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Older than democracy in Greece, older than the great public forum in Rome, for many millennia, the concept of a debate among warriors, a debate among philosophers, a debate among leaders, has brought ideas to the public, and has empowered those who engage in social commentary. For far too long, far too long indeed, America has lost touch with its leaders. Debates on the Senate floor go unmentioned in the media in favor of Paris Hilton’s latest perverted acts. The names of congressmen and governors are replaced in the minds of the masses with details of celebrity babies and the drug habits of film stars and athletes.
But it has not always been this way our country, though. A quarter of a century ago, a President named Reagan challenged the Soviet Union to tear down a wall in Berlin, and the whole world listened. Nearly a quarter century before that a President named Kennedy challenged an America to do the great things that makes America great, and not only listened, but they did them. And before that, when President named Roosevelt spoke directly to the people over the nation’s airwaves, families gathered for fireside chats and hung on every word. Today, most are unaware that the President still has a weekly radio address. A contagious conundrum has convinced over fifty percent of Americans that their vote and their voice does not count, because they cannot make a difference. Tonight, in a forum of seven Democratic candidates who are running for the office of the presidency in this country, the people were welcomed back to the debate with open arms, and the people responded. Dubbed the “You Tube” debate, hosted by CNN, for the first time in history, candidates for high office listened to and responded to regular, average, everyday people. There were no campaign surrogates hidden in the audience. Citizens didn’t need special connections to get a seat. All that was required was to have a question and to be able to deliver it. Virtually since its inception, the Internet has falling short of living up to a promise that average people, alongside the privileged, could join equally in discussion, could equally effect the course of the national conversation, regardless of the biases that are placed upon us all. Today the promise has been realized, and with that fulfillment comes the ticket to return politics and the control of the government back to those who it belongs to, we the people. In an age where most would rather post on MySpace and watch You Tube than a follow politics, now both of these acts is political; it is the path to participation in the system. With Democratic debate past and the Republican iteration on the horizon, a new era of public participation in politics has been recast. No longer are the politicians talking to only special interests or only to a privileged few, that are talking directly to we the people, as it has always been intended to be. More Articles in Politics |
