Doak: What are those 'Iowa values'?

What the heck are "Iowa values"?

It's an election year, so we're hearing candidates say we should vote for them because they possess that wondrous attribute called Iowa values. The annoying thing is, no one ever bothers to explain what that means.

Where is the officially agreed upon list of Iowa values? It doesn't exist.

Really, can there be any such thing as an Iowa value? That is, a value that is unique to Iowa? Or a value that, while not exclusive to Iowa, is especially pronounced here, enough that it would qualify as an "Iowa" value?

It's doubtful that politicians who claim to have Iowa values ever thought very deeply about questions like that.

If there are such things as Iowa values, what are they? Where did they come from? Are there identifiable Iowa cultural traits that grow out of those values? Is there a particular set of values and characteristics that predominate among the people of Iowa and hence constitute the essence of being an Iowan?

These are questions I ask students to explore when I teach a course on the history of Iowa. One of the first exercises in class is to brainstorm traits that are generally ascribed to Iowa people. The students usually come up with lists such as:

Neighborly

Family oriented

Hard-working

Frugal

Religious

Patriotic

Unpretentious

Nice

Students often bring up a seeming contradiction in the Iowa character: While Iowans tend to be friendly, at the same time there is a certain standoffishness, a mind-your-own-business mentality, a coolness to strangers.

Meredith Willson expressed it in the lyrics to "Iowa Stubborn" in "The Music Man":

We can be cold

As our falling thermometer in December

If you ask about our weather in July.

And we're so by God stubborn

We can stand touchin' noses

For a week at a time

And never see eye-to-eye.

But we'll give you our shirt

And a back to go with it

If your crops should happen to die.

So, what the heck, you're welcome,

Glad to have you with us.

Even though we may not ever mention it again.

Willson was describing the Iowa of his boyhood in the early 1900s. The character of Iowa people probably hasn't changed much since then, although that's difficult to know. Willson's depiction, as well as my students' lists of modern character traits, are impressions, not provable facts.

So Iowans are nice? Well, people in South Dakota and Minnesota are often described as nice, too. What makes niceness an Iowa trait? Or frugality, or neighborliness?

To be an "Iowa" trait, a characteristic surely must be present in the vast majority of Iowa people and exist to a greater degree than among people of other states. That sort of thing is hard to prove empirically.

The same is true of values. It would be difficult to establish empirically what "Iowa values" are and how they might differ from, say, Illinois values.

Or, for that matter, how Iowa values might differ from plain old American values. The values expressed in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are shared by almost all Americans, including Iowans. But beyond those universal American values, are there particular values that pertain just to Iowa and are shared by almost every Iowan?

Probably not. At least not on political issues. Iowa is a purple state, neither solid red Republican nor solid blue Democrat. If near unanimous acceptance is a prerequisite to creating an "Iowa value," that's not going to happen on many issues in Iowa.

Iowans may value civility and moderation, but they disagree on many things. We "stand touchin' noses and never see eye-to-eye." History, national origins and religion probably have something to do with it.

Varying national and regional origins produced a patchwork quilt of religious and political affiliations in Iowa. If religion is a source of values, and if the dominant religion varies from place to place in Iowa, it's no surprise that values might differ slightly, too.

The accompanying map shows the largest religious group in each county. Iowa and a few other central states show more diversity than other regions. (It's interesting how the Southern Baptist predominance ends abruptly at the southern border of Iowa. There really is a cultural difference between Iowa and Missouri.)

The colors on the map show Iowa as a mosaic of Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and other Protestant denominations. While all share basic Christian tenets, there are doctrinal differences. These might be part of the explanation for the political differences in Iowa that preclude the acceptance of a single, universal set of Iowa values.

In any case, the declaration that something is an "Iowa value" tends to be a personal judgment, not a scientific fact. Politicians who say they stand for Iowa values aren't saying anything unless they specify just what values they're talking about.

Here's one they should be talking about: reverence for the land and the water. Nothing could be more Iowan.

If there is such a thing as an Iowa value, surely there is none more vital than sustaining the land, and none more yearned for than the cleansing of the water.

So, sir or madam candidate, you say you have Iowa values? Then what are you doing to save the land and purify the water for the generations to come?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Doak is the retired editor of the Register's opinion pages.