Class: Today we Learn About Democracy Nouveau and Rich(e) Baseball Thuggery: Who Rules Us, Baby

Representative government doesn't seem to be working and it would appear that this country is actually leaning toward Leninism. Lenin believed that the government should be ruled by a special committee to ensure that the masses (who could not take care of themselves) were kept in their worker-bee places. I'm not sure I got a good grade in that class years, I mean, years and years ago.

So everything we learned in school about the greatness of our democracy now belongs to Venezuela, whose voters defeated a powerful and braggardly man, of a very rich country. Meanwhile,here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, the press decides to exclude a minority candidate [note to the hasten to judge reader: there is another definition of the term "minority," which does not suggest color or racial affiliation] from a debate, thereby taking another step in defeating our democracy.

Like high school, there's an in-crowd (the rah-rahs) and the fringe outsiders and those high school Principals who govern the campus have decided that a black man who rants on a Republican stage is more compelling than a short white one who has real issues to talk about. Well, enough is written about that, so I won't rehash it further.

What I will comment about, again, is the post-game mauling of the moderator
Carolyn Washburn by the envious cable news "yankors" (definition: privileged men who cannot contain their jealousy when a woman acts like a real journalist, so they vengefully tear him or her apart limb). Many cable stations yesterday and today gave her de facto D's on her report card for not allowing the candidates the chance to mud-wrestle in their skivvies (or teddy, in just one case, hopefully). Which begs the question: Hey, MSNBC, Fox, and CNN - remember journalism? It ain't the Jay Leno news hour. News used to be serious talk about serious issues, not standing alongside each other and arguing about whose news station is bigger and better. I wonder if this isn't the hazard of being a Taliban nation where the men rule and any woman who isn't showing her décolletage and curtsying is anathema to our male-dominated patriarchal sensibilities. I wonder if, ultimately, that's why Clinton might not win? It's still a Man's game. Investigations about steroids and who is the strongest: no investigations on the myriad number of unanswered questions about the Iraqi war buildup, management, cover-ups, Halliburton, habeas corpus, forced detentions, etc. Baseball rules = Not democracy.

The Democratic debate was a legitimate debate, it just wasn't candidates talking to each other. The debate was against the moderator, who fired back the tough questions, instead of the MSNBC and CNN free-for-all dustup and send-off about UFOs. Yesterday, we saw how each candidate thought on his or her feet, albeit under the gun, but, hey, whoever wins will make most of their daily decisions under the gun. I won't say who I thought won the debate because one of the best thinkers on the political scene was not invited: Dennis Kucinich. The reason? His "office" was in someone's home. Big business rules. So much for the small businessman with a great idea. They can't do business in Iowa.

I'm not a fringe Ron Paul or Kucinich-or-die zealot. I just want fairness, something that the media just can't seem to get straight. Why not expand the debate to 2 hours to allow the others to speak. I daresay, everyone would have stayed riveted. America is takng this election pretty seriously.

Anyway, back to the Des Moines Register Editor/Moderator: She's not on stage to be liked. She was on stage to do a j-o-b. She did her homework. And, yes, she did note, aloud, whenever she realized that she was giving one candidate a longer time at his or her pulpit (in this case I think it was Richardson who got the most time, but that's my rushed and unstudied opinion, which I'll at least admit to).

So, Ms. Washburn -- you do rule, much to my satisfaction, for carrying a fair debate; but if you also ruled against Kucinich - you're not so cool, after all.

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