March 29, 2024

Not crazy about caucuses

I am so looking forward to next Tuesday. The caucuses will be over and, for me, it will be a relief. I will attend and support a candidate, but I would much prefer voting in a primary election.

Despite the massive attention they receive, the caucuses attract only a small percentage of Iowa’s eligible voters. In fact, four out of five members of each party, and an overwhelming number of independent voters (who could temporarilly change their registration), do not bother to take part in the Iowa caucuses.

That’s not surprising since they can be complex and time-consuming, plus participants must declare publicly whom they support — and, to some of us, that feels like an invasion of privacy.

I also object to a small state like Iowa having such a prominent voice in national elections — or New Hampshire too, for that matter. Iowa and New Hampshire are hardly representative of the national electorate and, together, contribute less than one percent to the delegate count required to win the nomination.

I’ve become weary of the 24/7 news coverage of the many candidates who flock to Iowa. Besides being genuinely tiresome, it also gives too much recognition to candidates who don’t have a snowball’s chance of winning the nomination and becoming president. Some of them seem to have had no job the past few years except to run for president, and others who do have jobs appear to be neglecting them while pursuing the presidency.

I know there are many who will disagree with me about the value of Iowa having “first in the nation” status. There are obviously those who enjoy attending rallies and events and hearing candidates speak and interacting personally with them. The news media loves being on the scene of what they call retail politics where they too can interact personally with the candidates and voters. And I am certain the advertising departments of TV, radio and newspapers are thrilled with the millions of dollars Iowa’s unique political system puts into their coffers.

Nevertheless, I still dislike the caucus system. Candidates’ frequent visits to Iowa encourage them to make more and more over-the-top promises to those attending their political events. To hear some of the outlandish claims candidates make about how they will solve the nation’s problems, you would think there were no Congress to deal with, no Supreme Court, no international foes and allies, nor even a Constitution that they would have to abide by.

Some claims that candidates make aren’t worth our attention; claims such as “I’ll make America great again,” (but no word as to how) or “On day one I’ll repeal everything,” (as though they will be the only politician in town) or “I will end the disappearance of the middle class,” (say what?). They promise all this stuff knowing full well there will be roadblocks to just about everything they say they’ll do, and most of them have already demonstrated they have neither the talent nor the temperament to negotiate or compromise.

Many believe we have a democratic form of government when, in fact, we are a republic. Our founding fathers didn’t intend for elections to decide everything. They knew voters couldn’t always be trusted to make responsible decisions so they deliberately built checks and balances into the Constitution. That’s why it’s ridiculous when candidates and their supporters say Supreme Court decisions shouldn’t be the law of the land. Of course they should be the law of the land if our Constitution means anything.

Candidates and supporters seem to believe presidents can accomplish miraculous things all by themselves. Unfortunately, too many of them have a history of quarreling, bullying, stone-walling or of basically being insignificant in the office they now hold. Too many of the candidates now running for the presidency show no signs they can work effectively with Congress. And those currently serving in the legislative branch have given us lots of examples that they can’t work effectively now.

The news media always praises our caucuses and marvels at how we Iowans are so engaged and knowledgeable about the candidates. That’s nice, but what really matters is if a candidate could actually accomplish anything if elected. Real knowledge and understanding about how effective our favorite candidate would be as president is sadly lacking.