Will We Ever See Real Debate Again?
There was a time when it was possible to debate all sorts of things. When I was growing up in the fifties and sixties, we argued weekly over which car was fastest, Chevy, Ford, Pontiac, Dodge, or Plymouth. There were NASCAR races every weekend and the results were eagerly awaited so we could discuss best engines and drivers.
Even when we were down in the woods damming up small streams, there was plenty of discussion about how to make the best dam. Then there was baseball. Plenty of us were Yankees fans, but there were others who would argue just as eloquently for other teams.
The discussions got very serious in college as we tried to figure out our place in the world and what role our country should have in Southeast Asia.
By the time I got to the farm, I had to debate why Angus cattle were better than Herefords. Then when I became one of the first farmers to utilize a round baler, I ended up debating the Department of Agriculture on how a round baler could replace a square baler as a source for good cattle feed. They thought I was crazy, but 50 years later everyone uses them.
After I left the farm for the world of computers in 1982, I spent my time discussing why an Apple, later a Macintosh was a better computer than an IBM and eventually a generic Windows computer. Not long ago I made the argument that We Should Have Stayed Angry About Computers.
The problem with debate is you have to agree on the topics. If we are talking about how to effectively manage immigration and citizenship, we cannot have a reasonable debate when one side wants to round up our neighbors and deport them.
We cannot thoughtfully discuss how to help Ukraine remain a sovereign nation when one group argues that they should surrender immediately to Russia.
How do you discuss fair taxation to keep our country running we one side believes they should starve the IRS so they have almost no resources to go after rich tax cheats while the other side believes that everyone should pay their fair share.
The list goes on and on, the problem is competing visions of our country. One believes that government can make our lives better and offers up examples. The other side has bought into the idea that government is the problem and seems to ignore roads, education, and the programs like social security and medicare that provide benefits to many.
We need to have a shared vision of what our country should look like. If we cannot get to that, the opportunity for debate is lost. Currently one side believes that we live in a hellhole. The other side has the facts to prove differently. I don’t know we discuss that kind of difference, but I am willing to try.