Debate or Entertainment?

 
 

   The networks get high ratings.

   The audience gets to see the candidates and can cheer for their own.

   The TV viewers get some form of entertainment.

   But I do not think that the political process is furthered in a meaningful way when there is no civil or tempered discussion of the important problems facing the country.

   And I do not think that we get much idea of a particular candidate's thoughts on the major questions of the day…

   When all I remember about a "debate" is one candidate talking over another and breaking in on another's answers to the questions from the moderator. Bombastic rhetoric or cute one liners makes men seem like kindergartners.

   I say it is showmanship, a sop to the base of a candidate's support, with no meaningful give and take, and a lot of the time no one listening to another. What is civil about any of that?

   I have a suggestion to the networks who provide the medium for all of this. Let's put each candidate in a soundproof booth where they can hear what the others are saying without being able to interrupt and talk over the other. Let's have a switch on each mike, controlled by the moderator that cuts the candidate off when the bell rings and does not make that mike active until the moderator asks him a question or recognizes him.

   Maybe then we, the audience, could actually hear if the men on the stage could give a coherent answer to a question or relate to the others with some sort of consideration. We might actually learn something and make a judgment on the value of an argument.

   Gov. Kasich and Dr. Carson conducted themselves as men, but the others were closer to kids on a playground. I say kudos to those two, while I notice that they are 4th and 5th in the ranking of the Republican candidates.

   Perhaps our political process is past the point of civility and all we want is a show.

   Our country is the loser in all of this.

   And I remember someone saying once that a country will get the kind of leadership it deserves, and that scares me to no end.

   And I am disappointed and sad.