--- --- # Why Iowa Still Matters by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Dec 4, 2015 5:13 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Dec 4, 2015 5:13 PM UTC **1\.** [**Here’s why Iowa still matters.**](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/12/iowa-still-matters-2016-election-213409) By Colin Woodard in Politico **2\.** [**Can we reinvent cancer surgery?**](http://www.fastcoexist.com/3053883/reinventing-cancer-surgery-by-designing-a-better-hospital-experience) By Jessica Leber in Fast Co.Exist **3\.** [**We couldn’t get the Taliban completely out of Afghanistan. What if ISIS can?**](http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2015/1203/Islamic-State-Why-Afghanistan-isn-t-panicking-yet) By Scott Peterson in the Christian Science Monitor **4\.** [**Are failed states the biggest global threat?**](http://www.newstatesman.com/2015/11/coming-anarchy-john-gray-isis-secrurity-hobbes) By John Gray in the New Statesman **5\.** [**We could save the industry — or at least fund good journalism — with a streaming service for news.**](http://mediashift.org/2015/12/why-we-need-a-streaming-service-for-news/) By Patrick Howe in MediaShift  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ Why Iowa Still Matters ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4136648/why-iowa-still-matters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4136648/why-iowa-still-matters/"},"headline":"Why Iowa Still Matters","datePublished":"2015-12-04T17:13:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:49.049Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4136648/why-iowa-still-matters/","keywords":["Innovation","Afghanistan","Cancer","elections","ISIS","Iowa","Journalism"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4136648/why-iowa-still-matters/","name":"Why Iowa Still Matters"}}]}] ```