Is Iowa a crazy liberal state? (Des Moines, Iowa City: house, theater, taxation)

[Love2Golf09]

I thought Iowa was a pretty family-friendly, rural, normal state. But, now I keep reading bizarre stuff, like they are one of the few state's that support gay marriage. They also think stripping is an art and allow minors to do it. Sounds more like something I'd expect from California than Iowa. What's the truth here? Is Iowa...crazy? I guess I had the wrong impression of the state.

[Chicago60614]

I wasn't aware gay marriage was "crazy".

No - it's certainly not a crazy liberal state. It is a pretty tolerant state though. Live and let live. People don't go crazy like California with the liberalness, but if it's honestly not hurting anyone and it makes rational sense - then Iowans are a pretty open minded bunch.

The gay marriage thing was a court decision - but it still rings true to the tolerant population.

Not sure what you're talking about with teenagers stripping. I'm guessing that's some oddball news story or something random. It's certainly not mainstream.

[Spraynard Kruger]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

I thought Iowa was a pretty family-friendly, rural, normal state. But, now I keep reading bizarre stuff, like they are one of the few state's that support gay marriage. They also think stripping is an art and allow minors to do it. Sounds more like something I'd expect from California than Iowa. What's the truth here? Is Iowa...crazy? I guess I had the wrong impression of the state.

Can you seriously ask those questions with a straight face?

I can tell you that the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are real.

[linicx]

It would be very difficult for anyone who lives in Pennsylvania to understand Iowa as they do not live there. I highly doubt that Iowa violates any Federal child labor law. Whether or not Iowa approves of gay marriage is up to her voters - until it becomes a Federal Law and all challenges are met. .

[pepe1]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Not sure what you're talking about with teenagers stripping. I'm guessing that's some oddball news story or something random. It's certainly not mainstream.

This is in regards to a incident in Hamburg, IA where a 17 year old was allowed to dance in a gentlman's club. The owner successfully used the "artistic theater" defense at the County Level of court to avoid charges. This incident made a small smattering of national news becasue the State Court recently refused to review the county's decision.

I'm reasonably certain almost every state in the nation has 'artistic theater' loophole in regards to this form of entertainment.

[Dport7674]

Iowa is family friendly....all families, Gay, straight, white, black..

we're "crazy" like that.

[nrogers1122]

I've never heard of the minors as strippers legislation . . . . Sounds pretty outlandish to me, can you reference a house or senate bill number?

I'm a conservative, and I've lived here all my life. It is very easy to be a conservative here. I would echo the comment that Iowa is very tolerant. In Des Moines, Ames, Iowa City, and the Quad Cities you will find some fairly liberal tendancies, but also a strong showing of conservatism as well.

Like most of the rest of the country, Iowa underwent what political scientists call a deviant change in 06-08, and went from a republican (save the general election of 00, 04) state to a democrat state. A history of democratic leadership has instilled some fairly progressive supreme court justices as well. The thing about deviant changes, though, are that they are considered temporary. For instance, it is very likely that Culver (d) will loose his governorship in 2010 to a Republican.

Being a conservative in Iowa is pretty easy to do. We believe in family values and fair taxation with limited government involvement. I find that even going to such liberal safehavens as the Des Moines Farmers Market and the Art Festival are easy enough to enjoy as a conservative.

For more information about how Iowa votes, check out Dave Leip's online election maps by county. For the most part, the eastern state is democrat and the western state is republican. Hope that helps!

[Chicago60614]

I really wouldn't say the Democrats and Republicans in Iowa are anywhere near as extreme as in other areas of the country. I think that's one huge reason that the State of Iowa works MUCH better than many other states.

It's a pretty "middle" state when it comes down to it - so you don't have one party completely dominating and causing things to fall apart because they're so far over in left or right field, and at the same time both parties are moderate enough that there's healthy discussion between the two.

I don't see the turbo religious super conservatives that scare the democrats, and I don't see the gushing bleeding heart liberals that the conservatives detest.

I love the fact that Iowa can, moreso than many other states, meet in the middle and work towards a common goal and understand that at the end of the day they're all humans who want good for their lives, they're all Iowans - and when it comes down to it we're all on the same team.

Iowa was an extremely Republican State for most of its history, but if you look at the past 30 years, you see a trend. Reagan was the last Republican that swept the state - and he basically swept the country, so that's not much of a feat.

1980 - Republican
1984 - Republican
1988 - Democrat
1992 - Democrat
1996 - Democrat
2000 - Democrat
2004 - Republican
2008 - Democrat

Even in 2004, Bush won by less than 10,000 votes. I think there's been a pretty solid push to the left for the state the past 30 years - but not one extreme enough that conservatives should be SCARED.

[pepe1]

Originally Posted by nrogers1122

I've never heard of the minors as strippers legislation . . . . Sounds pretty outlandish to me, can you reference a house or senate bill number?

I could not tell you where the actual piece of legislation is. I only read about this incident in the paper a few weeks ago. Iowa law does forbid minors from 'stripping'. Iowa law apparently exempts artistic avenues from this requirement (as do most states). The prosection in this particular county could not prove, to whatever degree required, that the incident was not artistic in nature.

The article was short on details. For instance, we don't even know that any articles of clothing were removed, just that she performed. And we don't know a precise age - she could have been 17 years, 364 days old for all we know. It's too easy to judge without knowing all the facts.

[Chicago60614]

^ and the moral to this story is basically that this issue was the result of some random loophole in a small town that worked its way through the system. We didn't send masses to the polls voting for teen strippers.

It has nothing to do with the people of Iowa in general or the legislation. You can find HUNDREDS of random "odditiy" stories like this in every state around the country.