Letters to the editor

We deserve better

Iowa’s first U.S. Congressional District Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks doesn’t understand the concept of the operation.

Republican delegates made it simple by writing the Republican Party Platform detailing Republican values. Typically voters choose the candidate who they believe is the best person to represent ‘their’ interests at the Capitol, not the candidate’s personal interests.

Too often, Congresswoman 3M has ignored the people that put her in office and voted with Democrats. She ran for office under the Republican Banner yet voted for same sex marriage, increasing the debt ceiling and other democrat priorities.

Lately, she was the only Iowa Representative to vote against Congressman Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House, even though he is very popular in her district. She knows how well received Jordan is here as she arranged for him to come to Iowa to fundraise for her, then like she did to her constituents, she turned against him.

Being a member of Congress is a serious job and our country is facing critical issues. Congress was meant to preserve the country that those before so generously saved for those that follow.

We need strong people in those positions, not the Meeks.

Leland Graber

Wayland

Financial literacy is key

The Washington School Board is correct to balk at Iowa Senate File 391 which will diminish the cirriculum focus on financial literacy of high schoolers. (Southeast Iowa Union, "State drops financial literacy requirement." October 18, 2023.)

One must assume the crafters of File 391 never raised a teenager. Young people in high school are at a vulnerable point in their lives as they get ready to head out on their own. Naive and trusting, many are sitting ducks for unscrupulous lenders, scammers, social media hucksters and tycoons of finance.

What parent of a college freshman has not learned of a credit card run to the max at an exorbitant interest rate? How many young people spend years, often with significant penalty, working to correct a credit rating that is in the tank?

Legitimate government agencies work to provide oversight of the unscrupulous but as "regulation" has been promoted as a dirty word by the finance industry, government can't keep up with the shenanigans. The burden now falls to parents and schools. And, many parents have their own share of misguided money woes.

A structured curriculum in the school years is necessary in today's complex world of finance where unbridled indebtedness becomes a great burden to many young marriages and families. Ever the conspiracy theorist when it comes to "who is in your wallet," there seems good reason to suspect Senate File 391 is the work of the rogues themselves.

Dave Helman

Salem