Vander Plaats visits with local residents
Bob Vander Plaats visits with Oskaloosa residents on February 3, 2011
Bob Vander Plaats, former Iowa Governor Candidate and now President and CEO of The Family Leader, stopped at Pizza Ranch in Oskaloosa Thursday afternoon. Vander Plaats, who is on a 99 county tour with The Family Leader, is promoting their “Capturing Momentum Tour” to build upon the recent removal of 3 of Iowa’s Supreme Court Justices.
Vander Plaats spoke about how excited they are with the November 2nd election and how it has become a referendum, not only for the State of Iowa, but for the nation. It was said that it was on failed leadership at the Congressional level, the Legislator level, the Governor level and the Judiciary level, and that the voters “spoke with a resounding voice.”
Vander Plaats says that The Family Leader is really about three things. He said first and foremost they want to speak truth into the culture. He stated they’re trying to engage pastors and churches to speak truth into the culture.
Vander Plaats quoted the Declaration of Independence saying, “Laws of nature and of nature’s God.” And, “We need to get biblical again but we need to get constitutional again.” he stated in how he believes we need to get back to the Constitution and the founding of the country.
Vander Plaats went on to say, “The other side is going to say that this 99 county tour is part of an extreme agenda. When was the last time you thought that one man, one woman marriage was an extreme agenda?” “They are going to say that it is laced with fear and hate; absolutely not. It’s not about degrading any individual or any other group.” He went on to say, “The truth doesn’t need defense, it can stand in the light of day. It doesn’t need emotion of fear and hate; truth will stand on it’s own.”
Vander Plaats says they want to be about authenticity. “We want to be about authenticity, we truly believe that strong marriages lead to strong families, which lead to strong societies.”
Lastly, Vander Plaats stated that they believe they need to be a part of the public policy debate. He used Ezekiel chapter 33, which refers to “The Watchman’s Duty”.
He went on to say that, “If it’s for the family, we’re for it. If it’s against the family, were against it.”
“What are we for right now?” “We’d love to see this legislature reaffirm the Defense of Marriage Act as between one man and one woman.” said Vander Plaats. He also said, “As a matter of fact, in the Iowa code is the Defense of Marriage Act, one man one woman, because it’s still the law. Were operating off a court’s opinion . But at some point somebody’s got to tell me how in the world are we marrying same-sex couples in the state of Iowa with no executed law on the books.”
“Are we operating off of a court opinion? Is that what we do today? Because if were operating off a court opinion: let’s cancel this legislative session; lets tell the Governor to go home and sell Terrace Hill; and let’s just do courts opinion.” Vander Plaats said.
Vander Plaats finished up with the recent review of candidates for the Iowa Supreme Court. He stated that he had serious questions about the interview process for the replacement judges. He said that, after six hours, the board had all nine recommendations for Governor Branstad. “It shows the process is rigged.” stated Vander Plaats, “Anybody else smell the clue dust? That this thing was settled before it started?”
