The Importance of Being Ernst

This picture featuring ultra-conservative Republican (redundant) Iowa Senator Joni Ernst has been floating around social media.

I was disappointed to read that her poster was photoshopped. It’s so hard to tell these days. This is what the actual poster showed.

I’m going to address each of these issues and let you know where a real liberal stands.

Let’s start in the upper left with “Expand The Court.” I’m for it. Although the 3 Trump-added conservative Supreme Court Justices haven’t been the train wreck expected, I think their day is coming. They will show their true colors sooner than later. Expand the court by 4 more judges to a total of 13 so it is sort of like a 12 person jury +1 as a tie-breaker where majority rules.

Moving clockwise around the poster, we come to “Only Gay People Get To Go To Restaurants” & “End The Filibuster Now.” I am for one and against the other. Assuming we eventually get full restaurant privileges back someday post-COVID, I want to go to restaurants, and I think pretending to be gay in order to be seated would be disrespectful. As for the filibuster, I am all for ending it and enacting legislation like the HR1 voting right’s bill that will keep Republicans from power FOREVER.

Continuing on, the Green New Deal is a starting point for discussion. Nothing more. Move along.

Then we get to “Abolish I.C.E” vs. “Abolish Lasagna.” This is a tough choice. I don’t eat much lasagna any longer, because it is carb-heavy and normally has a meat sauce. But it is delicious. I want to still be able to enjoy a piece of lasgna, maybe with a vegan sauce. I also don’t want I.C.E. to go away. We need border control, but I.C.E. needs to be reformed, not abolished.

The image at the bottom of the poster in the middle is hard to read, but it pertains to making Washington, DC the 51st state. Let’s go. I’m all for it, but I’m an even numbers guy, so I suggest adding Puerto Rico as the 52nd state. That adds 4 more Democratic Senators and several more Democratic House Reps.

Moving along, we get to “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” vs. “Defund The Police.” I have not seen the Mrs. Maisel series, so it makes it difficult for me to comment. But these days, I do prefer streaming television series to the police as the streaming shows rarely kill people of color.

Finally, we get to “Sex Blimps” vs. “Tax Increase.” I’m up in the air about Sex Blimps and think that concerns about them are inflated.

Now that the bad jokes are out of the way, I’m for both! Increase taxes on the rich and allow sex blimps. I think when we finally get sex blimps, that will be a Goodyear. I so stole that last joke from Twitter.

Final totals:

• In the real poster, I am for 4, against 1, & open to discuss 2.
• In the photoshopped poster, I am for 3, against 2, & open to discuss 2.

Maybe I’m not as liberal as I think. But I do look forward to the day when we can take a break from eating vegan lasagna and turn our gaze skyward as we say, “Look! Up in the sky. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a sex blimp.”