Iowa is out of step with other states when it comes to a basic right — the right to vote in our elections, columnist Randy Evans writes in this opinion piece. For most of its history, Iowa has prohibited felons from voting.
If you go out East this week and swing by places like Mount Vernon, Monticello and Montpelier, don’t be surprised if the soil has been disturbed over the graves of our Founding Fathers. Those founders of this beacon of freedom known as the United States of America surely have turned over in their graves following the weekend news from President Donald Trump. Randy Evans
STRAY THOUGHTS
Randy Evans is the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. He is a former editorial page editor and assistant managing editor of The Des Moines Register. Opinions are his own.
ByBy Stephen Gruber-Miller/IowaWatch and Jermaine Pigee/The Hawk Eye (Burlington) |
Dave Selmon says there is no right way to do wrong. “It will catch up with you sooner or later,” the 56-year-old Burlington man said, tapping a lifetime of personal experiences. “I think we have too many young black men walking in darkness. A life of crime and trying to get things the easy way is not the answer.”
He didn’t always think that way. In the early 1990s Selmon was into selling and using drugs.