What will Iowa mean?

I should like to write about something miraculous happening in the world of politics today but, alas, there is nothing even close to that. In fact, nothing but the usual political stories exist.

Ron Paul seems poised to make a splash in a few days in the Iowa caucuses. Do you understand the caucuses? Approximately 115,000 people (if the weather is good) of voting age gather in caucuses and decide who impressed them the most. You then count up these and you have what is called a "winner." Iowa has a total populace of 3,046,355 according to the 2010 census. Let's be conservative and say that a third of them are of voting age. So, out of a little over 1 million people, 10 percent of them might participate in these caucuses. Granted, they are not electing a president, merely offering their choice for the nominee of one of the two major political parties.

From this, Ron Paul says a message will be sent. I am not sure what the message could be. If he wins, could the message be that Iowans favor isolationism? Because that is, essentially, the essence of Mr. Paul's foreign policy. Could they be saying that "we don't care what the other states think of us"? I am at a loss as to what message Ron Paul is thinking of.

The Republican majority seems to be saying... "Can't we find someone other than Mitt Romney?" So maybe that is the message being sent. Mr Romney is not a bad candidate. He is intelligent, accomplished, and quite capable of being a good president. His only real baggage is he is of the Mormon faith (that and the Massachusetts health care reform... aka "Romneycare"). In a nation that prides itself on its religious tolerance, that should not be an issue. But our religious tolerance is merely a myth. A cherished one, no doubt of that, but a myth nonetheless. We just do not have legal sanctions based on religious belief. But we are as intolerant of non -mainstream religion as any other nation's people. We just haven't killed anyone over it in many years.

But Mitt Romney may not be conservative enough for some. I know that many hard line conservatives do not think he is. He seems to be favored by the establishment Republicans, the so-called "Country Club Republicans." The Tea Party Republicans appear to be at the heart of the anti-Romney movement. I sympathize with the Tea Partiers but I think they are forgetting that the main idea is not to find a strong conservative to run for president but to find a candidate that can beat the current president. If that person also happens to be a strong conservative then that is a bonus.

The Tea Party folks should concentrate in expanding their numbers in Congress (both House and Senate) and worry about the presidency at another time.

But I am shouting into the wind, aren't I?


Have a Happy New Year!