The Failure of Debate

I attend a debate at the University of Washington this weekend. The Debate was the College Republicans vs. the Young Democrats. The issues in question were the Bush Tax Cuts and I-1098 ( the income tax). Going into it I was optimistic about the quality of the debate.  Having been in debates at Washington State University looked foreword to the verbal jousting that is debate. The debates I participated in, in the past had a more diverse groups in attendance then this one.  The Democrats lined the left side of the room and the Republicans on the right. There were no moderates to be seen. The debate ended up being more of a pep rally then a competition of ideals. One group would attack the other and their supporters in kind. "The Republicans hate the poor" yelled the Democrats, "The Democrats, hate small business" counter the Republicans. The debate over the issues was anything but a debate. It quickly turned into childish attacks and name calling. Ironically this debate was not to different from the campaign debates i have seen this election cycle. So it is not to shocking that the next generation of political minds acted the same way. It seemed with each point and counter point provided by the panelists, that the divide between the two groups grew and grew. By the end the audience was on the edge of their seats waiting for the  moment when the other groups would be ridiculed and belittled thus proving their moral superiority.

This debate gave me a great deal to think about, not because of what they said but what they did. For a democracy to work you have to have compromise and mutual respect. It seems that those two values are all but lost by the majority of those that choose to represent us. But then the question arises; do we not choose the leaders to represent us? Are not the values and flaws that we see nothing more then our own? Is the great divide we see on C-SPAN and on the floor of the legislature, the creation of the electorate or perhaps an embodiment of something more to come. The time honored ritual of scholarly debate and compromise is something our leaders must once again learn to use. Our nation faces monumental problems that we can not just pass off to one group or the other. In order to fix the issues we have in our nation we must come together. But as it stands know, I worry that the middle ground is no longer obtainable.