The 5 Reasons I Will Vote for Joni Ernst

Not only are there several reasons that I'm opposed to Bruce Braley, turns out there are a few things I actually like about Joni Ernst.

Released in tandem with The 5 Reasons I Will Not Vote For Bruce Braley.

1. All the superficial things

If you want to refer to this is simply breaking the mold of the typical politician you have my blessing. Iowa has never elected a woman in a state wide election (save for Lt. Governor as part of a gubernatorial ticket) or as a member of the U.S. congress. There are also few woman in politics with military service experience. She's an Iowa State Alumni. She's young for a politician at the age of 44, and her first campaign ad garnered national attention because, frankly, it was hilarious.

2. She doesn't use hyperbole

That is to say that she states her position almost always with a preceding "I think that..." or "I believe in...". I've listened to several of her stumps and read many of her articles. She never talks about the things being so desperate that it's a matter of life and death. Never implying that the other guy will destroy your way of life or stating that their plan would be a disaster. Agree with her or disagree with her, she's quite cordial.

3. What it means to be a career Nation Guard Officer

When looking over the resume of Joni Ernst, it's obvious she puts a lot of emphasis on her 20+ years working in the Army Reserve and the Iowa National Guard, but what does a career in the Iowa National Guard look like? Frequently, it's a call to service in the time of a disaster. When people are in truly dire need and organization and prioritization are essential to the success and failure of a mission. The Iowa National Guard has an impeccable reputation of being one of the first respondents in an emergency. Joni, being a Lt. Colonial, undeniably has seen and accomplished much in these pressure situations that would be a great resource for what the real 'boots on the ground' response team would need in the event of a crisis. Think of Katrina or Irene and the lack of capacity for a proper response from Washington. It would be nice to have a member of congress be able to say "When I was called to respond to a flood/tornado/disaster, the big thing I needed from the government was <blank>. Most members of congress are veterans long removed from service while Joni was in uniform serving just last month.

4. Keeping things positive

Well before Joni was tapped as the Republican nominee, attack ads had already started rolling against Bruce Braley. And, not so different from ads now being ran against Joni from out of state PAC's, there are still ads being ran against Braley. These are, for the time being, not originating from the Ernst campaign.

The difference starts when you see the Braley camp start their own set of ads against Ernst, Joni has not followed suit (again, yet). Joni is attempting to take a path not followed often during a close race, the stay positive and on message road. Touting her military career and life in Iowa above all else.

5. The fundamental belief of the role of Government

In much the same way that I and Bruce Braley have a fundamental difference of opinion on the role of government, I feel that Joni Ernst and I share the same core belief that the government, especially the federal government, is not a catch all tool and solution that is to be used often and applied to every situation like duct tape or WD-40, but rather a specialty tool for particular situations that gets thrown back in the drawer when you are done with it.

To take this line of thought a few more steps, people have started to take their belief in central planning to the point of redundancy. Take a popular topic in the ads being played out in commercials where Joni talks about getting rid of the Department of Education. If someone automatically assumes that someone is against education as a result of the department's closure, it reveals their way of thinking about such things as highly central planning, well...., centric.

Why are we spending billions in administrative costs to administer programs that exist at the state level. Just give the money to the state equivalents and trust them to use it wisely. For example, Iowa has a low income grant program that requires the exact same paperwork as the federal grant program to be filled out and submitted. In other words, a prospective student has to submit the same application to two different entities to get grant money for the same, singular, thing. Pell grants would not go away, it would simply reduce the multi-billion dollar bureaucracy that administers it.

I hope as this campaign develops and becomes more substantive that I can continue feeling that Joni is a good candidate rather then simple Bruce is a bad one. Perhaps this relative unknown is still just so shiny and new that I'm blinded until it is revealed that she eats babies or prefers Coke over Pepsi or some other game changer like that. Until such a time, I am a Joni Ernst supporter, and I approve this message.