Iowa Reaction-The Sweet and Sour
After months of useless hype and horse race reporting, the results of the relevant-or irrelevant-no wait, this just in, word from the pundits is that yes, it is again relevant, Iowa caucuses are in and for liberty lovers like us they filled a mixed bag of emotions. Overall it was a great night for Ron Paul coming in a close third at 21%. His support in Iowa has steadily increased as virtually every other candidate has rapidly surged and plummeted from the media coined “anti-Romney” top position. Paul has doubled support for his “unelectable” platform from the same contest four years ago while front runnerish Mitt Romney pulled in a statistical tie from his last showing there. This and the stat showing 42% of non-Republican voters in Iowa support him- compared to second place Mitt at only 19%- have profoundly silenced the “unelectable” critics.
Then there was the other, sobering side of things; the “surging” Rick Santorum. Despite this being his kind of territory his second place finish was truly disappointing for many reasons. For one, it seems like this condescending and defensive “family man” is another electoral miracle via the punditry. For the last week all we heard was about Santorum’s rise in the polls, but at a closer look, this “surge” was still somewhere around 15%. How did this convert so quickly into 25%? I know he made a herculean pandering effort through Iowa’s 99 counties and used the word family a lot, but did this really translate into a 10% jump in the matter of days? If so, then maybe it’s time to start restricting voting rights again because that’s just silly.
More disappointing than another media selected candidate is that fact that he has gained so much traction despite his record which is abysmal from multiple perspectives. (I won’t spend the energy here showing why since I’m sure the next week will provide plenty of examples now that he’s in the spotlight) His central political philosophy is based on forcing his own values on every American citizen. He and his ilk are the great antithesis to personal liberty. His platform is pretty much non-existent unless you consider bigoted statements and war mongering the building blocks of a valuable President. The only word on Santorum before the Iowa showdown from anyone except the Paul campaign was that he holds “strong family values.” While his “platform” remained vague his strategy was obvious; smear Ron Paul’s sensible foreign policy as “leftist”, dangerous and anti-American, keep talking about how much he loves families, and of course, drugs are bad, mmmmkay! Even my cynical mind didn’t believe this could still work anywhere in the country but America, you are full of surprises.
During an interview on CNN’s outlandish (but actually quasi-fair compared to Fox) Iowa coverage a Santorum supporter stated that she did so because, “he has strong family values, and you know, I have a family.” The picture started to become dreadfully clear; this is still a significant part of the electorate. If that is the strongest statement someone can make about supporting a candidate they should morally exclude themselves from voting. It demonstrates a basic lack and incapability of understanding the Presidency and our role in selecting one. Besides, a candidate saying they are pro family is like a candidate saying he is pro water or pro oxygen, it’s essentially a given. A candidate should be offered no points above any of his competitors for this vague concept unless one of them actually advocated destroying a family. Has there ever been an anti-family candidate?
So what will Santorum do to bolster the family? Start wars in Iran? Well I guess wars can be good family builders, at least for the privileged elite who not only forgo the sacrifice of the effort, but stand to profit from it. Or maybe the force of his personal moral code on the rest of us via legislation and executive order since we are all too depraved to support the institution ourselves will really strengthen it. Nothing keeps a family together like government force! Santorum’s lack of substance, shoddy record, and blatant disregard for personal liberty hopefully will prevent him from going much further than Iowa, at least it better if the rational majority is to retain any faith in this absurd system.
Romney helped even the emotions out as he proved himself yet again a predictable, stagnant, robotic candidate with lukewarm support. He is polling comfortably in the driver’s seat on his almost home turf of New Hampshire, but Dr. Paul is the closest behind him. Hopefully New Hampshire will embrace its libertarian roots and shun the empty words of their familiar, neighborly salesman. I won’t pretend to have the whole psychology of New Hampshire Republicans understood like our cable news buddies, but Paul pulling a little “surge” of his own is a real possibility. He is up 4% since yesterday and gaining steam (Good luck finding a story about it amongst the flurry of Santorum surge news).
It’s tempting to be disappointed by the Iowa results, but Tuesday night was a huge win for the campaign, the cause and the country in general. Well let’s get ready for another week of ridiculous “journalism,” amusing attacks, another circus debate and all the other fun filled absurdities that try to blind us from true dialogue. In the meantime, let’s give ourselves a quick pat on the back for denying the establishment from erasing Ron Paul from the scene and get ready for some more work. </spa n>
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