No presidential debate about global climate change

Have you noticed how silent both the president of the United States, Barack Obama, and his challenger, Mitt Romney, are on the topic of global climate change?  Seems they're eager to promote big oil, gas and coal, but are talking very little about conservation.

An article in the Bloomberg News, "Romney, Obama avoid climate change stigma, waste air" discusses this omission. It would appear that their big political contributors are making their individual and corporate profits through maintaining the status quo.  This is at odds with the interest of the earth and hence, the health and vitality of future generations.

Besides solar and wind power, some of the environmental matters that should be discussed include increased construction of green buildings (more efficient architecture), mass transit and increased urban and suburban housing density.

What was missing in the presidential debates

Sojourners, a Christian social justice organization, noted the following important issues have been missing from the presidential debates:

Poverty: To spark conversation about poverty during election season, Sojourners just released a documentary called The Line, which highlights stories from 4 people living under the poverty line. Stewardship of God’s creation: Scientists are now starting to connect the dots between severe weather events and global climate change. This should be a top issue for our next president. We believe that as Christians we’re called to protect clean air and water and work toward a renewable energy future.  Elimination of nuclear weapons: The staggering counts of nuclear warheads in our world aren’t in line with Christian values of peace and restraint of violence. The candidates ought to support peace – in Afghanistan by ending drone attacks and globally by using international law to counter terrorism.  Get money out of politics: One person equals one vote – buying elections is immoral.

Throughout the debates it seems that painting the other candidate as weak, and blaming them for there past record has more important than looking toward the future and sharing a vision that will benefit the earth and all of its citizens. While I'm wishing for things, wouldn't it be nice if they could be civil too?

"Speak out.  Judge righteously. Defend the poor."   (Proverbs 31:9)

Recommendations for enhancing political debates

I’m always impressed with how politicians can so convincingly bend the truth during their debates.  I’ve got a recommendation to help us more quickly validate the content of their remarks. Rather than wait for the fact checkers afterwards to tell us just how blatantly false so many of their statements are, I would suggest that a small screen be provided showing a polygraph readout throughout the debate.

While the networks are at it, how about they change that beautiful constitutional backdrop that is being used during the presidential and vice presidential debates. I would prefer to see individual and or corporate logos of the major donors for each of the politicians boldly emblazoned behind them.  The size of the donor’s names could be proportionate to the amount of their donations. Alternatively, instead of simply wearing American flag lapel pins, candidates could debate dressed like race car drivers, with their donor names and logos patched  all over their sports coats.