The Pendragon's Hall

Whatever the result of tonight's caucuses in Iowa, you can bet people will be screaming about it tomorrow. The Pendragon hopes to have cause for celebration, but many find the process "undemocratic," a cover word for something you don't like but can't think of a better word for, and is supposed to end all discussion, like the term "racist." The press will display, as usual, all of the pointless American obsession with privacy, saying the fact that Iowans gather together and publicly state their preference for president violates the sacrosanct right to private ballot, another necessity found in the "living constitution," I suppose, right next to abortion and sodomy. After all, the progressives introduced the notion of a private ballot to combat corruption, but it hasn't exactly solved the problem, has it? The dead still vote in Chicago; felons still vote in Florida and nursing home patients are brow-beaten by their health care providers to vote for one candidate or another. I say: dispense with the privacy fetish. Americans are too consumed by it anyway. Let them stand up and tell the world who they support. I'm not afraid to do it. If we fear being booed by our fellow citizens who disagree, then maybe it will force us to make sure we're supporting a candidate that we actually believe in rather than one chosen at random in the privacy of the voting booth. So say what they will: I like Iowa's process and honestly wish it had greater power than it has. Candidates really need to appeal to the people when they're competing in Iowa, more than they do anywhere else and after all, isn't that what democracy is all about?