One of the songs played before the Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Town Hall Friday afternoon in the Des Moines was very appropriate…”I’m Still Standing,” by Elton John. That was the theme of the hour-long talk and Q & A by the former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate before a packed auditorium at Roosevelt High School.

“There’s a responsibility in this time of chaos where elected officials need to hear what people are irritated about. And I would argue that Democratic officials should hear the primal scream that coming from America is do something dammit”, Walz began. “Please don’t confuse calmness with weakness.”

Walz’ visit is part of a national Party effort to hold dozens of town hall meetings, especially in Republican Congressional districts where the incumbent, on the advice of their party bosses, is not holding town halls.

Governor Walz got plenty of stories from Iowans to take back to Washington D.C. about the impacts of current cuts. A new mother of a child with severe birth complications that had over 1-point-six million dollars of care covered now, but worried about future medical costs under the administration proposed cuts. Another story from a high school senior that has law school on her mind, but worries about the cut to government tuition assistance.

Walz said Republicans don’t want to have town halls because they will hear stories from citizens they can’t ignore.

“It’s Nunn’s job to serve the voters of his district. He needs to answer the question ‘Why is it okay for President Musk to do what he is doing!’ There is nothing conservative about an unelected South African nepo-baby firing people because they’re there.”

Walz closed by questioning the motive of the current administration about restoring American freedoms. “Freedom means everybody. You don’t get to slice off people and say they don’t count. If you do, you don’t really love freedom. What you love is privilege.”

Also addressing the group was State Party Chair Rita Hart, who questioned trade wars and tariffs. “Farmers like me know that starting a trade war with Canada just doesn’t make sense!”

Walz left the Iowa meeting immediately to go to a similar town hall in Omaha.

Contributors note:
I’m following the current administrations crisis for personal reasons. My wife and I are both retired and are worried about cuts to our social security.

But I also have a daughter and son-in-law in the Southwest who work for the Department of the Interior. My daughter Kelly is a curator at the museum at Hoover Dam, while her husband, Ian, is lead park ranger at a small national monument (Pire Spring) on the Utah/ Arizona border. Both would love to start a family together. As of this writing, they are both still employed and faithfully send their email very Friday to Washington about their five accomplishments of the past week.

They say it’s the job they have always dreamed about. Such is also the case for the thousands of others who may not have dreams of working in the great outdoors, but dreamed of being an accountant, teacher, or heavy equipment operator, all to serve the public. Those Americans also have had dreams shattered and face an unsure future.

Spotlighting and reducing government waste is appropriate. Slashing with a chain saw simply crushes dreams and deprives Americans of vital safety nets of food, housing and health care.