I often get perturbed listening to talking heads and the D.C. intelligentsia, (I hesitate to call them intellectuals) bash Iowa and the Iowa caucuses. A recent article in the Atlantic disparaging the Iowa caucuses makes some interesting arguments, but to me it mostly reads like snobby elitism. They mindset seems to be that Iowa is not New York or L.A. and so Iowa doesn't matter. I submit that Iowa matters precisely because it is not New York and L.A.
The left likes to hate Iowa because people there tend to (gasp) be somewhat religious and (double gasp) work with their hands. Not to put too fine a point on it but the left, especially in academia, is thoroughly populated by snarky wannabe hipsters and spoiled rich kids mired in extended adolescence. They pretend to read the New Yorker at cocktail parties and they really believe Occupy Wall Street represents 99% of the United States. I am painting with a broad brush and I recognize that there a good people on all sides of our political discussions. Still, many on the left and especially on the coasts think they are just plain better than the rest of the country.
It is impossible to read the press coming out of New York and not detect a distinct tinge of Northeastern chauvinism. The left’s vision of America is often one in which elites in the halls of academia and the bureaucracies of D.C. sit in ivory towers surrounded by a sea of suffering humanity in a country populated by those dependent upon the government’s beneficence. To the left, only learned experts with Ivy League pedigrees have the knowledge and vision to guide the huddles masses. The left hates Iowa because Iowans dare to think that they should have a say in how their country is governed and how they live their own lives.
Iowa is populated by a mostly rural and working class population, though they also have more universities per capita than most other states. (Take that New York!) Iowa represents the heart of Middle America. It is a place elites often disparage as “flyover country”. Folks in Iowa tend to be focused on their own families and come from close knit communities. They care less about having the latest version of the I-Phone because they are busy working in their fields and factories, supporting their families, raising their children and volunteering for church and community organizations.
The Iowa caucuses themselves represent a more personal approach to politics as something akin to what our founders envisioned. Iowans tend to ignore slick ad buys because they like to speak to their candidates face to face. Iowans expect anyone asking for their vote to sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss their concerns. The Iowa caucuses also involve a curious process whereby voters come into a room and listen to surrogates for each candidate make one final pitch. One must be registered with a party to vote in that party’s caucus but voters can change their affiliation at the caucus site. This creates a kind of freewheeling and slightly anarchic atmosphere but it also creates something close to a truly democratic process.
The left hates Iowa because Iowans don’t much care what the left has to say. For that matter, Iowans don’t much care what the right has to say either. Rather than being impressed by big words in coastal editorial pages, Iowans are impressed by common sense and a demonstrated understanding of their day to day problems. The left may dismiss Iowans as just another group of bitter clingers, but couldn’t the rest of our great nation stand to learn a thing or two from Iowa?
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