Could Iowa be the first "Yellow" state? (Clive: 2014, live)

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by Xander_Crews

Uh, libertarians are for open borders, nothing wishy-washy about that. If you slash the welfare state, immigration is a good thing.

Including farm subsides, of course? Iowa was ranked second for subsidies from 1995 to 2012, receiving $24.9 billion during that period.

Notwithstanding that Iowa is not anywhere near any "borders", don't think voters will go that way if Libertarians want to cut off their FedGov money. Money talks more than ideologies.

[Xander_Crews]

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

Including farm subsides, of course? Iowa was ranked second for subsidies from 1995 to 2012, receiving $24.9 billion during that period.

Notwithstanding that Iowa is not anywhere near any "borders", don't think voters will go that way if Libertarians want to cut off their FedGov money. Money talks more than ideologies.

Again, this thread is a hypothetical based on the premise that those predicting a libertarian revolution are right, and that means libertarians in federal office as well. It would all be rolled back a bit in that scenario... the question really is, is Iowa one of the states that would be more accepting of small government or less accepting of it than other states.

As always, thanks for your opinions.

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by Xander_Crews

Again, this thread is a hypothetical... that means libertarians in federal office as well

Well, being of an experimental temperament, it would certainly be interesting to me if Iowa was the test case. After all, it's not just the "big" states (disclaimer: like mine) that can make the (sorely needed) changes in the US.

A choice besides the Blues and Reds would perhaps be a nice change. But Yellow? Wish they hadn't chosen that color.

And thank you for your opinions as well.

[EricS39]

The Libertarian state is Nevada. Legalized Gambling and x rated club scene and with the exception of Harry Reid, a pretty red state

It's Conservative sentiment "Govt leave us alone" with zero Bible Belt culture attached

[danielj72]

Originally Posted by fezzador

Honestly, taking the January caucus away from Iowa isn't a bad thing. In my experience, Iowans aren't particularly politically savvy. They may have been at one point, but the perpetually-shrinking rural population is losing its voice, being constantly replaced by a "blah, whatever" sort of attitude by urbanites.

Alabamians (and Southerners in general) probably take their politics far more seriously than any other region in the country. They don't care if anyone disagrees with them, they are raised a certain way and they'll be damned if anyone comes and tries to change their lifestyle. While we probably won't see another uprising in our lifetimes, there is an increasing amount of resentment toward D.C. as many a Southerner will tell you that the (current, at least) federal government goes against practically everything they were raised to believe in. Even a Republican-controlled White House or Congress, while tolerable to them, is still a bit more moderate than they like.

Todays government goes against how all of us over 35 years old were raised, no matter what part of America we live in. Here in the south that is even more true, and true for everyone not just those over 35, that is the difference between the north and south and their attitudes toward the current socialist regime. You say an uprising wont happen in our lifetime, well maybe but maybe not. When the economy finally implodes under the weight of 20T in debt, and by everyone with their hands stuck out there is no telling what will happen. Just 2 years ago secession petitions circulated through the south and western states in response to premier Obamas re-election. During the government shutdown regular folks openly defied the government closures of national parks and monuments and states banded together to re-open the parks in defiance of the feds. Just a few weeks ago armed cowboys drove BIA agents off over the Cliven Bundy cattle issue in Nevada. The feds gave in to the armed people to avoid bloodshed. Regular folks have had it, and rebellion is a possibility. States rights issues like abortion, Gay marriage and federal gun laws could be the trigger, or the trigger could be an angry response to the reality of the governments part in an inevidable economic collapse caused by national debt. Rebellion has happened before in the south, and that being the case it can happen again. If it does happen again it may not be just the south, but the west too, giving us the edge this time. Just because the north won in the 1860s does not mean they would win now, the south and west are now the more powerful part of America so the rebellion may very well be successful if it ever does occur again. The only reason the left is winning elections is because large liberal cities dominate the northern and west coast states, giving them an electoral edge. Not since the civil war has there been such a divide politically in this nation. People who hold traditional values get angrier and angrier all the time.

[capitalcityguy]

Originally Posted by Xander_Crews

Again, this thread is a hypothetical based on the premise that those predicting a libertarian revolution are right, and that means libertarians in federal office as well. It would all be rolled back a bit in that scenario... the question really is, is Iowa one of the states that would be more accepting of small government or less accepting of it than other states.

As always, thanks for your opinions.

This is timely.

If you want to get a pretty good gauge of where the heads are of a mixture of young & old, anti-establishment liberty/conservative grassroots types in Iowa, you might be interested in listening to the audio of this recent focus group discussion:

Deace's Iowa Senate Grassroots Focus Group | Steve Deace

Granted, there is a general focus on the Republican primary for the US Senate seat (being vacated by Harkin - D) but a lot of discussion is on the local and national level regarding issues. As you'll hear, no love for liberal side of things and maybe even less for "establishment" Republican types.

It is a good listen.

[Xander_Crews]

Originally Posted by capitalcityguy

This is timely.

If you want to get a pretty good gauge of where the heads are of a mixture of young & old, anti-establishment liberty/conservative grassroots types in Iowa, you might be interested in listening to the audio of this recent focus group discussion:

Deace's Iowa Senate Grassroots Focus Group | Steve Deace

Granted, there is a general focus on the Republican primary for the US Senate seat (being vacated by Harkin - D) but a lot of discussion is on the local and national level regarding issues. As you'll hear, no love for liberal side of things and maybe even less for "establishment" Republican types.

It is a good listen.

Sweet, I will give it a listen, thanks for posting!

[lurtsman]

My personal opinion: Iowa is unlikely to be the first, or one of the first, states to go Libertarian.

New Hampshire is already well under way. Colorado passed Tabor long ago, which was one of the greatest libertarian mile stones. In short, Tabor ties the governments hands when it comes to raising taxes without a vote. While some democrats have absolutely hated it for its flaws, and I admit (even as a libertarian) that it does have some flaws, it has done a great deal to give democrats power. Since libertarians often (not always) side with democrats on non-monetary issues, (See: Gay rights) democrats were able to take office in Colorado with Tabor in effect. Ironically the effect of the Libertarians and Republicans working together to create a law against raising taxes, meant the libertarians were free to vote in democrats knowing that those democrats did not have the authority to raise taxes. The right wing campaign of "Don't vote for the democrats, they'll take your money" became pointless.

I would think Nevada would have a shot given that Vegas shows some of those values.

With all that said, I would love to see Iowa make some serious headway in that direction. I think it will be slow going, but I would be happy to be wrong. The enormous subsidies going into Iowa, and the election of representatives like Steve King, make me think there are many hills yet to be climbed.

[capitalcityguy]

I disagree the election of Steve King means anything of the sort. He was challenged by an ill equiped, hand picked for name recogition only, political consultant campaign driven, establishment candidate - Kristie Vilsack. She represented everything in politics and in Washington that those of us who are liberty leaning are against.

[lurtsman]

It does not surprise me that you are okay with the election of Steve King.