Maddy Remingtion
managing editor

Our national debate system has become a mockery. The candidates are not debating anything,  and Americans will have a hard time deciding who to vote for if we can’t even get them to answer valid platform-related questions on the national stage. 

It’s not like our debates are even civil anymore. The candidates use the time to attack, diminish and interrupt their opponents. 

Most recently, we saw this with the vice-presidential debate. While it was more civil and respectful than other debates, Mike Pence used all of his time to spread misinformation and attack Kamala Harris. 

 Harris tried her best to counter the attacks but at one point it just turned into a debate about the candidates, rather than their experience and stances on issues. 

Pence didn’t even bother to answer most of the questions, he just used the time to pivot to an attack.  

President Donald Trump and Joe Biden inevitably got into an arguing match on the debate stage. 

Party politics is getting in the way of the problems in our country and it needs to stop now. If we had an election system that was prioritizing putting qualified individuals forth rather than the most likeable person, maybe we could have a shot at getting this country fixed.  

We all have a problem. We are too focused on our self-interests to notice and recognize the issues happening to others. Our leaders represent this problem to a T. 

When did our country start to care more about the people running for office over the issues facing everyday Americans? 

People are drawing in debt, people are in cages at the borders, people are dying of COVID-19 complications and chronic medical conditions. 

But all we want to do is watch our country’s leaders argue on stage about each other’s personal lives? 

Americans who are still on the fence on who they are voting for did not gain clarity after these arguing matches. 

Politics like this is the reason the majority of eligible people in the U.S. don’t bother registering to vote.