Iowa, as Iowans know well, is something of a joke in the national imagination. The muted tone of condescension familiar in national media coverage of Iowa’s role in the presidential campaign is made explicit in a story in Rolling Stone, which begins, “Iowa is not like other states. There’s fuck-all to do here, and unless you just love dirt or barnyard sex, you could easily die of boredom – except in an election year, when suddenly you become the center of the universe.” Dirt, bestiality, boredom, the universe. You know the story. And what holds this strange cosmic story together – what moves Iowa from the irrelevance of the barnyard to a significance worthy of national media attention – is the Iowa caucuses.
We will assume that the Iowans reading this newsletter have the requisite self-respect both to brush off these insults and to recognize the unique importance of our collective agency in the democratic process. We have a particularly important role in this election cycle, in which neither major party has a clear frontrunner and numerous candidates have staked most or all of their fortunes on their performances here. And, more than this, the issues being addressed by the candidates, as well as many other issues that are not, involve problems of a global scale and significance. So, the editors of the Ames Progressive want to ask, if you think of your political and social views as being, generally, progressive, what do you think about on caucus night? What are your considerations as you prepare to cast your vote before your neighbors? What is the “progress” that the progressive caucus-goer supports?
If you consider yourself to be a progressive caucus-goer, go to www.amesprogressive.org and tell your fellow progressive Iowans what you think are the most important issues in this caucus and which candidates address these issues most powerfully. And tell us, too, what will be on your mind if you are forced to make a compromise on caucus night. Which of your values can be sacrificed? Which cannot? Comment on this editorial and join the discussion.
1 response so far ↓
1 Holly Fuchs // Dec 24, 2007 at 3:57 am
071224
Dear Ames Progressive Editors,
What I’m thinking about right now is comparing Clinton, Edwards and Obama, on 4 issues that are very important to me — women’s right to choose, the Iraq war, the environment, and taxes. I’m also gathering information about their morals, ability to communicate, intelligence, organization, supporting staff, etc. I would not be too worried if I have to compromise caucus night because I think every Democratic candidate is a reasonable candidate. Despite my desire to support a woman, a candidate’s attitude towards war, unilateral action and use of nuclear weapons is most important to me. A president can act almost unilaterally in war time. Hillary Clinton’s postion on war makes her appear too much like Bush for me to want to support her. My information on Hillary and the Iraq war is based on three articles in Tikkun Magazine by Stephen Zunes: “Hillary Clinton on Iraq” (1/10/07), “…on Internation Law”(12/11/07), and “… on Military Policy” (12/12/07). I still have to gather more information about the other candidates, however, and on the other issues, before I know whom I will support.
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