There Is Nothing to Debate
In the runup to the 2026 mid-term elections, there are almost no debates on the important issues we face here in Texas. It is much the same in the rest of the country with a few exceptions. After Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in the 2024 presidential debate, many candidates think that the downside risk in debating political opponents is much greater than any upside potential. Trailing candidates are eager to debate -leading candidates and incumbents not so much.
What few debates have actually been held have generally deteriorated into name calling and finger pointing with little substantive discussion of the issues. Democrats accuse Republican candidates of being clones of Donald Trump while Republicans accuse Democrats of being dupes of the Democratic Socialists of America. And they are not entirely wrong. Elected Democrat officials routinely vote as a unified block so the individual thoughts and beliefs of the office holders is irrelevant. Only the party position matters.
Republicans are little better. House Speaker Mike Johnson has tried to keep his herd of cats in line and has been able to get a couple of partisan bills passed. The Republican led Senate, however, has repeatedly defied President Trump on a number of bills prompting him to endorse less well-known but loyal party hacks in primary elections to replace wayward incumbents. This worked exceptionally well in the primaries, but the actual elections are a different story. Democrats are eager to accuse the Republicans of slavishly following Trump’s orders, which the candidates cannot deny without incurring the president’s wrath.
Here’s the problem. We live in a democracy. And debate on important issues is essential to a functioning democracy. I was on the debate team in high school. Back then, debate teams had to be able to debate both the pro and the con of the resolution. This requirement not only gave us an opportunity to build better arguments for our case, it also gave us better insight to the other side of the issue. In high school debates there is a winner and a loser. In televised election debates, the press usually asserts who was the winner, but this determination can be very biased.
There are few absolutes in a democracy. A vibrant democracy consists of many people, each with differing viewpoints and opinions. Each with different ideas on fairness and justice. Each with differing moral frames of reference as described by Jonathan Haidt in his book, The Righteous Mind. On complex national issues which can often be very divisive, highly partisan solutions can be easily overturned after the next election. But in order to create a stable functioning democracy, important national issues require a bi-partisan solution. The highly contentious Civil Rights Act of 1964, after a lengthy filibuster, cloture and multiple revisions, was passed on a bi-partisan basis, 73 to 27 in the Senate and 289 to 127 in House, with both Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the vote. To assuage all the differing opinions, viewpoints, and moralities of the American people and their representatives requires compromise.
The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson but he was part of a Committee of Five as described by Danielle Allen in her book, Our Declaration. Jefferson’s initial draft was edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams before going onto the floor of the Continental Congress for additional changes and a final vote. Many compromises had to be made. Ms. Allen’s book illustrates many of actual editorial changes that were made. But the end result was not some sort of pablum of sonorous but innocuous phrases. Instead they created one of the most moving documents in history. Despite compromise and edits, the Declaration of Independence remains the guiding principles of our Republic.
The US Constitution, to which we swear allegiance, was also subject to extensive and intensive debate, and subsequently compromise. Yet it has lasted over two hundred and thirty years and remains the basis for our government operations and our country.
The political hacks of Trump’s MAGA Movement and the ideologues of the Democratic Socialists of America are unwilling to compromise. Bi-partisanship is not only rare in 21st century American politics, it is uniformly disparaged and condemned as selling out. By this definition the Founders of America and the Framers of the Constitution were sell-outs. Hamilton and Jefferson disagreed on many things. And they had fought many political battles. But what they created has lasted 250 years. If we want to be able to bequeath America, the real America, to our kids, we need to relearn how to have a real debate. And also how to compromise.
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