Thoughts on the Debate

Earlier this week we had the opportunity as a nation to view the very first presidential debate between the two major party’s nominees:  Donald Trump for the Republican Party and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party.  As is always the case with the debates, which are conducted by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, much negotiating occurred between the two camps in advance, setting ground rules, agreeing to formats, selecting moderators, and so forth.  This year, the debates are being live-streamed through several venues, such as YouTube and Twitter, which allowed me to watch (given that we do not have broadcast TV).  I wanted to share with you a few thoughts that I had watching the debate:

1. The first thing that kept running through my mind, from the very beginning, was simply, “Y’all need Jesus.” I don’t think any further explanation is necessary on this point.
2. It sure didn’t take long for the incivility to begin. The interruptions, the name-calling, the allegations of racism, and the eye-rolling…the split-screen format, where a camera was on each candidate all the time, made sure that no non-verbal communication was lost.  Once the candidates began engaging in this behavior, with the moderator doing very little to stop it, it began escalating – just as you would expect it to.  What we witnessed on stage, however, is nothing more than what we see in our society today:  people who talk past each other, not to each other.  The mystery writer Margaret Millar once said, “Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness.”  That’s what we saw in this debate.
3. Both candidates like to play fast and loose with the facts. Whether it had to do with tax returns, email servers, economic figures, or most anything else, both candidates liked to proclaim that they had the real facts (indeed, it would seem the Clinton campaign was ready for this; after suggesting that it wasn’t fair for Clinton to have to fact-check Trump throughout the debate, Clinton directed people to her campaign’s homepage, which was going to be fact-checking everything Trump said).  I was reminded of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”  No one, apparently, informed either candidate of this.
4. The attitudes of both candidates exhibited what I would describe as hubris. Hubris is defined as excessive pride or self-confidence.  Now, I understand that there are some who would argue that any politician must have a certain level of self-confidence, but what I watched during the debate (indeed, throughout the entire presidential primary season) far exceeded a healthy level of self-confidence.  I think back to several of our past presidents, such as Bush (both father and son), Reagan, Carter, Kennedy, Eisenhower, and Truman, and do not see anything approaching the hubris exhibited in both Trump and Clinton.  In those presidents who could be described as possessing hubris (Nixon, for example), well, the record isn’t all that pretty.

Brothers and sisters, one of these two individuals are going to be president – that’s the nature of our political system.  When we consider just these few things from the first debate, we see all the more the divine wisdom found in I Timothy 2:1-3:  “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”  Just something to think about…