Iowa Sucks

Paul Waldman in the American Prospect writes about the absurd farce that is the Iowa caucus' wildly disproportionate influence in our American political system. Kevin Drum says that "What's really remarkable, though, is that Iowa has gotten more important over time, not less, even though everybody knows this is absurd."

I'll beat that. What's really, really remarkable is the source of Iowa's growing significance -- arbitrary diktat from the media. If campaign reporters covered Iowa in a manner proportionate to its objective significance -- the assignment of a tiny number of delegates by an unrepresentative electorate through an arbitrary and anti-democratic procedure -- then Iowa would barely matter at all. But the press, instead of doing that, treats us to this endless valorization of the alleged "authenticity" of Iowa as if the vast majority of Americans who don't live in all-white rural states are somehow fake.