Debating the Debates

28 Jun Debating the Debates

“We can’t solve problems by using the same
kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
-Albert Einstein

The recent Democratic debates are a typical example of why our problems don’t get solved. Sure enough, the questions addressed important issues, such as health care, immigration, climate change, gun violence, and threats to our nation. There was also a great deal of intelligence, experience, and eloquence among the 20 candidates who stood on that stage over the two nights.

But such debates, skewed as they are toward what a single person would do if elected, assume a competitive framework that doesn’t allow depth or collaborative discussion. With problems as deep and thorny as those that face us today, no single person, administration, or sound bite can adequately address these issues. No one candidate will have the “right” answers to everything, nor could they.

The model is all wrong.  

What if the public could vote on policies, rather than people?

What if, instead, we held a series of discussions that spent two hours on a single topic, such as climate change, health care, or racism, calling together experts who had studied these issues their whole lives? These people might not be running for office, so they don’t have to attack each other to get the competitive edge, nor couch their response into a 30 second sound bite. These discussions could actually foster collaboration, focus on solutions, and have the luxury to consider out-of-the-box perspectives. They could be “Yes, and. . .” rather than “Yes, but . . .”  Polling could then focus on which solutions to implement, and then find the most effective people to bring those about.

And what if the press, instead of claiming the debate highlight as Kamala Harris’ poke at Joe Biden, actually wrote about the similarity of ideas on the debate stage, looking at ways these ideas could work together?

As we narrow the field of candidates, and eliminate the more edgy perspectives, we lose the valuable input and up-leveling these ideas can bring.  We narrow our solutions rather than widen them.

Einstein said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

The old thinking assumes that competition for the right leader will actually select the best person for the job, one who will solve all our problems for us. In fact, competition, so deeply embedded into our two party system, our economics, health care, and indeed our very psyche, is a root cause of all these problems.

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