On the eve of the Iowa Caucases

As Slate so eloquently put it, The Iowa caucuses are a joke. They encourage the media to focus on a small area of the country, and influence politicians to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into its economy. Why not take this process that does so much to infuse money and influence into an area, and hold it in the area of the country that needs it most? Having a caucus in a place like Iowa only propels the most moderate conservative and the most “electable” democrat. Though the Iowa Primaries may “create momentum” for two particular candidates, the overall effect of this on our nation as a whole is trivial. In reality, much like this sentence, all it truly accomplishes is the lengthening of a process that is already too long in most American’s minds.

The benefit of holding the first primary should be shared with the rest of the nation. Weeks upon weeks are spent focusing on the needs of one state, why not hold it in the state that faces the worst problems? Would it not be both enjoyable and informative if the candidates were forced to go to an area such as Michigan and have the first vote? We could see where each candidate stands on some of the issues that are the most perilous to the country. We could test each candidate’s ability to address issues such as unemployment and the loss of industry, and see how well they propose solutions to the nation. This may not generate any novel solutions to our problems, but it would challenge the candidates and allow America the opportunity to see exactly how bad things are in some areas. More people might even be interested in the primaries if they were also learning more about a few of the greatest problems that our nation faces. The money and attention that would flow into this area would only be an added boon to hard-off areas.

Though a change such as this would most likely improve the political field, it will take a lot before our current parties would agree to this. Each party wants a warm-up to the election process much like a college team wants a cupcake game at the beginning of its schedule. They want a good amount of time to slowly test the mettle of their candidates before they groom the “correct” one to be the new leader of their party. But what about the nation? Shouldn't we demand that the best candidates that society can produce come to the front and try to lead? If a candidate is faulty the public needs to be informed of this as early as possible. We should not allow our political leaders the time to conduct polls that decide where they stand on the issues. We should force our candidates to create a platform as early in the process as possible, and a stage such as Michigan would provide this. I love you Iowa.