Letters to the Editor: Under Iowa's theocratic governor, no wonder young people flee the state

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

To the editor: Journalist Rekha Basu is absolutely on target with her comments on Iowa state tax dollars funding private school tuition.

I am a former Iowan and a graduate of the University of Iowa, which had highly regarded programs in many disciplines. But with the advent of extreme conservatism in state government, funding for education and especially higher education has eroded to the point where these once highly competitive academic institutions can no longer maintain their level of excellence.

There are no Democrats representing Iowa in Washington and a pitiful few in the state Legislature. The current governor, in my opinion, is a threat to social progress and basic academic freedom. She has supported banning books from school libraries, eliminating gun safety, banning almost all abortions, restricting LGBTQ rights and more.

Is it any wonder that young people leave Iowa after graduating from its public universities? Young people in Iowa and elsewhere are being deprived of obtaining an education in which controversial subjects are discussed. Democracy cannot flourish in such an environment.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/letters-to-the-editor-under-iowa-s-theocratic-governor-no-wonder-young-people-flee-the-state/ar-AA17FAGC

[RKP5637]

1. And people wonder why youth of today are often unhappy and depressed. So, they blame

social media, but IMO much of it stems from asshole authoritarian fascist politicians. Frankly it depresses me some just reading and listening to what some youth today have to endure.

[Timeflyer]

2. Replace Iowa with Florida--same reThug playbook.

[kimbutgar]

3. You can just see that as these states turn more theocratic and takes away democracy

There will be a major brain drain resulting in an Idiocracy state. And the stupidity will make the movie a documentary instead of a comedy.

[BOSSHOG]

4. Excellent Letter

Similar situation here in Kansas, although we do have a Democratic Governor providing a speed bump to the conservative crazy train. Conservatives only answer the question of why you are doing what you are doing by responding. Freedom. They have proven they don’t know what the hell freedom is. They are driven by hate and fueled by ignorance. You would think that every red state legislature is chock full of brilliant medical experts and English scholars based on the subjects they target. I can assure you the Kansas State legislature is chock full of religious zealots, societal Neanderthals and people with hearts full of hate. And a small handful of Democrats.

[Dr. Shepper]

5. Same here in ND

I don’t know any kids planning on staying here.

[SWBTATTReg]

6. And this 'youth drain' is happening, IMHO, across the entire width and span of the

'red' states, from my quick and informal survey, with few exceptions, IMHO.

Seemed to be a pattern here where most of the fleeing (non-youth populations) populations are also fleeing red states.
Pure chance? I think not, since red states tend to not have high tax bases thus unable or not wanting to offer services to their instate residents, whereas the non-red states offer more services to their residents (and are able to pay for it w/ the higher taxes). Since non-red states have more services, their urban areas are more robust, thus more able to attract more incoming people of all ages, who want these services.

The unfortunate thing is that property taxes are increasing, in some of these non-red states, thus causing hardships among those on fixed incomes, lower incomes, forcing some to move/downsize/etc. A shame really, and some states do recognize this, and do offer some sort of help to their seniors, to help them financially in handling costs, such as high property taxes, etc. (not enough though).

[keithbvadu2]

7. "...deprived of obtaining an education in which controversial subjects are discussed."

[zeusdogmom]

8. Ohio, too

Makes me sad and more than a little mad