By Ellen Ballas, Iowa City
Mariannette Miller-Meeks told a crowd in Iowa City at her Saturday fundraiser, “We’re at a precipice in our country … are we going to go in the pathway of Venezuela or are we going to continue to be the greatest nation on Earth?”
If anyone is putting the U.S. in the “pathway of Venezuela,” it’s extremist Republicans like Miller-Meeks who support dismantling Democratic norms by praising restrictive voting rights that fall under authoritarian regimes such as Venezuela.
In an attempted power grab, every House Republican including Miller-Meeks voted against the For the People Act, which would expand voter registration, making it easier for Americans to vote. Miller-Meeks and her extremist Republican colleagues are playing with fire.
Moreover, as a Trump loyalist to the twice impeached former President, I never read a warning from Miller-Meeks that Trump was too cozy with dictators Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong-Un when he met with them.
When Miller-Meeks speaks about “the pathway of Venezuela” I hope she considers an additional feature of any dictatorship: putting personal ambitions before helping people, such as her vote against The American Rescue Plan Act. Miller-Meeks was deluding herself when she told the Press-Citizen “… I’m gonna work hard so people know I’m their voice in Washington D.C.”
