Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

It is a time of joy amongst those of us fortunate enough to live in this great state and if you have watched any more than two minutes of television the last few weeks you will understand exactly what I’m talking about. It’s caucus time in Iowa. That wonderfully strange tradition we have of gathering in school cafeterias and neighbors living rooms and spend time selecting who we feel should get a head start towards the nomination for President of the United States from their respective parties.

We Iowans are really tolerant people. Every so many years the news trucks come rolling into town and outsiders who stare at us as though they have never seen normal Americans take up the spaces in our local coffee shops and eateries as they rave about how good the food tastes, which to me always seems funny because have you known and Iowa Mom who couldn’t cook? Before we are prepared we are assaulted at every point by talking heads, commercials and pundits who attempt to spin what each candidate says into a few brief talking points to suit their own needs.

And the entire time that the “journalists” start to pick apart each word, sentence and are more than happy to insert what a candidate “didn’t say but should have”, we have the candidates themselves droning on and on about whatever the group they are speaking to really wants to hear. What I really want to hear is someone who has a message that is the same regardless of where they are speaking or to whom. Please don’t even get me started with those politicians who suddenly take credit for things they had nothing to do with and yet blame everyone else when the credit for something bad is squarely on their shoulders. How about just calling it like it is, because in the end there is no way you are going to satisfy every group of voters in one party, let alone the entire nation.

If that isn’t enough, suddenly a group of well-meaning people get together and decide that there is only one issue that we as voters should worry about and they front the money to run commercials asking us to make sure that we use one issue to decide the candidate we want. I may not be the smartest guy on the face of the planet but it would seem to me that there is more going on in the government than simply who can own a gun, legalizing a drug, deciding who can choose to end a life and my favorite of all time, stealing money from those on social security. Have you ever noticed how the group that is entitled the most is the loudest to scream to keep their entitlement? Isn’t there an easier way to decide how your and my money is spent?

It really doesn’t matter which party I affiliate myself with, although it is helpful to know that I’m more of an independent than anything. Unlike previous years, this latest parade of out of touch individuals really doesn’t have a Man O’ War that makes me all excited to be placing my bet on. I do know however that I have some homework to do before caucus night and I’ll sure be glad when we can sit through an episode of The Big Bang Theory and enjoy a good car commercial or that weird lady from Progressive instead of being told just how a politician, who is likely to disappoint us all in time, should earn our trust, our faith and our vote.

See you next week…remember, we’re all in this together.