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STANDARD DEBATES MIGHT CIVILIZE US
7-17-09
One
thing that's wrong with America is as plain as the nose on your face.
And in case your nose has been removed, it's as plain as that
strange-looking place where your nose used to be.
From my peephole, here it is: we have screamed at each other so much
that we literally detest everyone who is not just like us. If we are
liberals, we detest all the conservatives. If we are conservatives, we
hate all the liberals.
As I pointed up in a precious column, we would not have Social Security
and Medicare if members of both parties had not put it together. Call it
socialism if you wish, but good ideas are non-partisan. If helping old
people live their final days decently and die with a little dignity
isn't a good idea, I don't know what is.
If it had not been for Republican senator George Norris of Nebraska,
there might have never been a Tennessee Valley Authority to lift several
states out of the economic Stone Age. Some called it "socialism," too.
I am thinking if we could homogenize Democratic senators Humphrey and
Proxmire with Republicans Goldwater and Norris, and then clone such an
advanced being, we could find solutions to all of our challenges. Well,
at least it would be an incredible experiment,
We call TV news analysts "talking heads" but there are no talking heads.
There are only screaming heads. The one getting in the most licks is
always the one who is rudest and screams loudest. Even one of the
presidential debates this last election season resembled a bar room
brawl more than a debate.
The truth is there are no more liberals or conservatives. The liberals
perished with Truman and the conservatives passed with Goldwater. We
have screamed at each other until we have all gone off the deep end and
are blithering radical idiots and it is all about the use of government
power. Each group wants to use it to punish those who disagree with them
and to reward their own kind.
One thing that would help civilize America again would be to require
that all debates be conducted with standard debate rules with timed
openings, rebuttals and closes.
When I was in office and was invited to debate, I always said, "Yes, if
it is a standard debate." I simply would not debate without a moderator
and a timer. Otherwise, you foster screaming and other disrespectful
behavior.
Why is this so important? One word: respect. After the debate the
debaters must return to working with each other and we cannot work with
those who have screamed away our respect.
When I was president of the Young Democrats and my friend, the Honorable
Judge Ted Milburn, was president of the Young Republicans, we had such a
debate. Instead of it driving us apart, we developed a deeper respect
for each other and have remained friends through all these years.
We will not survive as the democracy our founders envisioned if we
develop a pendulum government where the radical right governs for 4-8
years and then the radical left governs a while. For starters, we must
become civil with each other. It de-radicalizes people to work together.
Somehow we must become idea oriented. We must become solution-minded. It
might require dropping parties and letting people run on their own
merits and advance the ideas they think will foster progress. Every time
I question the value of the two-party system, someone calls me a
dreamer. I am certain we could dream up a better way to do our country's
business. I am certain nothing is going to work unless we can become
civil toward each other and respectful of all views.
We don't need screaming heads. We need people who will shut their mouths
long enough to listen to others. And that means standard debates.
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