There was a time when Iowa mattered. From 1972 to 2020, we hosted the first-in-the-nation caucuses, despite a population that is overwhelmingly white and unabashedly rural. Every four years, the entire country learned how neighbors spent an evening gathered together to hash out their stakes in the democratic tug-and-pull—physically switching candidate allegiances or sticking to them to gain influence in the electoral process. Other states were impressed by how seriously we took our responsi...
