Flagging The Midwest’s Political Privileges: A plea from an Ohioan in California

Relocating from the Midwest to California in 2023, I found Californians not qualitatively different from Midwesterners. Yet the 2024 election cycle has focused intensely on the Midwest. Two Midwesterners were selected as presidential running mates, one replacing another Vice President from Indiana. The vice-presidential debate was heralded as “very Midwestern,” being civil and substantive (Politico Staff, 2024). Since 2008, three other Midwesterners appeared on presidential ballots (President Obama, Rep. Paul Ryan, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, a native Chicagoan). Indeed, Midwestern identity is a prized commodity on the campaign trail.  

Puzzled by the Midwest’s outsized role in American politics, I realized that several major mechanisms of American governance afford Midwesterners political privileges that are not afforded to all their compatriots. Primary among mechanisms are the Iowa Caucuses, the U.S. Senate, the Electoral College (and alternative procedures, per the Constitution), and the self-imposed ceiling of states at fifty. Furthermore, in privileging some Americans over others, I argue these mechanisms are themselves contrary to Midwestern values. I make these arguments using the lens of Social Constructionism, urging patriotic Americans of the Midwest to examine how their privileges impede the civic lives of their fellow Americans.

Americans like no other?

The word “Midwestern” evokes a reputation for Americans. Shortridge (1989) attributed the Midwest’s characterization as the home of self-reliance, kindness, pragmatism and humility to overcoming economic hardship caused by prologued droughts during the 1890’s (p. 41). Similarly, Lauck (2023)’s evaluation of U.S. history foregrounded Midwesterners’ radical commitment to the continuity of an egalitarian democracy and education of its citizenry. Ultimately, the Midwest, “became a symbol of what’s normal, wholesome, and practical” (Christman, 2020, n.p.).

Differentiating the Midwest from other regions, the preeminent geographer Cotton Mather cited: “it (lacks) the presumptions of the East, the traditions of the South, the flamboyance of Texas, and the lure of the Golden West” (Mather, 1986, p. 193). Mather’s characterization is the only attempt I have found in the scholarship to identify source of the Midwest’s uniqueness. Mather applied Foucault’s approach to understand a societal phenomenon: to examine societal views of that phenomena’s opposite (Foucault, 1982, p. 270). Thus, compared to other regions, the Midwest lacks “(presumptuousness)”, “traditions”, “flamboyance”, and “the lure of the Golden West”. To his characterization, I re-applied Foucault’s method to deduce what the Midwest is, rather than what it is not. Doing so yielded: modest, egalitarian,¹ modest (again), and sustainable.² These three adjectives will serve as an operative set of Midwestern values throughout this essay.

Social Constructionism

Social Constructionism is an approach used across the social sciences that problematizes discourse. Rather than making claims about reality, constructionism relativizes description of reality, recognizing that once, “we begin to articulate what there is… we enter a world of discourse, and thus a tradition, a way of life, and a set of value preferences” (Gergen, 2006, p. 181). The ultimate evaluation of knowledge’s veracity depends upon a socially-agreeable interpretation (Adams, 2006, p.246). Foucault called these consensus-making groups “disciplinary regimes” which, “generate languages of description and explanation– classifications of selves as healthy or unhealthy, normal or abnormal, upper or lower class (etc.)” (Gergen, 2006, p. 48). These discourses become internalized by individuals, which then order their thinking, their decision-making, and, collectively, even their public policy (Gergen, 2006, p. 48). Analyzing discourse, or any quest for knowledge, is inherently subjective, since no human is free of implicit notions of what should be (Habermas, 1972). These aspects are not weaknesses of Social Constructionism, but rather strengths: constructionist theories gained popularity because of their power to problematize the perceived neutrality of scientific advances (Gergen, 2006, p. 168).

Social Privilege

Recent social movements have focused on the notion privilege as a corollary to equal rights, citizenship, and treatment by institutions of the state.  Privilege is, “what someone or something has in virtue of being singled out for advantageous treatment… (which) is necessarily reserved for a few, not given to all (White, 1978, p. 299). Privilege is awarded by virtue of possessing group membership, not based in what a group has or has not done (Johnson, 2006). Privilege often becomes hard to perceive within a society in which systems of dominance (e.g. sexism, ableism, etc.) have become entrenched (Hall, 2019, p. 23).

Institutions/ Features of Contemporary American Governance

Iowa House File 716 (2023)

The Iowa state legislature enshrined into law the Iowa Caucuses’ first-in-the-nation status regarding contests for presidential candidates (Gruber-Miller & Akin, 2023). Iowa’s governor justified this privilege: “Iowa’s large population of independent voters and its practice of careful deliberation contributes greatly to the national presidential primary and makes it the ideal state to kick off the nominating process” (Boshart, 2020). Journalists however noted that both Iowa and New Hampshire are far from being as racially diverse as the U.S., providing skewed samples of the U.S. electorate (Zhou, 2020). As for independent voters, a Pew Research Center study found that 15 other states have an equal or higher number of independent voters (Pew Research Center, 2024). Iowa’s caucuses have been riddled with inconsistencies and mistakes (Cohn et al., 2020).

Four Dakotan Senators representing >2 million Americans

In 2022, the U.S. Senate passed the Electoral Count Reform Act, clarifying the Vice President’s role in elections’ certification. Compared to the House of Representatives, the Senate’s allocation of two senators to each state, irrespective of population, enhances the power of Americans in low-population states and diminishes that of Americans in high-population states. Moreover, Senators serve six year-terms, three times as long than House terms. This lopsided, bicameral national legislature originated in the “Connecticut Compromise” of 1787.

Today, four Dakotan Senators represent a combined population of less than two million Americans whose combined annual 2023 GDP was $150 billion (Country Economy, 2024). If an independent country, the Dakotan economy would fall between Morocco (58th) and Ukraine (59th) (Worldometer, 2024). Conversely, California’s two senators represent the country’s most populated state, totaling 39 million people. California’s economy is the world’s 5th largest (Forbes, 2024).

As such, the Senate drastically under-represents non-White Americans while drastically over-representing White Americans in rural states, like the Dakotas. By 2040, the gap between the most and least-populated states is expected to reach 46 million. The discrepancy will worsen as the political composition of Congress increasingly departs from the political preferences of American voters, which current trends are clearly demonstrating (Balz et al., 2023).

Like all Senators from low-population states, the Dakotan Senators’ power is amplified by the Senate’s self-imposed filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes to pass legislation rather than a simple majority. Thus, a single Senator can obstruct legislation supported by 59 Senators who represent a majority of the American electorate. Sen. Ben Nelson (D- Nebraska) did as much in 2009, blocking the passage of the Affordable Care Act to extract concessions from the Obama Administration in what has is known as the “Cornhusker Kickback” (Herszenhorn & Hulse, 2009).

The domination of the majority by a minority was precisely what Thomas Paine decried in his 1776 work Common Sense, writing, “there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island” (National Constitution Center 2024).

Ohio-mania (2008)

Presupposing General Washington to be the first president, the Founders relegated the conceiving of processes to select the president to the “Committee of Unfinished Parts” before recessing (Waller & Brooks, 2020). There, the Electoral College was conceived of to appease and thus empower white-supremacist governments of the South (Codrington, 2020). The flaws of the Electoral College as originally written became immediately clear, and the 12th amendment was passed to reform the institution in 1803 (Epps, 2019). It became clear how important and how flawed the institution was, so the U.S. Senate tried numerous times between 1816-1824 to modify its winner-take-all allocation, unsuccessfully (Waller & Brooks, 2020).

Today, the Electoral College perverts foundational principles of representative democracy.  Rather than the collective wisdom of the U.S. electorate regularly selecting the president, it is often the case that only a few states will ultimately decide the election. This disincentivizes participation in presidential elections within non-swing states. States become rewarded with candidates’ attention if they are closely divided politically, yet states are punished with candidates’ neglect for being more politically homogeneous. For example, Ohio was the ultimate swing state, siding with the Electoral College winner ever election from 1964 – 2016 (Elving, 2024). One study examined one sample election— in 2008— scrutinizing every (/vice-) presidential candidates’ visit to states nation-wide, from September 1 until November 4, 2008. They discovered that eleven states accounted for 75% of all visits nation-wide, with Ohio accounting for more than any other state: 75 out of 338 total visits (Masket, 2009, footnote 2). Per the Ohio governor, Obama won Ohio –and thus the presidency– only because he visited Ohio incessantly (NPR, 2008). In total, 12 states had no visits from one of the four (vice/) presidential candidates (D, R). Unvisited (“orphaned”) states included Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas (Morris, 2011). Thus the Electoral College is, “an 18th century relic that excludes the voices of too many voters… a stumbling block on the road to majoritarian democracy” (NPR, 2022).

In prioritizing only swing-states, candidates are encouraged by the Electoral College system to court parochial interests, not those of the greatest number of Americans. As a result, Americans’ perceptions of various issues become distorted. For example, journalists noted that the coal industry employed significantly less Americans than does the solar industry, yet the latter rarely was a campaign issue—only because the solar industry centered in California (non-swing state), while the coal industry centered in Ohio and Pennsylvania (swing sates) (Popovich, 2017).

Legislation to reform the Electoral College has introduced 700 times in the history of the U.S. Congress, more than any other subject (National Archives, 2024). Recent polling found a majority of Americans support abolishing the Electoral College (Kiley, 2024). Two sides exist on this issue (Intelligence Squared Debates, 2024). Yet only one side accepts the lunacy that Roger Anderson’s vote (Ohioan, 2008) was coveted, yet Roger Anderson’s vote (Ohioan, 2020) and Roger Anderson’s vote (Californian, 2024) were wholly ignorable to successful campaigns.

The Constitution’s “Most Dangerous Blot”

In presidential elections in which no candidate wins a majority of Electoral College votes, the House of Representatives selects the winner, with each state casting a single vote. Again, the will of 35 million Texans becomes equal to that of >1 million North Dakotans. Prophetically, Thomas Jefferson lamented this procedure as “the most dangerous blot” on the Constitution only one year before such an event occurred. President John Quincy Adams (Whig- MA) was chosen by the House of Representatives during the 1824 election (WBUR On Point, 2024).

Second-class U.S. Citizens

Only states and Washington, D.C. enjoy Electoral College votes, excluding U.S. citizens living in five U.S. territories. In 2024, 3.5 million U.S. citizens remained without meaningful representation in the U.S. Congress and/or Electoral College votes. Ironically, each territory– Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands—is commemorated on U.S. quarters. Their combined population outnumbers the combined population of the five least populated states– Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska and the Dakotas. Moreover 98% of whom are racial minorities (Neff, 2024). The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) calls these polities 21st century colonies (ACLU, 2024).  Figures mentioned exclude the District of Columbia’s 700,000 citizens, who are also a racial-minority majority (Census Reporter, 2024). Since the 1961 passage of the 23rd Amendment, Washington D.C. has enjoyed participation in the Electoral College. Yet as of 2024, Washingtonians still have no voting representation within the U.S. Congress, despite paying more federal taxes than 19 states (Norton, 2024). Midwesterners have their own history of disenfranchising minorities, like Ohio’s Black Laws (Case Western Reserve University, 2024), and denying women’s suffrage, despite the Midwest hosting of some of the earliest national conventions of suffragettes in the 1850’s (National Parks Service, 2024).

Conclusion

Here under the California sun, my eyes clearly see the political privileges that Midwesterners are afforded through institutions of American governance. These privileges are anti-egalitarian, immodest, and detrimental to American democracy, and thus antithetical to Midwestern values. Admittedly, the four of institutions here outlined also privilege non-Midwesterners under various circumstances. This fact parallels that “Midwestern values” are not proprietary to Midwesterners. These inequities so pervert representative democracy and so implicate Midwesterners that they are offensive to the Midwesterners. In the 21st century there is no justification in violating, denying, or distorting the foundational principle of representative democracy: one citizen, one vote.

Endnotes

1. I interpret Mather’s “the traditions of the South” as referencing the South’s enduring racial socio-economic hierarchies rather than a lack of innovation. In contrast, egalitarian democracy was a prioritized in Midwestern society (Lauck, 2023).
2.  I selected “sustainable”, as an antonym for the zeitgeist of the California Gold Rush to which Mather alluded.  Fever dreams of fortune during the 1840’s drew thousands of men from their stable existences and into the California wilderness.

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