Debates Unedifying

Although the current round of Democratic Presidential debates continue to be educating, they lack the quality of edification.  That is, while there is information to be gleaned the format doesn't lend itself to that roundly satisfying sense of well-being and vigor one would hope for from a democracy.

Hillary Clinton is certainly impressive in her pronouncements from the stage.  But from the little bit I saw of Saturday night's debate her response to Martin O'Malley's point about Wall Street control left much to be desired in terms of the larger point:  corporations have too much control over democracy in America.

Surely, the United States can do better than this.  In fact, the U.S. must do better than this if we are to continue as a world leader.

Thinking Ahead: No Repeat of 2000

Salon has an article available on line advocating against a repeat of the Nader flirtation which helped assure a Bush theft of the election of 2000.  The article applies practical logic to the situation now in which there are voices on the left saying they won't vote for Hillary Clinton.

Electing a President is serious business.  It is also more complicated than many seem to realize.  Just ask all the candidates who have already fallen by the wayside:  Walker, Jindal, Chafee, Webb.  Even the sitting Vice-President of the United States felt he had waited too long to jump into the race.

It is true that electing a certain President doesn't matter as much as it should.  But this is very different from saying it doesn't matter at all.  The fact of the matter is it does matter a great deal, especially to those on the lower end of the economic ladder.

Speculation as to what Sanders supporters should do next year may seem premature.  But since they themselves seem to be engaging in it, that makes the subject current.  Such supporters should first continue to support the candidate of their choice for now.  But as they do so, they should consider carefully how much the country suffered under G. W. Bush, a man who lost the popular vote by a half a million votes, yet went one to embroil the country in two unproductive and hugely costly wars.

Note:  I am not linking to the Salon article due to my policy against profanity.