Elephants and Asses

That about sums it up!

     This year I decided to go to my first live political debate. I thought that it would be interesting seeing our democratic process in action. It was interesting, but not in the way that I thought it would be. We showed up a few hours early as the venue only fit 600 people. It was a good thing that we did because the room was filled within minutes of the doors being opened. While I learned absolutely nothing new about our candidates I did learn a few things.

 What did I learn?

1. People truly are ass hats!

    I say this because we were told not to line up until 6pm. The reason for this was that the children were getting out of classes and the parents needed to be able to get their children without a problem. this is not what happened. By 5:30 there were people lining up at the door, blocking traffic and most likely frightening the children. Due to the early line everyone else began to leave the park and head over to the community center. No one wanted to risk not being allowed inside.

2. Debates do not inform.

    The candidates spent most of the time avoiding answering questions. This is politics as wee know it, but it was particularly bad this day. One candidate didn't even try to  appear as if he was answering the questions. Once asked a question, would turn around and talk about the economy and the jobs that he was going to create. Although couldn't tell us how.

3. Debates are not for the undecided.

    I have already stated that debates do not inform. This is probably because they are really meant for those who have already made up their mind and not for those still considering their vote. The room fills up with the fans and whichever candidate has the most fans in the audience is the winner of the debate. No one is actually paying any attention to the answers and their accuracy, but how much applause each candidate receives. I found it a bit amusing when their were campaign representatives outside the debate afterwards giving out pamphlets and information on the candidates. Everyone there knew who they were voting for. Those papers were changing no one's minds.

4. The people don't care about the truth.

    Politics has become about how well each candidate can twist the truth and how many people will believe the spin. The candidates spend half of the debate telling the audience how evil their opponent is and why. Many times using half truths and misleading information. The audience, instead of researching for themselves just take the word of the politicians. If they do any research it is usually listening to which ever news organization puts their type of spin on the content (Fox News, MSNBC). There is no real research, I mean why would the media lie (catering to their advertisers)?

5. Most people know nothing about their candidate.

    After talking to people at the debate, and asking many why they are voting for their candidate, the answers on both sides were fairly similar:

      I'm a Republican, I only vote Republican.

      I'm a Democrat, I only vote Democrat.

      The Dems are trying to put government into every aspect of our lives.

      The Republicans are trying to put government into every aspect of our lives.

    They don't actually know anything about the particular candidate, just what the party has told them to think. It's very sad.

6.The government thinks we are stupid.

    Yup, they do. They make sure not to answer questions, they respond in quick soundbites that are catchy, "Drill baby, drill", "Keep your government hands off my medicaid", "The 99%", "America, jobs", "Hope and Change". And they do all this to keep us distracted from the actual problems or reasons for why they are doing what they do. (I'd give examples, but that is a whole other blog post). But yes they think we are stupid, and they are mostly right.

     Most of the people that I met at the debate really want things to change. They really think that their party will bring change. The problem is that no political party is going to change anything. Political parties are about control and money. They want power in the government. The only change that will occur is with the people. The problem here is that the people who actually participate in the system have bought into the lies and half truths that their party has fed them. Until we actually start researching the people that we are voting for, finding out what they really intend to do, and then holding them to it once they are elected, nothing will ever change. It can't be about Dem or Rep. anymore. It can't be about power and money. It needs to be about the people.

      Politicians need to be forced to actually answer questions. Provide plausible solutions to our problems. Two minutes in a debate really isn't enough time to give a solid solution to the economic crisis. The only answer that can be given is we need to create more jobs. Yeah, we know that. Now tell us how. The debates are nothing more than a circus meant to entertain the fans and I really see no need for them unless the moderators begin to push the hard questions instead of letting the BS through. 

        The news organizations need to stop catering to their advertisers, and they need to stop being afraid of criticism. Once upon a time we praised journalists for those hard hitting "Gotcha Questions". That was their job. Now they must hold the hands of each candidate and make sure not to hurt their feelings or make them look bad. That would be unprofessional. 

     The debate that I went to lasted an hour and can be summed up in less than 30 seconds:

(G) Charlie Manolakis: Fraud, Fraud, Fraud!!!

(R) Jesse Kelly: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!!!!

(D) Ron Barber: Bipartisan, Bipartisan, Bipartisan!!!

(G, R, D) Audience: Oooh, shiny!!

Yup, that's how the government works now. No wonder we're in trouble.