Iowa Nice, Caucus Time

Today is the Iowa Caucuses, the first in the nation on the way to picking the Presidential candidates.  A lot of people ask, Why Iowa?  What could a state in the middle of fly-over zone, full of hicks and farmers, where they are ultra conservative have to do with picking our President?

Well, sorry to disappoint, but Iowa isn't anything like you think.  Most of us live in cities, farming is a big business, and we legalized gay marriage.  The first computer was created here, the Manhattan was here for a while, we freed a slave 26 years before the end of the civil war, we integrated our schools 85 years before Brown v. Board of Education, and we were the first state to allow women to become lawyers. 

Our state motto is:  Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.

A state full of hicks?  Sorry.

The best summary of Iowa pride and our state comes from this video. 

Careful, though, it's NSFW.

Good luck to those going to the caucuses and the Occupy the Caucuses movement.

Inspire: Freedom and Liberty

Sorry again, guys.  Sickness struck yesterday even after I instructed it not to.

I live in Iowa.  Not much for anyone to really think about, it's mostly flat and full of corn.  But every once in awhile we do something awesome... such as granting homosexuals the right to marry.  Our state motto is "Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain."  This motto is something that I really feel I've connected to in the past couple years, giving me pride in a country that I tend to be disgusted with.  But at the same time as I am growing tired of the political pollution and environmental destruction, this land is a place where everyone has a right to be heard.  If I don't like it, it is my job, my duty, my civic responsibility to stand up and be heard.

The Fourth of July means fireworks and BBQs, but this year I hope to instill in my son just what it means to be free.

What are your plans for the Fourth?