DDH - Lincoln Douglas Debates

Who’s ready for the Presidential Campaign Debate Season? Whoo-hoo!!!!

Seriously, I long ago quit watching them because – and I say this with love – they are pointless. Nothing of any substance has been discussed at a debate since 1960, and it gets worse every cycle. Today we are literally watching them not to learn anything of value, but in the hope that – like NASCAR – there will be a giant implosion on the stage that ends with a Jerry Springer-esque fight. Including the chairs being thrown and noses being broken.

Now that I would most certainly watch.

That said, and putting my own ideas for how to improve the debates aside for the moment, there once was a time when debates in this country meant something. When opponents actually had positions on the issues that completely differed from one another. A time when politicians were actually addressing the issues, not trying get rich at the expense of the nation.

And the greatest of all these debates began on August 21, 1958 in Ottawa, IL…