The last couple of weeks, a lot of people have asked me if the Republicans are going to bother to have caucuses. Their rationale, of course, was that since we are just going to go through the motions and vote to renominate President Bush, then what is the point?

The answer to the first question is obviously, yes, we are going to have a caucus; it’s Monday night at 6:30 p.m. in the Sun Room. But the second question as to why we bother to have one is a bit more complicated.

The reason we are members of the Republican Party is not because we all are Bush supporters, but because we believe that free enterprise and the encouragement of individual initiative outside the strenuous yoke of the government has given our country the greatest standard of living in the history of the world. We also realize that by coming together, we can have a much greater effect than anyone could have individually. But how does such a large group of people come to a consensus?

For Iowa, that’s where the caucuses come in. The Republican Caucus is restricted to registered voters of our party who live in the same precinct. If you haven’t registered in Ames yet, you can register at the door. After electing some party leaders, the caucus moves into a presidential nomination phase. In this phase a surrogate, who in our case is Rep. Jim Nussle, will give a brief speech outlining reasons for supporting his or her candidate.

For example, if you were the surrogate for Dennis Kucinich and you were at the Democratic caucus, you might want to appeal to men who wear wigs that resemble helmets or men who have forsaken the traditional accessory called the eyebrow. If you were Howard Dean, you might first dress down any elderly gentlemen in the audience, call the president a liar, stare and point like a mental patient and wait for the applause. If you were to speak on behalf of the president, you might highlight the way he has handled the worst terrorist attack our country has ever faced with grace and dignity, how he had the temerity to go into Afganistan and Iraq and make the country safer, how he saw an impending recession when he took office and proposed tax cuts and how has enacted most of his domestic agenda without much resistance.

The other way to make a difference is with the platform. After the votes are tallied people get into groups to discuss planks (issues) that they would like to see candidates of their party support. For example, at our caucus one might propose that Bush has not gone far enough with his tax cuts. They propose even deeper cuts to the tax rate. This issue is then debated until there is a vote. If the majority votes yes, the plank could go all the way to the national convention. The plank may have changed a little, but it still originated from one place.

That’s why the caucus is so refreshing. It’s not like going in to a booth and pulling a lever. Any person with the motor ability to walk and apply force with their arm can do that.

The caucus is politics at its purest. It’s political action that requires people to take risks. Action that requires people to propose ideas and vigorously defend them. Our system of government was drafted in this type of arena. It reminds me of the British Parliament, which you can catch on C-SPAN from time to time. It’s an actual give-and-take where people can advocate and defend the ideas they propose, time tirelessly registering people to vote miss the point of the exercise. Why register people who don’t care? The time should be spent getting the people who do care involved.

The people who don’t care have abdicated their say in the matter. So when Monday rolls around, and you have all day to decide if you want to get involved or not, don’t be one of the so many apathetic who stay home.

Strike a blow for liberty and attend the Republican caucus.

-Joshua Reicks is president of Campus Republicans. He is a senior in political science from Lawler.