Sean Dengler.

It is like a secret language, but when I am out in the wild – meaning, urban or suburban places – sometimes I come across those who grew up in rural Iowa. They might still live in rural areas, or they might not. This is always fascinating. As we start talking, we size each other up to figure out how ‘rural’ one is. Questions range from: “How big was your town?” “How big was your class size?” “Did you have a Casey’s?” “Did you live on a farm?”

Unfortunately, the conversation eventually ends up at the same point where someone mentions something like, “The town is not what it used to be.” Another form of the statement is “Unfortunately, the school I went to is no longer there.” This breaks my heart, and it happens far too often. Not often if at all have I heard someone say their small town is thriving in the current environment.

This is devastating. The situation sounds hopeless, and people believe this tragedy is predetermined by the economy or whatever higher power. Everyone is waiting for the last person to ride off in the distance from their hollowed-out town in a rusted out F-150. While sad, this logic is frustrating. As a coach, situations can be difficult, but no situation should lead to an acceptance of failure.

While it is a tough battle, people need to fight for rural Iowa. Large corporations have taken advantage of this economic system. They have monopolized their respective industries to extract wealth from rural Iowans. One way to stop it is to make markets competitive again in the agriculture industry and abroad. Then everyone, rural and urban, will have economic liberty. This has been done before. From the 1930s until the mid-1970s, health care and food deserts were not a real-life issue. While the system may not have been perfect, it provides a blueprint to protect small business folks, farmers, laborers, and citizens.

Allowing corporate power to amass in fewer and fewer hands has allowed large discount stores to unfairly compete against small grocery stores. This power has made it harder for farmers to find a market to sell their products. This power has provided tax incentives for large businesses while underfunding our public schools. This leaves problems everywhere but in the hands of the few.

For the last 40 years, this system has wreaked havoc across rural Iowa. By breaking up big business and ensuring a fair economic system, where everyone can enjoy economic liberty, higher wages will be paid, there will be more entry to opening a business, and the hollowing out will at least be slowed, if not stopped. Now is not the time to sit back and say, “This is how it has always been and always will be.” That is not true. It is time to fight back to keep your children and grandchildren in rural Iowa. Stop them from having those conversations about what their town used to be. Start looking at what could be and not what has been.

It is time to fight for what is right for rural Iowa.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.