Last semester in this column, a variety of progressive ISU students made it clear that George W. Bush needs to be replaced as the president of the United States. Guest columnists did this by critiquing Bush’s policies and presenting alternatives to his arrogant, unilateral diplomacy, his vicious attack on civil liberties and his disastrous trickle-down economics that we are still waiting to trickle.

Bush’s horrendous environmental policy is the most backward in modern history. Time after time, he renominates judges with controversial records on racial issues to our federal judiciary. He is vigorously trying to turn back the progress of Roe v. Wade. And let us not forget his little lie to the entire country in his State of the Union address — something about uranium.

What Bush done for us lately: He is the reason our tuition is up and our financial aid down. I still don’t have health insurance, but at least I’m confident I will find a job after I graduate — or not. As Paul Krugman argued in the New York Times: “George W. Bush endorsed a ‘stimulus’ bill so tilted toward corporate interests that even many conservatives were startled.” We have lost more than three million jobs and mainstream media are making a big deal about the mere 1,000 jobs gained in December. Only 2,999,000 to go.

But enough ranting; you all know that it’s time for a new president. And there is no doubt that we will beat Bush in November. There are only two things I ask of all of you. 1) Caucus Monday for the candidate whom you feel is best qualified and has the ability to beat Bush, and 2) After we discover who the Democratic nominee is, support him or her and vote on Nov. 2.

Why caucus on Monday, Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m.? Because no matter if you’re from Illinois or Pennsylvania, you live in Iowa. And no matter what you think about living in this pleasant rural state most of the time, every four years we are the most privileged, powerful decision-makers in the country. We have the first in the nation caucuses! (If you haven’t heard.)

So what will you do at the Democratic caucuses? First, be sure to go to the right caucus location, according to where you live in Ames. The Story County Democrats’ Web site, www.storydems.org, has a map and a list of locations if you don’t already know where to go. Second, once you get there Monday evening, you must register to vote as a Democrat at your Ames address if you weren’t previously. Don’t worry if you’re from Nebraska or Dubuque, Iowa. You can caucus (and vote in other elections) here in Ames, as long as you register with your Ames address. If you’re 18 by Nov. 2, and you’re a U.S. citizen, you’re good to go.

Once you have that taken care of, there will be some brief caucus business before you actually get to divide into preference groups. There will be various sections of the room where caucus-goers will physically move to according to the candidate they support. From there, your caucus will elect delegates based on the preference groups, and you are free to stay for the remainder of the caucus dedicated to platform resolutions.

But don’t worry about the details of the process. Your precinct chairperson and neighbors will walk you through it all.

Our pick for the Democratic candidate impacts the rest of the nation’s choice. So be sure to choose carefully. Go to their Web sites, read some of their policy proposals, check out their voting record at the nonpartisan Web site vote-smart.org, hear them speak in person (many of them will be in Ames before or on Monday) and make your decision. Personally, I feel that all of them would make fine presidents, so I finally had to go with the candidate whom I feel has the strongest to beat Bush and whose policies I agree with the most. You should do the same.

-Hannah Schoenthal-Muse is president of the ISU Democrats. She is a senior in liberal studies from Des Moines.