Op-Ed by Nikki Haley - As President, I'll Make America More Like Iowa

Nikki Haley by The Gazette

America needs to be more like Iowa.

That's my main takeaway after spending time this week holding town halls across the state – my first visit since declaring my candidacy for President earlier this month. Iowa is strong and proud, with conservative leadership all the way. But under Joe Biden and the Democrats, strength and pride are afterthoughts at best. And based on their decision to ditch the state's first-in-the-nation caucus, this President is ignoring Iowa entirely.

Iowa deserves better. And Iowans know we can do better.

That fact was clear in my conversations with countless residents from Des Moines to Urbandale to Cedar Rapids to Marion. They look at what's happening to America, and it deeply worries them. They see family-owned farms and small businesses being destroyed by the heavy hand of government and bailouts for big businesses. They see veterans struggling to obtain the benefits they earned in the uniform of the United States. And they see their country losing faith in itself, with children learning to hate, not love, the greatest nation in human history.

This should worry them. It worries me, too. That's why I'm running for President.

My purpose is to stop America's downward spiral. I aim to move us forward toward freedom and self-confidence – toward the same strength and pride that defines the Hawkeye State.

Why is Iowa so strong and proud? To start, this is a state that values work over welfare. You can see it in the can-do spirit that defines Iowa farmers and entrepreneurs. I saw the same thing in South Carolina during my time as governor when we moved 20,000 people from welfare to work. We need to do that for tens of millions of our fellow Americans. And we need to stop the Biden administration's new land-grab water mandate, which threatens farmers across this state.

Iowa is strong and proud because of its education leadership. When Gov. Kim Reynolds signed education savings accounts into law earlier this year, she gave families the freedom to choose the school that's right for their children. I fought for that same freedom as governor, and I'll deliver it nationwide as President. And I'll make sure no politician can close our schools ever again.

Iowa's strength and pride spring from many sources. This is a state that backs the blue, putting the police and safe streets ahead of criminals and chaos. It believes in defending religious liberty and the lives of the unborn. Families here believe in military service, which matters to me, as the wife of a combat veteran. And Iowans know we have to secure our border and stop the flow of dangerous drugs like fentanyl. The lives of our children, and the survival of our nation, depend on it.

The values that sustain Iowa are the bedrock of America. Yet President Biden is hard at work undermining them. He's weakening our country – economically, culturally, and spiritually – at the exact moment we need to be strong. And he's destroying the pride that inspires each generation to defend our freedom, which is an urgent necessity in the face of Communist China. President Biden and his party have even spread the lie that America is racist. Take it from me, the first minority female governor in history: America is not a racist country.

As President, I will bring back our country's strength and pride, building on the success that I see in Iowa and that I saw as governor of South Carolina. I'll be back again soon, and I look forward to talking with even more Iowans about your lives and your worries. But I also look forward to hearing your hopes. Iowa is proof that America's best days are ahead of us, and I look forward to proving it together with you.

Nikki Haley is running for president. She was Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.