Ladies and gentlemen, the Iowa State Daily Editorial board would like to make you aware that we have a psychic in our midst, here in the rolling hills of Iowa.

That’s right Bob Vander Plaats has powers that allow him to see things that could have been.

“If all seven were on the ballot, all seven would have been voted off,” Vander Plaats said. “Because of their presence on the court today, I think there’s a credibility issue and integrity issue.”

Not only can he divine what could have happened, but he can read your thoughts.

“The people have spoken and demanded a change in leadership,” Vander Plaats said in a news release.

At some point we need to start asking him about the next powerball numbers.

While we are caustically joking about his special powers, everyone who was blind to his agenda before either has to accept it for what it was and is now, or remain willfully ignorant.

What Vander Plaats wants is a hostile takeover of the judicial system in our fine state to further his own bigoted agenda.

How will this relate to us, as a people? This is the question that is weighing heavily on the minds of people who think the LGBT community has the same rights as every other citizen in our great nation.

In a discussion with The Gazette about searching for the right judges, Gov.-elect Terry Branstad said, “There’s no foolproof system.”

Being that the Editorial Board has a few militant Libertarians on it, we may be biased in our thought processes, but we believe that you can tell the value of a system by its actions.

The best system will not strip the rights of a minority group and then stomp on their throats. The best system will not be intolerant of those who do nothing to encroach on the autonomy of others.

What the best system will do is ensure that all people are treated equally and without bias. The best system will not allow the majority to encroach on the autonomy of the minority, even in the respects of forcing the semantics of their religion onto that minority.

From what we can tell from recent remarks from Gov. Branstad, it sounds like he may try to stay out of the crossfire and give the power to the people to decide.

We on the board are all about the empowerment of the person, but we draw the line at empowering people to dominant the lives of others.

We appreciate Branstad’s maneuvering to a ground where he can be ambivalent on the subject; that is the sign of a veteran politician. Unfortunately politicing often falls short of doing the right thing, and on many occasions leads to the wrong thing being done.

We would like to put forward words from a book that so many people in this nation claim to live their lives by:

“15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you were cold or hot. 16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16, American King James Version

The time to pick a side is now, Mr. Branstad. We suggest that you choose the side of liberty, lest you be judged harshly.