|
The format controlling the formal debates for those who would be the president of the United States has been set for years. A responsible, unbiased third party serves as moderator for the candidates who have a limited time to state their stand and rebut their opponents.
Some Americans watching these debates already know whom they're going to vote for while others are still undecided.
This year the CNN news channel and YouTube.com partnered to present a looser, more informal take on the presidential debate. Ordinary people whipped out their webcams to record themselves asking the dozens of primary candidates on both sides of the political spectrum about the things that affected them most: abortion, immigration, the war in Iraq, the environment and more.
Some were funny, like the talking snowman that asked the Democrats about global warming. Some were more serious, like a middle-aged couple from Florida who had lost their son to a brutal murder and asked the Republican candidates about their opinion on the death penalty. All of it showed us where our priorities are. It showed me that everyone - American citizens and even the international community - have a stake in what happens next November.
Part of being a teenager is figuring out where your priorities lie and what you have or want to put on the line. Teens are like presidential candidates at the very beginning of their campaigns, asking tough questions of themselves in preparation for living their "platform." They're confronting the hard questions, looking for answers, and experiencing opposition for perhaps the first time.
Being a viable candidate definitely involves more than putting on a suit and waving at crowds. It takes a lot of research and self-examination to pick a platform and back up your beliefs - or figure out where your platform has gone wrong and engage in a search for the truth.
It's hard for teens to discover where they stand on the issues with so much noise flying about. After all, popular culture says one thing, parents say another, and friends often have other opinions. It really can be confusing, and picking through the strands to find which one is yours often seems like more of a pain than a necessity.
I think it would be interesting if all of us put ourselves through the same discernment process as a presidential candidate.
We could log onto the Internet, play the same videos that were presented to the candidates and answer the questions as if we were the ones running for office.
We might be very surprised at how little - or how much - we know:
We find out what issues really inspire our passion or ire and more about our own personalities.
Political rhetoric can get heated. We're so used to seeing angry television ads and nasty attacks. It can be hard to figure out where we stand in that kind of environment.
A few months ago some people called the talking snowman "silly." Others disliked the free-for-all of the Internet's involvement.
But I think if answering the talking snowman brings us closer to being more comfortable with where we stand, what we believe and our ability to stand up to the opposition that comes from having well-grounded opinions, then there's something valuable in that.
Karen Osborne is a syndicated columnist for Catholic News Service.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comment form