Disaster. Debacle. Embarrassment. Fiasco.
You may think I'm talking about the current presidential administration. While those words definitely all fit that, I'm actually referring to another political item: The 2020 Iowa Caucuses.
This isn't going to be a review of what went wrong. [Technology.] Nor will it be a prediction about the future of Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential election year event. [Terminal.] It's to clarify something the national media doesn't cover:
Most Iowans do not give a damn about preserving their first-in-the-nation caucus status.
The only folks who really ever cared were / are mainly political activists and wonks, who constitute a very small percentage of the population. I'll also throw in the hotel and restaurant industry and a few other small main street businesses, which enjoyed higher sales from all of the extra people roaming the state off and on for months.
Yay for the economic growth of a few, on a quadrennial basis.
So for anyone who thinks Iowans will be universally sad to see the caucuses abandoned, no worries! We're actually looking forward to having fewer political commercials bombard us on both traditional and digital media platforms. We're looking forward to having more elbow room at the Iowa State Fair. We're looking forward to the calm.
The Iowa caucuses have always been a slightly goofy anachronism in the privacy-challenged digital age. It may well be time for them to die.
In which case, not that many Iowans will be crying at the funeral.
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