Presidential candidate (only running in Iowa) seeks process reforms to curb political influence

CEDAR RAPIDS - John Cogswell is running for president, but only in Iowa.

'Iowa is a seminal state because of the caucuses,” the Colorado attorney said during a recent stop in Cedar Rapids. Iowans can influence the political process because of the first-in-the-nation status in ways that voters in other states can, he said.

Unlike most of those in the race, Cogswell doesn't have a pet issue like taxation or national security or income inequality. They're all important, the 75-year-old former Marine said.

His issue is the process. Candidates - and voters, he said, have 'lost their reverence for the process.”

'Better leadership will give us better policy,” he said. That won't happen to what he calls process amendments to the Constitution are adopted 'to diminish the influence of ambition and insatiable desire for re-election.”

So Cogswell is asking Iowans to support him in the caucuses, it because he thinks he'll win the nomination, but because he wants to send a message.

'The only solution to America's problems is better leaders and that all other proposed solutions are delusions to preserve the status quo,” he said.

Cogswell is hoping Iowans will support him in the caucuses to send a message to that they don't respond to 'big money.”

'I can pass the character test,” he said, 'and the likelihood of (caucusgoers) picking the winner is slim, so why not pick a reformer?”

Cogswell is running as a Republican, 'but I'm asking Democrats to support me, too.”

For more, visit www.johncogswell.com.