By David Mansheim
Senator Chuck Grassley is a Butler County neighbor of mine in nearby New Hartford. He has been in elected office for 62 years, the last 46 years in Washington D.C. He is now in his seventh U.S. Senate term. He is no longer for term limits, at least for himself.
Chuck Grassley is 88 years old and insists on running for yet another six-year term even though most Iowans have said they don’t want him to. (D.M. Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, 6-19-21) After 46 years in Washington, it is time to consider what his legacy will be.
A lot has changed while Grassley has been in Washington. Inequality has risen to extreme levels and the American dream of upward mobility has diminished. The highest tax rate went from 70 to 28 % so now the extremely wealthy are taxed at the same rate as a secretary or plumber. Last year, I paid more in U.S. Income Tax than Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk combined because they paid nothing. The astounding upward transfer of wealth during Grassley’s tenure is not an accident.
46 years ago, my dad actually owned the hogs he raised and was not a swine herdsman for China. There were more farms and they produced a diversity of crops and animals for a market not dominated by agribusiness oligopolies. Before Grassley went to Washington, a family could live comfortably on one income, have a decent car, afford a vacation, likely get a pension when retired, and the kids could work their way through college if they wanted.
Grassley stood by while automation and globalization hollowed out the middle class and tax incentives promoted “off-shoring”. He participated in the destruction of unions but gave huge tax giveaways to corporations and the rich.
Grassley contributed to the growing resistance of facts, science, and climate change. If anyone in his party could afford to stand up and tell the truth about the big lie of the 2020 rigged election consuming his party, it is Grassley, but he prefers instead to bask in Trump’s endorsement. He has done nothing to help unify us throughout our disintegrating national solidarity over heightened divisions of race, religion, and gender.
As a McConnell sycophant, he fosters Congressional gridlock and the skyrocketing use of the filibuster. He constantly puts his party above the interests of the country and when the other party is in power, he is on sit-down-strike to prevent government from functioning. He has destructively politicized our Courts, denied Democratic nominees but rushed Republican appointments through even if they have never been in a courtroom.
You may remember Grassley opposed the Affordable Care Act by saying it would “pull the plug on grandma.” It now provides 20 million Americans including lots of grandmas with health insurance they didn’t have before.
He has consistently opposed common sense gun legislation getting an “A” rating from the NRA. He opposed making it illegal to sell guns to those on the terror watch list but voted to expand gun access to the mentally ill. Just recently he prevented the Senate from even debating background checks.
Grassley could run to burnish his legacy, educate and reform his party, end the obstruction, and lead people to the better angels of their nature rather than pandering to their baser instincts. But old dogs don’t learn new tricks. He will be opposed this fall by either Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer, Dr. Glenn Hurst, or Admiral Mike Franken.
____
This editorial originally appeared in The Gazette on January 12. 2022. David Mansheim is a retired lawyer, educator, and businessman living in Parkersburg.