To Caucus They Go - It's What Iowans Do

It’s Caucus time in Iowa. What does that mean? It means a lot of my Iowa friends are making visits to hear the various presidential candidates speak. It means there are a lot of selfies being posted on social media with politicians in them. It means traffic jams and standing room only at events. It means tempers flaring and emotions rising. Everyone has an opinion and most are quite willing to share those opinions regardless of whether they are asked to share it. I am far from being involved in the political process and should probably care a lot more than I do but I just hate all of the bickering and mud slinging that seems to be common place.

I caught the episode of The Good Wife on television the other night and it was the one where Peter is trying to make a strong showing in the Iowa Caucus . To be honest I felt like the entire episode was kind of a slam to Iowa and the people that live there. I suspect there was a bit of exaggeration being used by the writing team in an effort to get some feathers ruffled or maybe more accurately some corn stalks rustled but whatever the reason the show left me feeling a little bit sad about the depiction of Iowa.

When Chris and I moved to Iowa it was at a time when he needed a job and we were grateful for the opportunity that presented itself. By the time I moved there a year later he was pretty well settled in and it was up to me to begin my own settling in process. I won’t lie. It took a long time. Without having children in school the usual avenues of meeting and making friends were few and far between and our frequent weekend travels meant we did not get as involved in our church (another avenue for making connections) as we had in the past.

Most people that I met had lived in the area for most of their lives. Their kids had grown up together and they already had plenty of friends. They were friendly, most midwesterners are, but there were no coffee and lunch dates like I was used to. The relationships remained relatively on the surface and it was frustrating to me as I am always one to go out of my way to make someone feel welcome. So I made it my mission to do that for others that I met that were new to the area. And I did.

Then I started to meet others through blogging that had similar interests and even though our ages ranged widely from 20’s to 60’s my friendships with those North Iowa Bloggers became vital to my happiness in Iowa. Everyone needs to feel like they belong and this group did that for me in a way that no other group had.

So when I saw the episode of The Good Wife that pretty much mocked Iowans and what they stand for it got me thinking about how I often lump everyone together into one category. Like the television show lumped together all Iowans. How wrong is that? Each person has worth and is unique and deserves to be recognized for that ability to be themselves. What would the world be like if we were all exactly the same? Boring.

So while I am breathing a sigh of relief that I do not have deal with the zaniness that often is associated with the Iowa Caucus that will be held on February 1, 2016, I am also watching with interest to see how Iowa is presented in news stories along the way. Are the news stories showing the Iowa that I know or are they skewing their reports to show it the way that makes the news story more tantalizing? It is a fascinating process to watch.

Do you get caught up in the political fever? Do you watch every debate with interest or do you binge on Netflix on debate nights? Would you “caucus” if you could? Have you “caucused”? I would love to hear all about it in the comments and remember each comment will garner 50 cents for our Comments for a Cause of January –NFED.

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This short video from 2008 describes the process much better than I ever could hope to describe it. If you are still confused after watching it you will understand why I am glad that I am not still in Iowa where Caucus is the word of the day. Every day.