Recently, former president Donald Trump held a rally in Iowa, where The Daily Iowan spoke with several crowd members about what they wanted to see accomplished on his agenda. And, it occurred to me that Democrats are more likely to solve these issues than Republicans.

Nationally, Republicans don’t care about anybody. Their legislative priorities are completely out of step with what anyone needs individually. Beyond virtue signaling and the culture war, they do nothing. Democrats are the ones who do what Republican constituents want from a national government.

Health care is one of the biggest examples of this. While you can find Republican congresspeople and senators discussing how the Affordable Care Act should be removed and leave insurance up to the private sector,, Republican constituents don’t agree.

Most Republicans say that it is the government’s responsibility to have an interest in health care. While you may think that means simply ensuring the coverage of preexisting conditions and a few other minor things, that’s not the case.

Republicans and Democrats’ opinions overlap on a lot of the major provisions of the ACA.  From keeping children on their parents’ insurance up until 26 to eliminating out-of-pocket costs for certain preventive services, Republicans and Democrats alike agree that these are necessary provisions of any health care plan.

But the Republican plan revealed in 2020 is so bare bones, it might as well be nothing.

Another topic relating to health care is abortion and teen pregnancy. I’m not going to make the case that when abortion is legal, the rate of abortions falls. Rather, I want to talk about an adjacent issue that leads to abortions — sex education.

Republican politicians love abstinence-only sex education. I was taught it, Iowans are taught it, and Trump wants it to be taught.

But the data shows that abstinence-only sex education does not work. What’s needed to reduce teen pregnancy rates and, as a result, abortions, is a revamped sexual education that teaches people about contraceptive measures.

One other concern brought up by crowd members was divisiveness. Karla Wright, 54, was quoted in the DI as saying that she hoped “rallies like this can help to unify the nation.”

But Republicans are always the ones accusing Democrats of being communists or socialists, stealing the election and overturning democracy, plotting to kidnap our governors, attacking the capital, etc. The Democrats bend over backwards to try and be accommodating to the center and right. Just look at the treatment Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-W.V. and Joe Manchin, D-Ariz., have received while they’ve been stymieing the infrastructure bill.

I know that people want what’s best for them and do what they think is right. But I have to ask, what is the Republican Party doing to help you? What good is it doing? Are Republicans really looking out for your interests when their tax cuts for the middle and lower class revert after 10 years, while big business cuts last forever?

Republican politicians love to make big stands against cancel culture and the establishment, but when have they ever made a stand for you? This isn’t a call to come join the Democrats or abandon your principles. This is just me, from one citizen to another, asking you if your party really represents what you want.

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.