LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Writer questions statements in Franken ad

“What I see in rural Iowa is a forlorness in the eye. An emptiness I see in south Sudan. Mostly in women who just look void.

“It’s not the state I want for future generations. It’s not the state I want to be buried in.

“We can do this, rescue the State of Iowa. Rescue our reputation.”

What planet is Mike Franken on? Women of rural Iowa, do you have a “forlorness in the eye,” “an emptiness,”and do you “just look void”? Are you “void”?

According to Mike Franken, you are!

Perhaps Iowa farmers are “forlorn” because, according to Goverrnor Reynold’s website, “beginning in tax year 2023, Iowa farmers age 55 and older who farmed for at least 10 years but have retired from farming operations, can elect an exemption of income from either cash rent or farm crop shares for all years the income is earned; or elect one, lifetime election to exclude the net capital gains from the sale of farmland.”

Does seeing your taxes eliminated on retirement make you “forlorn”?

And what is wrong with Iowa’s reputation? According to a study by the Georgia Center for Opportunity, Iowa was one of the least restrictive states during the covid crisis, being ranked 47th and 49th in two surveys relied on by the study. The result was that, “Iowa fared better than most states.

Had it been more severe, it would have lost more jobs.”

Unlike the Democratic governments of New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Iowa did not mandate that Covid cases be admitted into nursing homes, a decision the Georgia study described as “disastrous”.

There is, however, something that happened recently which hurt Iowa’s reputation.

The Polk County attorney elected to prosecute a sex trafficked, raped and abused 15 year old, who killed her abuser, for murder. In Iowa, you can use deadly force to resist rape and kidnapping. This girl was forced at knife point by her trafficker to the apartment of a man who had previously raped her multiple times.

After being raped once again by the same man, she woke up, with him lying next to her after the rape, and stabbed him to death.

How, as a practical matter, is this girl’s situation different from a girl who was kidnapped, raped and abused into docile submission, held captive by psychological restraints, and then, in a moment of lucidity, realizes that she can kill her abuser and be freed from the nightmare, and does so? And you

prosecute her for murder? If there was ever a case for prosecutorial discretion, this was it.

The decision to prosecute was, however, made by a Democrat. His team also objected in court to the girl describing herself as “a survivor.”

There’s only one real answer to the Democratic lunacy. Vote Republican! Save our state! Save our country!

DONALD BOHLKEN / Indianola