How exciting! As of about 25 minutes ago, the Iowa caucuses have begun!
Now, we can sit around and wait. These caucuses wait a while, at least on the Democratic side, where the machinery of democracy works in an especially interesting way, allowing people who voted for a candidate who receives less than 15 percent of the vote in any given precinct to come back around and cast a second vote for one of the more successful candidates. That, in turn, encourages the supporters of more successful candidates to wait around too, so that they can try to talk the supporters of more minor candidates to come around to their candidate as a second choice. It encourages people to do more than just vote. On the Democratic side, people engage with their neighbors and have substance to talk about as they fulfill their civic duty.
And then, on the Republican side, they just vote, once, with no real debate or discussion, or attempt to convince.
I know which caucus I’d rather be in. It says something positive about the spirit of the Democratic Party in Iowa that they allow a run-off of sorts, with community-building discussion. Some say that this process makes the Iowa Democrats unrepresentative. Perhaps that’s something the rest of us could do something about. Perhaps the rest of us would benefit if we emulated the Iowa Democrats in our own states, and asked more of voters than to just show up, vote, and go home.
