Biden and Political Norms The president’s allies won’t let longtime traditions inconvenience him. James Freeman
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-and-political-norms-9bd72737?mod=opinion_lead_pos12
By now news consumers are familiar with the strange phenomenon that much of the American left professes to care deeply about political “norms” even while displaying contempt for the actual rights enumerated in the first two amendments of the U.S. Constitution. This month brings more evidence that the pose is just as phony as it appears.
During the Trump administration there was enough media shouting about this or that norm to fill an entire season of “Cheers.” Yet witness the placid reaction to allies of President Joe Biden attempting to complete the destruction of two political norms that were not convenient to his re-election. The Iowa caucuses have been the first nominating contest on the presidential calendar for half a century. New Hampshire has been the site of the nation’s first presidential primary for more than a century. Starting next Monday in Iowa, Team Biden intends to end these traditions for Democrats.
Robert Yoon reports for the Associated Press:
Are both the Republicans and Democrats holding caucuses in Iowa this year?
Sort of. While both the state Republican and Democratic parties will hold caucuses on Jan. 15, only the Republican event will have an immediate, binding impact on the presidential race. In a departure from previous years, the Democratic caucuses will be held only to conduct administrative party business and to start the process of choosing delegates to the national conventions. Iowa Democrats will express their preferences for their party’s presidential nominee through a mail-in voting process, the results of which will not be known until March.
What’s at stake?
For Democrats, nothing is at stake, since the 2024 caucuses will have no bearing on the presidential race.
The Hawkeye State, where Joe Biden has never run well, has essentially been demoted from a key early battleground to a political show about nothing. As for New Hampshire, the Granite State is still battling against its demotion by the Biden-friendly Democratic National Committee. Karissa Waddick reports for USA Today from Concord:
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella issued a cease-and-desist targeting the Democratic National Committee Monday, ordering the organization to stop claiming that the state’s upcoming Democratic presidential primary is “meaningless.”
Formella responded to a letter the group sent Friday instructing the New Hampshire Democratic Party to “educate the public” that the state’s Jan. 23 primary election is effectively non-consequential. He called the language an attempt to “prevent or deter New Hampshire voters from participating in the January 23, 2024, New Hampshire democratic Presidential Primary Election.”
In the Friday letter, national Democrats urged Democratic organizers in the Granite State to inform voters “that January 23rd is a non-binding presidential preference event and is meaningless and the (New Hampshire Democratic Party) and presidential candidates should take all steps possible not to participate.”
There’s nothing in the Constitution or any federal law that says Iowa and New Hampshire have to go first. No one should pretend that their pre-eminence in the nominating process has been an essential element of American democracy. The Biden line is that elevating South Carolina to the lead spot on the official party calendar allows an early voice to more voters of color. But is it mere coincidence that the Palmetto State’s strong support for Mr. Biden rescued his 2020 campaign?
One would think that the machinations of Team Biden would bother people who value political norms, especially given the more disturbing efforts by Biden loyalists to prevent both Democratic and Republican rivals from appearing on ballots in various other states. And what does it say about the character of a candidate when his allies focus so much effort on changing the rules of the political game? One could almost imagine such a candidate orchestrating a nationwide campaign to suppress information about his family’s enrichment schemes.
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Meanwhile in the Republican Contest
Reporters have spent the last year explaining why Gov. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) will have a tough time beating former President Donald Trump. Therefore it’s refreshing to find a media report addressing issues on which voters might wish to make their decisions. Kudos to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for a substantive discussion with the governor last week at a town hall event at Iowa’s Grand View University. Here’s an excerpt from the transcript:
COLLINS: Florida… You have no income tax. You have said that you believe other states should follow Florida’s lead on that. If you were president, would you eliminate the federal income tax?
DESANTIS: Can I stop dreaming? I mean, wouldn’t you like to eliminate the IRS? And what I would want is I just — I think I would eliminate the IRS, have a single rate and just do like a flat tax. I think that would be the ideal tax system to be able to… take away the distortions.
And what happens is Florida is a good example of this. We have low tax and we cut taxes, and yet we attract more investment and our economic base expands. So I run these big budget surpluses where we’re paying down debt by lowering rates. I think you look at some of the other states that are high tax states, they tax, they cause businesses to flee and individuals to flee. Then they go back to the well and they tax more. And it’s like a vicious cycle.
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