House Journal: Page 60: Tuesday, January 12, 1999

We now manage under generally accepted accounting principles, with adequate 

reserve accounts, and with spending under control.  State government now operates as 
a single enterprise with a common goal, not as a multitude of independent agencies.  
I could go on and on.  Indeed, 1998 proved that our economic diversification 
strategy worked.  Despite record low pork prices and other farm commodity prices in 
the pits, our economy continued to grow.
How did we do this?  We focused on the fundamentals.  We made the state more 
competitive by cutting taxes and regulations.  We put training and incentive packages 
together for quality jobs.  We invested in education at all levels to build a strong work 
force.  We trained and energized a new generation of community leaders committed to 
economic development.  We built commercial highway and telecommunications 
networks to link and to provide better access to all parts of our state.  And we 
marketed and promoted Iowa like never before.
As we close the books on 1998, I am pleased to report that the state of our state is 
strong and sound.  Iowa was recently recognized as the best state in America to raise a 
child.  Iowa is, indeed, in good shape.
But enough of the past.  What about the future?  What's in store for Iowa as we 
embark on a new century and a new millenium?
Someone once said that the definition of a statesman is a former politician.  Well, as 
a soon to be statesman, let me visit with you for a minute with some straight talk 
about change and the future of Iowa.
You see, Iowa needs to change - in three major ways - if we are to reach our 
potential as a people.  Now, I know that we Iowans don't like change.  I'm living 
testimony to that.  If things work, we generally don't tinker with them.  Lord knows, 
with all the change in the weather, we don't need more change to deal with in our lives.
That attitude has a certain appeal to it.  We continue to be a place where you know 
your neighbor, where they know when you're sick, and they care when you die.  Family, 
friends, community - those constants of Iowa life give us a grounding that is unique in 
America today.
But that doesn't mean we can escape change.  Too often, we Iowans idolize the past 
- reflecting on the loamy smell of newly tilled ground in the spring; the ringing of the 
dinner bell calling us from the hay barn; or a full harvest moon over a soon-to-be picked 
field of corn - and we wonder why life can't always be filled with the sights, sounds, 
and smells of the way life used to be.
But, in reality, our state almost from its inception, has been trying to resist the 
inexorable march of economic change.  A change that has displaced people with 
machines on our farms and sent some of our best and brightest packing for the bright 
lights of the cities.
Now that we have stabilized this state, now that we are in good shape again, it is 
time to stop resisting change once and for all.
It is time for Iowa to truly grow once again.  That is the first and most important 
challenge facing us.  How do we do that?  Historically, we have acceded to change only 

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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