds up. Say we set aside $2 million for these bridges each year. That is the same cost as one brand new mile of paved road, or the rehabilitation of 3 miles of paved road.
Some of our paved roads see thousands of cars every day. Often these gravel roads have traffic counts as low as 20 cars per day. Needless to say, many people feel it is foolish to invest so much money in these bridges when the total traffic counts are so low.
I understand both sides of the argument. But time after time, I have come down on the side of the farmer. I have served as a Supervisor for 18 years. In that time, Johnson County has never permanently closed a bridge. I am extremely proud of that fact!
But you won’t find a bunch of farmers singing my praises. In fact, you’ll find the exact opposite; farmers talking about how much they hate my work as a Supervisor.
Here is where the disconnect comes in. Washington County – with more farms than Johnson County – has closed bridges. The Washington County Board is made up 100% of conservative Republicans. But they have closed bridges.
Cedar County is the same way. The Cedar County Board is made up of 100% conservative Republicans, including the Chair of the Iowa Republican Party. But they have closed bridges.
Like many areas of our politics today, the realities of bridge building do not match the political narrative.
*DID YOU KNOW? More than one-fifth − 21 percent − of Iowa's rural bridges are structurally deficient, according to a report released by TRIP, a research nonprofit that studies national transportation issues. The share of rural bridges in poor condition in Iowa is over 2.5 times the national average and ranks Iowa highest in the nation.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.
If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan29@gmail.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.
As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 11:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home