Former congressman David Loebsack spoke at the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center Thursday, April 25, to more than 40 attendees.
Loebsack had previously served as an educator at Cornell College for 24 years, before making the decision to run as an incumbent against Jim Leach in 2005. He won that race against Leach and served 14 years in the United House of Representatives, serving seven terms in office.
He concluded his term of service in 2020.
Loebsack said that democracy has always interested him as a topic, and many of the courses he taught included travel to countries that installed democracy as a form of government after items like military rule.
“Many of those countries, the newly installed governments were afraid that democracy was not going to last because it was in it’s infancy and other power structures were still trying to be established,” Loebsack said.
When he served as a member of the House of Representatives, he didn’t worry about democracy as much, as he was one of the three branches of government in this country.
“At that point, we’d seen many peaceful transitions of power, even in contested elections,” Loebsack said.
He said there were always guardrails in place that would seem to protect the rule of law, and for most Americans, the thought of democracy isn’t top of mind either, as they’re more worried about their every day lifer.
Loebsack admitted after the election of former President Donald J. Trump in 2016 he was worried about the presidency, but more because of his style and crude nature and lack of respect for his opponents.
“I still believed that democracy was big enough it couldn’t be threatened by one single person or group of people,” Loebsack said. “I had faith in the courts and that rule of law.”
He pointed out Arizona’s attorney general pressing charges in the false elector scheme that happened Wednesday, April 24, as evidence of that protection.
The Jan. 6 insurrection, however, was an issue that definitely shook him.
“Especially that something like that could happen at our Capitol in America,” Loebsack said. “I think anyone who took part in that revolt or attempted coup should be tried for high treason or as traitors.”
That it could happen here made Loebsack acknowledge it’s up to all citizens to continue to be vigilant that democracy could not fail in the United States.
Loebsack said that the U.S. is a representative democracy, and the diversity of the districts represented across the United States is an important part of that democracy.
“The issues for a representative of a district in Iowa are not going to be the same ones as a those of a representative from a state like New York,” Loebsack said. “We have 435 diverse congressional districts that represent this country.”
Loebsack said one of the things that we have taken for granted in the country has been free and fair elections. Even as efforts are made to restrict the vote, by limiting ballot drop boxes or efforts to make voting easier, the importance of voting should remain free and fair.
That peaceful transition of power being challenged in recent years is becoming a tougher issue as well.
Loebsack said he also took issues with executive overreach that has happened over the past few decades, when president’s have taken action outside the executive branch’s purview on items like DACA during Obama or border issues during Biden’s presidency.
The freedom of speech, freedom of press and other important first amendment rights were ones that should not be violated.
“Whenever any of those rights are violated, it’s a violation of our country,” Loebsack said.
Loebsack said that he does see the importance of lobbyists in the legislative process and bringing attention to issues.
“They have a lot of power in our country,” Loebsack said.
The biggest issue at the moment is the importance of legitimacy in elections. Loebsack heard a lot beginning in 2016 that Donald Trump wasn’t a legitimate president, and has heard the same when Biden was elected.
“When people question the legitimacy of an election, that’s when an event like Jan. 6 can happen,” Loebsack said.
Loebsack said outside of executive overreach being a huge issue, one of the biggest issues facing the presidency is apathy from young people.
“If young people give up on this country and our election process, we’re going to be in deep, deep trouble,” Loebsack said.
An attendee mentioned the importance of those elected having to have a sense of compromise to pass legislation, and that has been missing in recent years.
Loebsack said that he commended speaker Mike Johnson for passing the funding for Ukraine and Israel bill, even knowing there were people in his party who would not support the bill or seek his ouster as a recent sign of that compromise.
He also said when he was elected, he took up reading up on Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency and how he was able to get a bill like the voting rights act passed as an example of the work that would be needed as a congressman.
“I also sat with people who had been in the house for a long time to seek some of their guidance about what they thought were key issues facing the country and sought their guidance,” Loebsack said.
An attendee mentioned the fear of a president like Trump bent on retribution and that not turning enough supporters off.
Loebsack said that for the majority of Republicans, they don’t agree with all of Trump’s beliefs, and his hardcore supporters only represent 35 percent of all Republicans.
“That amounts to if there are portions of the electorate who don’t vote for Trump or vote for a spoiler candidate in contentious states, it could swing the vote,” Loebsack said. “I saw that in my own elections, that people didn’t vote for me or my opponent on the ballot.”
Loebsack said the part that worries him now is the portion of the party who does not agree with Trump but is remaining quiet, as that only coalesces he represents the entire party.
A questioner asked if Trump and others had the ability to change term limits.
Loebsack said that would require other branches to do that.
A questioner asked why the Democrats didn’t run a different candidate prior to the election cycle instead of coalescing behind Biden in that cycle. Loebsack said parties were not generally politically powerful and there isn’t a centralized system to weigh in as the party as a whole.
Government shutdowns and congress getting paid during those outings was also mentioned. Loebsack said he had donated his pay in some of those instances to other agencies, but understands why legislators are exempt from the pressure of not being paid while the government is shutdown.
Arlie Willems gave a reminder that there are groups locally meeting on issues, and invited people to attend the Libations With Liberals meetings at The Local.
One citizen did say she respectfully disagreed with the opinion on what happened on Jan. 6 and Loebsack’s views there. Sonja Conklin also had issues with the illegal immigration issues faced in this country.
“I have a huge issue with our country spending billions of dollars for military aid in other countries while we are not taking care of the hungry children in our own borders,” said Sonja Conklin.
Conklin, who came from war-torn Croatia and is now a citizen of the United States, said she doesn’t think many people appreciate how good they have it in the United States.
Loebsack said there had been legislation ready to address the immigration issue and issues at the border presented to both the House and Senate, but that deal fell through because of the former president’s request.
“There are people in Washington who want to work together on some of these issues,” Loebsack said.
Is democracy in danger? Former Congressman Dave Loebsack speaks at LBC event
Nathan Countryman, Editor
May 2, 2024
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.