Debate vs. Discussion

Here's an interesting lesson I learned thanks to three of my close friends from Hillcrest: Nathaniel Leung, Blake Ellison, and Jeffrey Bennett. One time I was on Facebook, I witnessed what I originally thought was a political debate between Blake and Jeffrey, Democratic and Republican supporters respectively. Until I posted my status remarking this thought was when Blake and Jeff told me about the differences between debates and discussions, in which they were mainly discussing opinion-based ideas that could lead to solutions with the chaotic political issues raging on the American soil.



As I learned the differences, that's when me and Nate joined in the political discussion regarding both Obama's State of the Union Address goals and the economic recession of the USA that basically carried over from wall posts and comments between Blake and Jeff to my Facebook status. We came up with numerous ideas and thoughts that could lead to solutions to the economic troubles, such as where to cut federal spending. Personally, I learned so much from just this conversation.

Now, if we students just did that all on Facebook, couldn't the Democrats and the Republicans have done the same thing? It's understandable that there is an acrimonious relationship between the two parties just because of hunger for power. However, since when will these two parties get over these political differences and try to cooperate to meet the demands that we American citizens have requested in the first place? This is what leads to debates, which literally leads to nowhere because of constant personal criticisms, again something I learned from Jeff.

It's just like this, Blake and Jeff on different political sides, but able to discuss ideas that can lead to better future for our generation. This is something I truly wish that the Democrats and the Republicans today would do at some point in the future. I recently read an article from The New York Times about the clash between these two parties over Obama's stimulus package and there I see similar arguments that are characteristic of a typical debate. I was unhappy with both parties for not cooperating and having meager ideas that could potentially lead to a satisfying solution for us citizens. In addition, I spotted personal criticisms between both parties such as Republicans calling the Democrats "failure."

An example of a great political discussion that I always have thought about all this time is looking into past US History about how the opposing political parties managed to cooperate and come through hard times, including the Great Depression. This is something that I hope the Democrats and the Republicans will think of doing in the future so that there are potential solutions to this economic crisis. After all, discussions tend to lead to solutions over the time.