The must-read today for watchers of Senator Chuck Grassley is Dick Armey’s piece in the Wall Street Journal. The former majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives knows full well what conservative, Republican leadership demands — and he knows full well what a surrender of principles looks like. In Senator Grassley, Armey finds a baleful example of the latter: espousal of big government, collaboration with Hillary Clinton, opposition to the President, and a general endorsement of a big-government takeover of American health care.

This isn’t just bad for America — it’s bad for the Republican party and the conservative movement. Grassley’s way, as Armey points out, is a surefire recipe for electoral defeat: “[W]hen we act like us, we win. We proved that in 1994. And when we act like them, we lose. Republicans proved that in 2006.”

With all this said, it’s worth quoting Armey’s lede:

While the Democratic Party appears unified under the banner of big-government health care, the GOP seems conflicted and running scared. This is a classic case of Republicans being afraid that the public will not understand good policy reforms. Rather than promoting the principles of consumer choice, individual responsibility and provider competition that would transform our broken health-care system, key Republicans are bowing to political pressure and signing on with the government-run health-care Democrats.

Emblematic of this phenomenon is Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley….

Of course, it’s all well and good that Republicans and conservatives on the national stage grasp this. But when do Iowa Republicans and conservatives awaken to it? When do will only groups that Chuck Grassley listens to actually speak?