What Rob Sand Is Doing in Iowa

Before anybody argues about politics, Rob Sand asks the room to do one thing together.

There’s a Democrat you probably haven’t heard about running for governor in Iowa. He begins every town hall the same way. He asks Republicans to raise their hands and the room applauds them. Independents raise their hands and get applause too. Then the Democrats.

Then everybody in the room sings the first verse of America the Beautiful together before the town hall starts.

(Video courtesy of Bleeding Heartland)

It sounds fake and corny when you first hear about it. Like something from an Aaron Sorkin movie or a consultant’s daydream about restoring civility. But it’s very real and it’s now happened over 100 times in 6 months across the state of Iowa.

Rob Sand is the only Democrat who holds statewide office in Iowa, which has become very red over the last few decades. He’s held town halls in all 99 counties. The events aren’t flashy. But the opening itself says a lot about how Sand views politics.

Most politicians begin with the assumption that the electorate is permanently divided into enemy camps. They must energize their side, inflame and depress the other side and keep people angry enough to stay engaged. And much of the time this works electorally but it creates a culture where Americans treat each other like mortal enemies.

Sand is reversing this dynamic, or at least interrupting it for an hour.

The point of the singing isn’t that Republicans and Democrats suddenly agree with each other. It’s that before anyone starts arguing about taxes or Trump or schools or whatever else, everybody in the room is asked to acknowledge that the other people in the room are still Americans too. They all belong. It’s an incredibly low bar. Right now, it feels strangely powerful.

There was a time when life in America required a lot more interaction between people who disagreed politically. There was more activity in churches, town papers, civic clubs, Little League and town meetings. A lot of these institutions or associated activities have moved online, where it’s easier to engage in conflict and harder to coexist.

What Rob Sand is doing feels old fashioned in a way that catches a lot of people off guard, in a good way.

And politically, it’s working. He’s getting a lot of Republicans at his events. Sand is pragmatic and local papers describe him as “non ideological.” He’s raised millions after quickly entering the race. He doesn’t talk about Iowa voters as if half the state is morally contaminated and deplorable, with the other half needing to be permanently mobilized against them.

Americans keep saying they want less polarization but most of the incentives reward the opposite. The people who stand out now are the ones who are willing to buck this trend and act differently in public, not just talk differently online.

Rob Sand is on to something big: democracy works better when people see each other as neighbors first and partisans second.

That should be completely normal. Right now, it seems radical.