‘Good morning! Hard to believe Christmas is less than two weeks away! And The Iowa Standard is officially in its fifth year of existence now.

Much of the last week or so was spent dissecting the Respect for Marriage Act. Sen. Joni Ernst has been censured or formally condemned by at least seven Republican county central committees. That number is expected to increase. We’ll publish a story today where Ernst essentially plays the victim and says people are upset at her because they haven’t read the bill. 

Ernst is asking us to trust our religious liberty to Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Chuck Schumer. No thanks. Actually, just no.

She wants us to ignore the warnings from respected conservative advocacy groups such as the Family Research Council, Liberty Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom and others. She wants us to ignore conservative senators who have warned against the bill. And she wants us to ignore conservative House Republicans who, unlike Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, didn’t support it.

She wants us to ignore the fact that passing the Respect for Marriage Act filled Nancy Pelosi’s heart. And it was celebrated by Joe Biden.

If all those people are happy about something, conservatives should be concerned about it. 

So, all of us who were told to “vote red” to “save America” since about October — do you feel like you saved America? Republicans hold every congressional office in Iowa (once Zach Nunn joins the House in January), yet 66 percent of the Iowa congressional delegation either did support the Respect for Marriage Act or said they would have (Nunn). 

I think we were played. We’re being told by Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition to be thankful for Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Randy Feenstra who voted against it. Well, Grassley said he supports federal recognition of same-sex marriage and may have voted for it if the religious liberty protections were stronger. Feenstra hasn’t issued any statement at all. 

How embarrassing and insulting to Iowa’s grassroots conservatives. And don’t look for the Republican Party of Iowa to stand up for conservatism. They’re more concerned with defining “censure” and the process of censure than they are the fact 4 of the 6 congressional Republicans from Iowa just voted to redefine marriage against the wishes of the RPI platform.

What a mess.

There is good news, though. Ernst is feeling the heat. Newsmax cited The Iowa Standard in an article about her vote. Iowa media did as well. She was asked about being censured. 

All of that happened because of our combined efforts. It happened because seven courageous, conservative county central committees had the spine to do what is right and we were fortunate to amplify their voice.’https://theiowastandard.com/