In short, it was disappointing, basically because it wasn't a debate. They got away with dodging too many questions and let issues rest unresolved... Of course I and everyone I know wanted to see Biden tear Palin apart, but they just took turns reciting their memorized speeches. Kinda lame. Maverick, Maverick, Maverick, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton. Speeches and sound bites calculated by analysts and strategists to generate optimal public opinion impact.
I am thankful they didn't belabor any ridiculously divisive issues like gay marriage and abortion, simply because nothing useful would have been said whatsoever. I guess the political market has stabilized on the answer to the gay marriage question, as they agreed right off the bat to the most "voter-acceptable" response to that.
The Candidates
I thought Biden did a good job. He came across to me as intelligent, informed, and yet trustworthy and human in a way that John Kerry never seemed able to pull off. He made a few slip-ups, as did Palin, but we should forgive them both for those. The big issues are too important to dwell on who misspoke which words.
Sarah Palin made a much better impression on stage than she did on any of the news clips I'd seen before. I wish she hadn't. And she said a lot of things that I agreed with. At least... I agreed with the words she said. But even when she and Joe Biden said exactly the same phrases, I noticed sharp increases in my bile production every time she said them.
At first I thought it was because every word out of her mouth was either a double-edged lie or a slimy, twisted, sugar-coated, venomous dodge, topped off with a gosh darn down-home kitchen table mom smile and delivered with that irritating backwoods accent that made me homesick for George W. Bush's affected cowboy twang. And for the most part, yes, that was true. They were all lies, or at least every statement she made had an unspoken asterisk after it.
And polarization is such an easy groove to fall into, so I was enjoying despising her, but then every once in a while I caught myself and thought, come on... nobody can hate McCain! He seems like a good enough guy. I like him. But yet, that slimy venomous aftertaste persists...
Evolution - The Real Issue
But for me it's not about the people. I like Obama. I like McCain. I didn't know much about Joe Biden before, but I like him after seeing his debate performance. Palin makes me shudder, a haunting reminder of all the miserable, painful parts of growing up in *wince* small-town backstate America (Not that there weren't great things about it! But she doesn't represent those things to me at all). And besides the fact that she doesn't belong up there on stage at all, well... my real issue is not with her specifically.
It's the ridiculousness of what the debates represent. Both candidates were basically saying the same thing, but with different assumptions. "XXX is a problem. Let {Government, Industry} take care of it for you!" (Now, before I rip on the Republicans too hard... moderation in all things here. I would never say that unbridled socialism is unconditionally great, but looking at the miserable state of affairs in the US these days, we really do need a good solid hit of it!)
But as for the Republicans... Basically it always comes down to putting your faith in massive corporate power, in corporations already so enormous that they far outstrip the government's ability to regulate them. They regulate the government instead. Mega-conglomerates transcend nations in their power. They are self-propelling, living entities with no morality, no accountability, and no mercy, and we are the mindless, expendable parts, cast aside like scabs and dandruff when we have outlived our usefulness.
[Note: please nobody ever show this next bit to Mr. Henry or I'll retroactively fail 10th grade biology!]
In a not-so-metaphorical sense, they are the next step in evolution, engulfing us whole, not unlike the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes! These massive organisms live symbiotically (parasitically?) alongside government and we are but organelles churning away inside them. To take an analogy a few steps too far, I see blue-collar workers as the mitochondria, engineers and consultants as the ribosomes, and the executives as the cell nucleus...
Or is society itself like a cell too, with farmers as the mitochondria, artists as the ribosomes, and educators and parents in the nucleus, propagating the DNA? In fact, I'd love to try to piece together an analogy likening the ATP-ADP cycle to the interaction of media, information, and religion in society, but it's past 2am on a worknight and Bio class was a long time ago!
So... speaking of biology and religion in a completely non-contrived segue... :P
Evolution - Not the Issue at All
You know, every search I come up with on the net talking about the debate brings up flamewars of vitriolic fervor, with creationists and evolutionists angrily ranting away, pro-life and pro-choice beating each other up. So many of the debates come down to Christianity. Why doesn't anybody see that the issues aren't about Christianity at all? I mean literally, NOT AT ALL. Religion is just like this brainwashing drug that America is hopelessly addicted to... and big business is holding the syringes.
It's this weird, completely nonsensical slippery-slope thing, this synesthesia of capitalism and Hebrew mythology, where people lose consciousness of where the moral parables of religion end and physical reality begins.
"I believe that abortion is wrong, because the Bible says that life is sacred." - ok, I follow that. I mean, I disagree, but I see its consistency with some interpretations of that set of beliefs. I think this issue is a special case, though, because it is so easy in this case to draw battle lines between religious beliefs and individual rights. (as opposed to, say, medical marijuana, where I'd say it's not so clear-cut)
"I believe that homosexual marriages are wrong, because there are passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality" - ok, again, I think it's debatable even among those who generally follow the Bible's teachings, but sure, ok, somewhat relevant, possibly.
"I believe in privatized health care / deregulation of industry because God gave us freedom as Americans" - I don't know if anybody literally makes this direct connection in their heads, but it sure sounds like something you might hear, and I genuinely believe this is a critical muddling in the American mind. What I'm saying is WHERE DID THIS LEAP COME FROM? It's the sports fanatic mindset, soaring from fundamentalist religion into fundamentalist capitalism on the wings of sheer nationalistic pride...
"I believe we shouldn't ever put timelines on withdrawing from Iraq because, um, God bless our troops!" - Ok, so I never got exactly what that phrase meant, is it that we're asking God to bless our troops but not the people on the other side? Shouldn't God want peace, love, and harmony between all of his/her children regardless of national boundaries? Certainly I believe we should appreciate the great sacrifice that the soldiers in our armed forces are making for us but HOW IS THAT IN ANY WAY A JUSTIFICATION FOR KEEPING THEM OVER THERE IN HARM'S WAY?
Although I did appreciate Biden's last comment, "...and selfishly, god bless our troops." I don't think it was intended in the way I prefer to interpret it, but basically it sounds like a perfect response to my last paragraph.
Common Sense?
But please, America, learn to sort out your values and clear up some of that cognitive dissonance. Here's a start...
Religion can provide some good moral lessons, but it shouldn't be used as a pretext for going to war and CERTAINLY should not replace science and logic.
Science can help us study, predict, engineer, and understand the world around us, but Darwinism shouldn't be used as a moral justification for, say, unbridled capitalism.
Capitalism is useful as long as it doesn't get out of hand and defeat the market-regulating forces that keep it functional and useful through healthy competition. Don't believe in it unconditionally like a religion.
You know, I write these things and I feel like I'm writing to a kindergartner. Seriously, how is it that this election could possibly even be close?
Yet somehow, We The People seem to be awfully confused...
*sob*
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