Viewpoint: Did the Debate Make You Swell With Pride?

The first Presidential Debate didn’t tell me a lot about what the President and his Democratic opponent thought about things. I have to admit that as an American I was a little, no make that a lot, embarrassed. My grandchildren do a better job of keeping quiet when someone else is talking.

Of course, about 50% of us who watched the debate think that Joe Biden was disrespectful and rude to President Trump and told more lies than truth; and about 50% of us who watched the debate think that President Trump bullied former Vice-President Joe Biden and wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise. And, of course, that he told more lies than truth.

Interestingly enough, that same 50-50 split plays out when the question is asked, ”Who did the moderator favor, the guy with COVID-19 or the guy with dementia?” Tough call.

I don’t generally watch the debates, and now I remember why. If you believe, as I do, that one of the most important things we can do for our country is cast a ballot, well, right after the debate and 14 times during the debate, I decided whoever we voted for wasn’t worthy of being the President of the United States. Neither was Chris Wallace.

If you also believe, as I do, that an informed electorate is important, the debate leaves us in a bit of a quandary as well. We found out that if Biden had been in charge when COVID raised its ugly head, millions would have died; and we found out from Biden that Trump should have seen it coming and no one had to die.

We found out that every single city, state, or county that is having problems with rioters are run by Democrats; and that every single natural disaster that has happened in the last nearly four years is because President Trump dropped out of some climate accord causing forest fires, typhoons, and near death for everyone on the planet.

I wish science would spend less time on climate change and invent something called the “Pinocchio.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every time a debate candidate lied, their nose would grow? I suspect lengthy noses within a few minutes, possibly breaking the social distancing guidelines.

So, what is a voter to do? Well, with a very pessimistic attitude toward subsequent debates, I looked up the Republican party official platform and the Democratic party official platform.

The Republican platform is 66 pages long. They made no changes on it from 2016. I have not read the entire thing but a few things that caught my attention were: support for traditional marriage on page 11. Support of the 2nd Amendment on page 12, and protection for the unborn on page 13. There was a lot of what I would call traditional patriotism, along with assisting people to help themselves.

The Democratic platform is 92 pages long. They spend pages 49-55 on the climate “crisis".

On page 42 was the democratic response to protection of the unborn. Actually, it seemed to focus on protection of the female. Universal health care also got a lot of pages (26-34).

While the Republican platform spoke in more inclusive terms, the Democratic platform had lots of subcategories: Native Americans, LGBTQ, women, etc. It would seem fair to say the Democrats see our country as much more fragmented than the Republicans picture of our nation.

Neither party did much to define who was going to pay for what they both stated they were going to do. I’m guessing about 50% of us will pay the bill.

One curiosity in the Democratic platform was to make Washington D.C. the 51st state. As I said, just a curiosity.

So, if the two guys debating(?) represent their party’s platforms you might get some insight by asking the following questions on issues that the platforms seem widely apart. Which sounds more like what you believe?

1. Unborn child rights vs. mother’s rights?

2. Can we stop typhoons, hurricanes, pandemics and interruptions during debates by legislation?

3. Is health care a right that should be administered by the Federal government or is health care a privilege that should be the product of capitalism?

4. Should Washington D.C. be a state?

5. Are handouts a way to grow a strong nation?

6. Do most Americans focus on the way we are similar or on how we are different?

7. And finally, who and how is everything both parties say they’re going to do, going to be paid for?

I’m not sure Kamala or Mike will have the answers either.Viewpoint