Hitch bitches about Iowa

Newly minted American citizen Christopher Hitchens was an arrogant blowhard long before he won his Green Card. Yet, occasionally Westmonster finds some valid points mixed in amongst the bombast. Here on the first real day of the 2008 American presidential selection process, he weighs in with some about how "undemocratic" the Iowa caucuses really are:

I was in Des Moines and Ames [Iowa] in the early fall, and I must say that, as small and landlocked and white and rural as Iowa is, I would be happy to give an opening bid in our electoral process to its warm and generous and serious people. But this is not what the caucus racket actually does. What it does is give the whip hand to the moneyed political professionals, to the full-time party hacks and manipulators, to the shady pollsters and the cynical media boosters, and to the supporters of fringe and crackpot candidates.

It's true… the "caucus" system applied in several states is inherently undemocratic, separated only by Iowa's Clean Indoor Air Act from the practice of choosing presidential nominees behind closed doors in smoke-filled rooms (though, presumably, Hitchens wouldn't mind being able to have a fag or ten indoors).

Hitchens quotes Washington Post reporter Dan Balz:

"In the presence of friends, neighbors and occasionally strangers, Iowa Democrats vote with their feet, by raising their hands and moving to different parts of the room to signify their support for one candidate or another. … [F]or Democrats, it is not a one-person, one-vote system. … Inducements are allowed; bribes are not."

What's more, the Iowa caucus' "first-in-the-nation" status often gives it the power to elevate an obscure candidate into front-runner status, as it did famously with Jimmy Carter in 1976.

…the rest of the United States is a passive spectator while about half of 45 percent of 85,000 or so Republican caucus voters promote a provincial ignoramus and anti-Darwinian [former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee] to the coveted status of "front-runner" or at least "contender."

Westmonster basically agrees, but would like to note that Huckabee isn't half the provinical anti-Darwinian ignoramus that the current White House occupant is.

Futhermore, Westmonster wonders how Hitchens could possibly have left out the fact that Bush's road to Washington in 2000 basically started with the presumably more democratic South Carolina primary, coming later this month, wherein a parade of racist, redneck hoo-hahs comprise the Republican electorate.

Here at Westmonster, we generally favour democracy. But the Americans are sure making a council of wise elders look really enticing.

Written by Andrew Levy on 3 Jan 2008 10:50 AM. Permalink