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One of baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra’s memorable quotes was “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Yogi’s turn of phrase implied that something being experienced had been seen many times before.
We doubt that Yogi had the Iowa legislature in mind when he said it, but it certainly applies.
The déjà vu of the legislature pertains to its failure to deal with the issues and challenges of being an older Iowan. The failure is perennial, and predictable.
The paragraphs above are from an opinion piece we penned in 2018. Yes, eight years ago.
Sadly, we have today what we had then, a do-nothing-for-older-Iowans legislature.
The 2026 failure came on the heels of the death of our friend and colleague, Senator Claire Celsi of West Des Moines.
Claire genuinely cared about older Iowans. She believed they deserved to be served and supported with dignity and respect — no matter their location, income or social standing. She stood up and spoke out when others wouldn’t. She spoke with her heart, and with justified outrage when she saw the latest headline about abuse and neglect of residents in long-term care settings.
Prior to her death last year, the Senator backed her words with action. She drafted and introduced multiple pieces of legislation designed to enhance the lives of older Iowans and their families.
Regrettably, the 2025 legislative session ended before any action was taken. When Claire died, we believed that her death would inspire other elected leaders to step up and carry-on her work. We, and our colleague Dean Lerner, challenged them to do just that in a 2025 Opinion piece. Legislators: Honor Sen. Celsi’s memory with action | Guest Columnists | thegazette.com.
That didn’t happen. In 2026, as in 2025, the governor and legislative leaders were essentially silent on older Iowans.
Here’s some of what they failed to do:
Our minds are continually boggled by the indifference of the state’s top elected leaders toward older Iowans. Do they not realize that 600,000 Iowans are age 65 and older; that by 2030 there will be more Iowans in the 65-plus bracket than 18 and younger; and that Iowa has one of the highest percentages of adults over age 80 in the nation?
Do they avoid taking action because they don’t know, or do they know and just don’t care? We fear it’s mostly the latter.
Here’s what elected leaders of both parties have told us — they don’t act on the concerns of older Iowans because they are not hearing from enough constituents urging them to act. In other words, they view themselves as followers rather than leaders, and the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Here’s the challenge: if you are an older Iowan, if you care about an older Iowan, or if you want to be an older Iowan someday, be the squeaky wheel. Ask for what you want. Don’t accept no for an answer. Insist on action.
Now is the time. Candidates for congress, governor, state legislature, etc. are appearing at get-togethers across the state.
If older Iowans and their loved ones don’t show up and speak up, their voices will be drowned out by the voices of others. If that happens, another year will go by, nothing of significance will change and we’ll be writing the same column. It will be déjà vu all over again.
We don’t want that. We hope you don’t either.
John and Terri Hale own The Hale Group, an Ankeny-based advocacy firm focused on older Iowans terriandjohnhale@gmail.com.
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