Iowa Caucus: The 2016 Presidential Cycle Begins!

How to Think About Iowa

In 9 months, the polls will open to elect a President who’ll hopefully take the country in a new direction. The damage done to the American people over the last decade—lower incomes, diminished economic prospects, and a far more dangerous world, make this year’s voting the most important in decades.

As I wrote previously in my #blog post, “Primary Election” November 1, 2015, the first few primaries promise to be both surprising and populist; but picking a winner in Iowa feels like trying to peg the price of oil. Who knows what the future holds?

In the final debate before Feb. 1^st held by #FoxNews, the man who will not be named was absent; even though he’s emerged as the single most influential force in this upcoming primary season. Could a wave of first-time Republican voters propel him to victory in Iowa?

Was it a good or bad idea to miss this debate? Was a narcissistic political move more about the Donald than political strategy? After almost a year since CPAC last March, it all kicks off on Monday night, but I still don’t know which candidate to support in Iowa? 

Aspects of each candidate appeal to me; and at the same time Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn’t seem as inevitable as she did 4-6 months ago. This is a strange election...

Is this Caucus really about Establishment versus Outsider, young versus old, intervention versus isolation, conservative versus campaigner-conservative, political correctness versus practical politics, capitalist versus socialist, Bush versus Clinton, Christian versus Libertarian, digital versus analog? 

Striations of Republicanism vary like layered geologic formations hydraulically fractured. History will record this election field as one of the most diverse in the past 25 years. What follows is a phrase describing my thoughts on the eve of the Iowa Caucuses (minus Donald):

Candidate	Makes me think…
¡Jeb!	Great resume, but Bush vs. Clinton?
Ted Cruz	Campaigning hard, pervasive negatives
John Kasich	Fiscal genius, probably my favorite
Carly Fiorina	The woman to watch, powerful message
Dr. Ben Carson	The meek shall inherit the earth
Mike Huckabee	At least he's having fun!
Marco Rubio	Aspirational, serious contender
Chris Christie	A bigger version of John McCain
Rand Paul	Great debater, but not the right fit for the GOP
Rick Santorum	Do well in Iowa, get off the "undercard"
Jim Gilmore	I need more information, who is that?
Bernie Sanders	Not sure he can get elected
Hillary Clinton	Lack of focus, energy, momentum
Martin O'Malley	Looks more like a Mayor than President

Auld Lang Syne: It's January 2016, can you remember December?

Can you remember December?

In some ways the “memory” is more a part of the event than the actual happening, because it is the only thing we have left. Such is the way we look back on the frenetic month of December from the perspective of January. How did we fit it all in one month? So much of it seemed slow and gauzy at the time, and now it seems as if it flew out of our hands like the wind.

Now that everyone is back at work and re-enrolled in schools, the pace is back to the normal whirring, buzz of the high RPM lifestyle so common in modern society. If there was a chance to rest, reflect, maybe even refresh old relationships over the holidays, now the engine is back to cruising speed and the special holiday times are pushed back into the far reaches of our memory.

As low-key as I tried to craft my December, there was still a lot to remember and many good times with friends, family, past acquaintances, and celebratory gatherings. From old co-workers, high school friends, out-of-state-family, visitors, even parents, siblings, sons & daughters—the past month was a special time of building relationships, sharing joy, good food, gifts, cheer, and memories… But it’s gone.

Is December atypical? Set apart and foreign enough to be ephemeral, outside reality? For some, the holidays represent surviving immense pain, for others it is awash in oblivion, yet it is certainly different every year, and more unrealistic to me as I get older. 

Auld Lang Syne is "for (the sake of) old times" and each December seems to be partly that, and partly a pure money play for the sake of capitalism. As I wrote in my Christmas poem last month, what puts the wind in our sails is something entirely different.

We have a new slate in front of us on which we write the story of the new year. All accounts are back to zero-sum, the value has yet to be added, and frankly we don’t know which way to turn. There’s a feeling of renewal and anxiety balanced with confidence in what we can do, tempered with a healthy respect for present uncertainty; but describing that is like catching lightning. 

It’s the first month of the year, the short hesitation before it soars again, is like the silence before a sonic boom. Even seeing the object move across the sky silently, you wait for the speeding bullet to break the sound barrier.

How long before the average person jettisons their new year’s resolutions? Just a few weeks? Are they gone already? What do I want to accomplish this year? Just setting the goals is the first step in January; but the hard work and persistence required to make real change is the cold water into which we must jump. Good luck.