There’s an old idiom that I first heard in a discussion about state firearm laws. Someone was disgruntled about the direction his feet were headed concerning the regulations of guns, and he was encouraged to “vote with his feet.”

Vote with one’s feet — what does that mean?

If you find yourself living in a place that doesn’t appreciate your point of view and you find your values, beliefs and ideologies marginalized, then maybe you should consider moving.

If you are one of the people who thought the Iowa Supreme Court Justices being ousted by popular vote — a vote that directed an agenda to restrict the rights of the LGBT community — and are worried that thing might keep heading that direction, don’t worry.

If you are reading this on the ISU campus as a student, chances are you are young, and chances are you soon will be seeking employment after graduation.

This leaves you with an opportunity that some people who have already laid down roots here in Iowa don’t have. I’m talking about leaving, finding a job out of state and starting a life somewhere else.

This might sound a little scary at first; “growing up” can be a daunting thought. It’s going to happen, though, and if you aren’t very comfortable with how things are going in Iowa politically, leave.

Iowa is practically going out of its way to give you reasons to leave. Branstad has said in an interview with radioiowa.com that he wants to end government-subsidized preschool.

He also has said in an interview with the Des Moines Register, “If it’s contingent on a sales tax increase, we’ve said there won’t be a sales tax increase. I’m supportive of conservation funding, but not raising taxes.”

As a Libertarian, I am against many things the government subsidizes, however, I can get behind the government subsidizing preschool. This is because most people are going through tight economic times, times that were brought on by war, overspending and poor economic choices by the government.

I don’t feel the working class should be punished in an effort to show that the government is all of a sudden being fiscally conservative.

The government shouldn’t have whole-heartedly embraced the military industrial complex, or racked up a debt that is, at the moment, $13,719,547,683,746.49, according to treasurydirect.gov.

To turn around now and say, “We will be taking away preschool as a service because of the economy that we made this way. Now figure it out on your own,” isn’t the right thing to do.

In response to what Branstad said to the Des Moines Register: How can someone say they support conservation without really supporting it?

If he doesn’t want to raise the income tax, maybe Branstad should go knocking on the doors of Pioneer and Monsanto since they make fortunes off of products grown in Iowa.

Conservation, also known as how we are going to keep this state from further becoming a cesspool of manure and chemicals, needs money. It turns out the DNR wont work for free. If we are serious about Iowa’s environment, then we need to be serious about funding its restoration.

What happens if the new college graduates decide to leave the state? There’s an idiom for that as well: brain drain.

Brain drain is when all of the educated people decided to leave a place.

If you feel like what you want is not happening, and your thoughts aren’t being represented in this state, it’s time to check out employers elsewhere.