Here’s why I won’t be watching the presidential candidates ‘debate’

By David McElroy · October 16, 2012

If you’re a political junkie, you might actually be excited about seeing Barack Obama and Mitt Romney hold the joint media appearance tonight that we’ve been conditioned to call a debate. If you’re not a political junkie, you’ve probably been flooded with news stories and commentary that imply every good citizen ought to be watching.

Well, I won’t be watching. I didn’t watch any of the joint circus appearances during the GOP primaries and I haven’t watched the presidential and vice presidential debates so far. I’ve been told that I’m “uninformed” because I don’t watch these things, but I’m not terribly concerned. I won’t be watching. Here’s why.

First, I don’t believe in the majoritarian system, so why would I feel obliged to participate in this farce? I don’t believe in the moral legitimacy of a system that claims the right to control us, so why would I lend it my respect by paying attention?

Second, taking this farce seriously implies that there’s a real choice. There’s not. Yes, these two candidates have a few issues on which they disagree, but when it comes to the vast majority of issues — thing such as the legitimacy of government control over individuals, the acceptability of killing innocent civilians in countries that haven’t even attacked us and the legality of locking people up without trial if a president orders it — these guys are on the same page.

I disagree with Noam Chomsky philosophically, but he was correct when he addressed the narrow range of acceptable political debate: “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”

That’s what we’re seeing. We see vicious argument between partisans of the two parties, but the range within which they argue is very, very narrow. Other views are completely ignored. You won’t see candidates of any other parties on stage with the Red and Blue candidates tonight, will you?

Third, you can’t believe what the candidates say during campaigns anyway. Let’s be honest. They will say or do anything to win election. Once they’re in office, they’ll ignore whatever they want to ignore. Remember George H.W. Bush’s famous “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge during the campaign? How did that work out when he actually raised taxes as president? And remember candidate Obama promising four years ago to get out of Afghanistan and shut down the military prison at Guantanamo? The president with the Nobel Peace Prize hasn’t exactly lived up to his promises.

So why would you watch tonight?

Some people say they need to watch to decide who to vote for, but if you haven’t figured out who to vote for by now, why in the world would a few more dozen lies by each side in a media appearance help you decide? Some people say they just watch for entertainment. If that’s you, all I can say is that you have a stronger stomach than I do.

I won’t be watching tonight. I see no reason to. I see every reason to check out of the system and pay attention to real life instead. It’s up to you, of course, but I recommend you quit paying attention to the farce and quit pretending it matters.

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A state legislator in Maine has been stripped of the ability to speak in the state Legislature — and her votes are not being counted on legislative issues — all because she made a truthful social media post. Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn, Maine) opposes allowing boys to compete against girls’ teams in school athletics and she’s become known for making an issue of it. On Feb. 17, she posted on Facebook about a recent example that she found outrageous. She posted side-by-side photos of a boy named John who competed last year in a state track event and won fifth place against other boys two years ago — and a photo of the same boy (now called Katie) who won first place in the same event this year against girls. Whether you find this outrageous or not, Libby is clearly being honest and truthful about the objective facts of an issue of public importance. But the state Legislature censured her. Democrats decreed that she could not speak in the House and that her votes would not count on legislation — until she apologized for the outrage of telling the truth. She refused and her constituents have been unrepresented in the state House since then. The people who promote this ideology are out of touch with reality and won’t rest until they force the rest of us to join them in this delusion. But even if you agree with “trans” ideology, you should be appalled at this heavy-handed attack on political speech.

The late Steve Jobs was at the center of our culture’s transition from analog to digital. He co-founded Apple Computer. He led the team that revolutionized personal computing with the first Macintosh. As CEO of Apple, he led the development of the iPhone and later the iPad. You would think the children of such a man would be surrounded by technology. But Jobs and his wife Laureen didn’t let their children use iPads. Their home had few screens of any kind. Even though Jobs spent most of his time developing and selling Macs and iPhones and iPads, he was home with his wife and children for dinner when he was in town. The family ate together at a simple wooden table in their kitchen — and there were no digital devices or focus on popular culture. Instead, he’s said to have guided his family toward deep discussions of art, philosophy and education — with no iPads to be found. If the man who guided the development of such products chose a different path for his own children, does that suggest that his digital experience taught him that children need human connection, not screens? And does it suggest the possibility that we might be better off if we made the same choice for our families?

For four years, Donald Trump’s supporters screamed that everything that went wrong was the fault of Joe Biden. They were sometimes right and they were sometimes delusional. (Anybody who knows me understands that I can’t stand Biden any more than I can stand Trump, just for different reasons.) But for two months, Trump has rampaged through U.S. political life — vandalizing pretty much everything in sight — and the vast majority of his supporters are silent at best. Many watch as he blows up the world economy and they make excuses for him. They’re in absolute denial, even about things that Trump is doing very intentionally. Anybody who understands economics and history knows that tariffs are a terrible idea from a pragmatic point of view. Anybody who values individual freedom knows that tariffs are massive taxes on individuals — and they’re a tool of political control over the ability of people to trade freely. Trump is the antithesis of everything which political conservatives stood for just a few years ago. It’s far past time for people who claim to be conservatives to reclaim the principles and values which they used to claim — and stop this mad man before he can accelerate the day when we experience economic and social collapse. Open your eyes to reality and reject this lying narcissist.

On a live awards show Sunday night, one man made a joke about a female celebrity. The husband of the celebrity was offended and hit the man who made the joke. Or maybe it was staged for entertainment. Who knows? Who cares? Social media is full of discussion — and even arguments — about this idiocy today. This baffles me. Let’s assume for a moment that the event happened as reported. People have been having such idiotic fights ever since there have been humans. Half the bars in the world see such brief dustups regularly. It simply doesn’t matter. The fact that so many people believe they need to talk about this — or even need to have opinions about it — is more evidence of the bizarre media brainwashing that convinces many to care passionately about brain-dead trivia. Your life will be happier and saner if you focus on yourself, your family and your friends, not on whatever scripted (or spontaneous) bilge that the media wants to pipe into your home.

I’m in the middle of migrating this website to new servers this week. This means you might encounter some unexpected behavior until I get all the bugs worked out. Clicking on my links (including this one) might cause your browser to give you the message that it’s a site without a current security certificate. It’s not actually unsafe, but there’s something which isn’t yet set up for the security certificate. I apologize for any such errors you might encounter while the process is going on. If you notice any problems with content which didn’t migrate properly, I would appreciate you letting me know the details at davidmcelroy@mac.com. Thanks for your patience.

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