Harsh accusations occupied the first presidential debate of Clinton and Trump. They discussed taxes, terrorism, employment and racial issues. Nevertheless, the debate seemed to shift more on ‘superficial topics’ that swung from Clinton’s health conditions to Trump’s income. Debates are essential in pushing to a side or another the insecure voters and therefore is even more essential for the candidates to win or loose upon concrete political issues. The ridiculous debate exemplified the transformation of politics that the Western world is experiencing. It had no big difference with arguments in the Kardashian family.
Many causes are at the root of this void show-off, and many are the consequences. Among the immediate implications, there is the exclusion of independent candidates. “On debate night, security made sure the Green Party’s candidate wasn’t anywhere near the podium,” declared AOL News. In 2012, the presidential candidate for the Green Party Jill Stein shackled herself to a chair while the debate was taking place. At the time, she was arrested for disorderly conduct.
The Green party protested for the North Dakota pipeline protest at the beginning of this month. The Green party was there to impede pipelines to destroy the territory of North Dakota where Native-Americans’ reservation lays. In the events, it is unclear why it would be considered illegal to protest against something illegal, in Stein’s words, “The real vandalism taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation: the bulldozing of sacred burial sites and the unleashing of vicious attack dogs.”
The sole fact that the media talks of ‘who won the debate’ makes clear how the race for the presidency is considered with as much political relevance as an Olympic game. It is a race based on who is better in a-political terms. It is a race that undemocratically excludes the other presidential candidates. It is a system that forbids the democratic process to run smoothly. It dams a two-path race to an undemocratic democracy. The ways to dismantle this system seem harsh but possible. Independent parties move slow and steady: let the U.S. people wait and see.
