Shadow Boxing

Last night was the first debate between presidential hopefuls McCain and Obama. Many people here and in the US watched it hoping to get a feel for the two candidates. However, as you may have noticed, the whole thing was rather bland and scripted. That's because since 1988, the debate format is chosen by the two candidates themselves. They choose the issues, the moderator, the audience, the time allocation, the venue, everything. There are no unexpected questions, no detailed explanations, and certainly no third-party candidates. It's essentially a joint press conference.

This is a serious problem for American democracy because, along with corporate control of the media, it ensures that 95% of Americans never learn about the fundamental issues the candidates don't want to talk about. If someone like Ralph Nader were in the room, he could ask important questions in front of the whole nation: "Why do you both say the military needs more money when Americans spend as much as the rest of the world put together for it?" "Why do we base our economy on the ludicrous idea that goods and services can and must keep growing forever?" "Why do you oppose single-payer health care for Americans while members of Congress already receive it?"