The Caucuses

What I took with me to my caucus tonight.  Photo my J. Berta

Greetings All:

So tonight was the Iowa Caucuses.  I went.  Actually, all of us went, the whole family.  Even though Carly, our youngest, could not vote, she came out and was a great sport.  Cassie, our oldest, was able to participate in her first caucus.  I was so proud of her.  Dawn also participated in her first Democratic caucus.  Tomorrow, she's looking to switch back to being an Independent.  But for tonight, she chose to support Senator Sanders, as did Cassie.  As I type this, they are lamenting that he's coming up a bit short to Secretary Clinton.  

From my perspective, Senator Sanders, in many ways, already carried the day.  But more on that in a moment.

I attended my precinct caucus at our high school and was thrilled that 253 of my fellow neighbors and citizens came out to caucus.  I am beyond proud of how well everyone behaved, how their passion for their candidate still left room for civility and decorum.  It's how it should be.  I brought my copy of Robert Rules and didn't have to flip it open once.  As I mentioned, as it should be.

I've been a Democrat my whole life.  Yet this election was a challenge for me.  My issue this year was ISIS and the defeat thereof.  I even flirted (seriously) with endorsing another candidate for his support of ground troops to fight ISIS.  It was that important to me.

But in the final analysis, there was something that trumped one issue or a candidate, it was this:  I had the rare and wonderful opportunity to attend my precinct caucus with my entire family.  That will almost certainly never happen again.  There was no way I was going to miss that.

I took my time finding a candidate.  Actually, that is not entirely accurate.  First off, there was not much of a choice.  God bless the two Governor O'Malley supporters, but the was no way he was going to be viable.  That left Sanders and Clinton.  Although I do respect and yes, like, Senator Sanders, I do not see him electable.  So at the end of the day, er, evening, I went with Clinton.

Yet I had some unfinished business.  At the end of the Democratic Caucus, resolutions are introduced.  By then, there had been a mass exodus from our caucus site.  The number of 253 had melted to 25 of us.  There were three resolutions.  One of those was mine.  Here it is:

My resolution introduced tonight as the caucus.  Photo by J.Berta.

It failed and I was not surprised.  I was not upset.  All I wanted was to put it out there, my resolution it is.  Perhaps I caused one of the remaining 25 to at least think about this issue.

To me, that is both the obligation of and honor of being a citizen, of being a registered voter in Iowa.  You can participate to whatever degree you wish.  It is a wonderful feeling.

And now, it's time for bed.  Normalcy returns to Iowa with the sunrise.  I, for one, am looking forward to it.  I made my point on a big issue.  Now it's time to return to my regular life.  A regular, wonderful life I am grateful to have.  Many of my fellow Iowans have it as well.  

In that light, there are no losers.  Something truly to cheer about indeed.

Be well my friend,
Jeno