Why do we only formally debate during elections?
I was fascinated this week by the debate between Tim Ryan and J.D. Vance for the Senate seat in Ohio. Ryan is an interesting guy, and I suppose I personally enjoy watching a working-class hero do a master balancing act between his blue collar and his blue suit. What language will he use? How emotional will he be? Will he present as a polished politico or as a man of the people, the guy who wrote that book about farming? He seems to do both well, even though he’s been in Congress for 20 years and, well…never seems to have had a job that wasn’t on Capitol Hill. At the other end of the stage was Vance, who went from venture capitalist to celebrated memoirist to renowned Trump kiss-ass, who spent most of the time dodging very legitimate claims that he funded January 6 insurrectionists and is a right-wing election-denying extremist. It was an eventful clash.In America, our debates — in their formal form — pop up on our screens every two years. The presidential ones, of course, are promoted and watched like championship football games. The midterms ones are more local media fare, presented state- and district-wide. Pre-2020, these debates were a tried-and-true staple of the American electoral process. Sometimes their format changed, sometimes there were more — or fewer — but in general, we always knew what to expect from these contests. In the Trump years, the presidential debates were, of course, turned into a circus. A pre-show press conference with Bill Clinton’s mistresses. Trump showing up with Covid to debate Biden. Then not showing up at all next time. As he did with most formalities and norms, Trump’s clown car broke those debates.On the other side of 2020, and as we head into 2024, wouldn’t be well served to re-imagine the concept and form of our debates? Why do we only formally debate every two years? Why do we pack in every issue under the sun into 60–90 minutes? Shouldn’t these kinds of exchanges be an ongoing part of maintaining — and perhaps fixing — our democracy? Wouldn’t it be great to watch the leaders we know square off…
0 Comments