On the first of February, the CEOs of corporations, small- and large-business owners, police chiefs, city leaders, pastors and priests, government and state workers, owners of trucking companies and convenience stores, and farmers participated in the Iowa Caucuses.
They will help select the next POTUS, who will probably appoint four Supreme Court justices, who will rule on labor laws affecting workers. They will select the next executive who will enforce immigration policy or not, prosecute crime, and lead our military as well as execute agricultural policy.
That is where the sinister elitism and downright undemocratic process of the Iowa Caucuses will rear their ugly heads. The people most affected by the selection of the chief executive will have no voice in this process. Sure, farmers caucus for candidates supporting ethanol because farmers are free at 7 p.m. on a February night. The majority of factory workers, truck drivers, active-duty military, railroad workers, cops, firemen, and nurses working second shift will have no voice. They pay taxes to the State of Iowa and the federal government. They are forced to buy the ethanol but have no vote. “Taxation without representation” was a battle cry that launched the founding of this country. We who are not of the professional class, who work, will have no representation.
It is time to end this tyranny of voter suppression by both political parties and allow the votes of every Iowa worker to be heard. It is time to end the caucus and enact voting procedures that allow for everyone to participate. By allowing every Iowan to vote, we will make Iowa a more representative state rather than the coronation of the elite and the special interest.
Mark J. Riley
Davenport
