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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.

9 Comments
  • Patsy Martinson
    Posted at 01:37h, 29 June Reply

    I’m with you on this.

  • Marylyn Scott
    Posted at 01:47h, 29 June Reply

    Anodes, we are on the same page as so often happened in days of yore! I appreciate your intelligent and respectful response to the debates and feel the same way. I’m disheartened at the way the news dims handling them. Your ideas are great. How can we get them into view?
    Love, blessings,
    Marylyn Motherbear

  • Emily Eisen
    Posted at 02:01h, 29 June Reply

    Exactly bingo

  • Doctress Neutopia
    Posted at 04:14h, 29 June Reply

    I agree with you. It’s the wrong political model. We need a global community of scholars, scientists and artists working cooperatively to solve our complex problems. The Paris Climate Agreement was a step in this direction. I’ve been reading The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision by Fritjof Capra and Pier Luigi Luisi….. We need the systems, networking world view!

    A number of good ideas were raised by the debaters. One such idea was that climate change requires us to develop a new operating system. It reminded me of your work, Anodea!

  • Michelle Black
    Posted at 05:09h, 29 June Reply

    Yes…..collaboration, not competition. Using a circle of unity of all people on each issue…….allowing each to know we have a seat in the circle, to speak one’s truth…….just as the Native Americans use talking circles/council fires when each was heard from– all voices, until a council reaches the
    best answer for the good of all. Allowing each to speak their truth and perspective is necessary for a unified
    effort, where those most personally affected are heard first………where respect and compassion is honored…….where a time of peace is called, and quiet meditative circles gather to be still and listen to Higher Truth under no pressure……..we need to bring all immigrants from those cages, to feed them, care for them, allow them free movement to breathe, bathe, relax, to be bound no longer…..no more exclusion or abuse, or denial of basic needs…………..no more separation of families…….this must stop, now………

  • Lion Goodman
    Posted at 05:26h, 29 June Reply

    In Australia, they’re using a system called MiVote, a way for citizens to be educated on a particular policy, and then vote on which possible solution they would prefer. Their representatives promise to follow the will of the people on which direction they government will take on that particular policy. It is all done electronically, and via cell phones. MiVote has an initiative in the U.S., which I’m following, and in other countries. There are possibilities for public education and citizenry.

  • Marie Fortini
    Posted at 06:16h, 29 June Reply

    In Switzerland they have a cabinet of people representing different perspectives and areas of Switzerland and every year they rotate who gets assigned to be president. The entire 7 years we were there, we never once heard the name of the president until my mother and I almost accidentally bumped in to him in a garden in Bern. More recently, when I volunteered at the Swiss consulate in NYC, when I asked my friend who worked there who was their president, she had to look it up because they had just rotated. The Swiss recognized, ages ago that governing a country was far too complex for any one person to assume full responsibility . It requires collaborative efforts between many people with different perspectives and abilities to effectively run a nation. Also, even though it took longer for women to be able to vote and there are still wage discrepancies between men and women, Switzerland has already had a few female presidents. Perhaps the USA needs to reconsider the office of president and emulate the Swiss who , despite limited natural resources enjoy a top rated quality of life.

  • Cheryl
    Posted at 06:32h, 29 June Reply

    Thank you for these two offerings – so refreshing.

  • Anodea
    Posted at 18:50h, 29 June Reply

    Thanks for these comments. I;d love to see MiVote come to the US, since our current system is quite broken. And the Swiss are always inspiring. That’s a much more sane way to solve problems.

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