by Micah J. Fleck

[dropcap size=small]C[/dropcap]apable of falling short of high expectations in a single bound, Rand Paul is facing a particularly outrageous standard that his rabid supporters (as usual) completely expect him to hit: winning Iowa’s Republican caucus. He’s facing some major odds, notwithstanding the facts that Republican caucuses have typically had significantly less turnout than the Democratic ones, caucuses are a pain in the ass for voters in general, and Rand, frankly, still isn’t polling very well.

Does any of this mean Rand won’t win? Of course not— not by themselves. But combined, these are factors one cannot simply wish-think away despite how hard the Paul fans might try. But perhaps they shouldn’t be so stuck on the Iowa caucus alone as the be-all-end-all determining factor of Rand’s chances of winning, or on a greater level, his lasting effect on the political world.

Ironically, the political activists most vocal in their distrust of media have allowed the media to color their perception of reality when it comes to the importance of the Iowa caucus. The truth of the matter is Iowa hasn’t accurately predicted a presidency, or even a nomination, in four decades. Despite what the talking heads on television tell us, these initial few states hold no particular ability to predict the eventual nominee. Yet the Rand bots have seemingly convinced themselves that this is the case. Because of that, as I’ve written elsewhere, they are failing to see the larger point: Rand Paul has changed politics forever.

The game is rigged, and Paul played along for a little while, but his presidential campaign has taken the rules of late and twisted them into a pretzel. Gone is the softball rhetoric that causes all the hopefuls on the debate stage to blend into a sickening amalgam of regurgitated talking points; here instead is Rand Paul— openly disagreeing with some of the GOP’s favorite positions (including the war on drugs, the excessive bloodshed and warfare overseas, and the current state of the U.S. justice system). When the GOP cronies attempted a media blackout to silence Paul, he went on the most well-known talk shows and crushed their ratings. He’s used live Faceook feeds, a 24-hour stream, podcasts, student groups on college campuses, and more cutting-edge tools to reach a different kind of audience with a different kind of sincerity than any other politician in history. Especially on the Republican front, where no other candidate even comes close.

And that is why Iowa shouldn’t really matter as much to Rand’s supporters as it seems to. The likelihood of him winning any one caucus, primary, or even the nomination, should not be paramount to them. Rather, they should celebrate the fact that their candidate is changing the game in significant, noticeable ways. And in Rand’s game, the playing pieces are back in the hands of the voters. Perhaps this election won’t benefit from this, but if we keep celebrating the political mavericks such as Dr. Paul, future elections will.