presidential debates

Presidential Debates We Can Celebrate

Person with head in mouth of whale

[A version of this essay 
was first published in September 2016] 

If the world got really strange and I were asked to create a format for the 2020 presidential debates, here’s my starting point.

No gotchas.  Just simple, open-ended, non-judgmental queries a candidate can either knock out of the park or hang themselves with––depending on how well they know the person in the mirror, and how willing (and able) they are to be frank. 

The suggestions below are designed to reveal a couple of things.  

    • One, the values and priorities the candidate carries in their heart.  Leadership, after all, is perspective that helps those we serve make healthy choices.  Clarity on values and priorities at the deepest place within us is where a healthy perspective begins.  
    • Two, how well a candidate employs life’s most important activity: learning from our experience––embracing what is, no matter how painful, and allowing it to teach us.  

Further, I wouldn’t spring these requests on the candidates.  I’d give them a few days to prepare their responses.  While none of these inquiries should be that foreign to a thoughtful person, what we want from them are answers that represent what they consider their best thinking.  Which is why I would also scrap the traditional debate format.  Out-snarking the other guy isn’t as illuminating as how appropriately naked each is willing (and able) to be.  Read More

If You Were Moderating the Presidential Debate

If you’re like me, daydreaming of moderating a presidential debate, and are contemplating what questions, or requests, you might ask the candidates to address, allow me to share the first ten items on my list.  No gotchas.  Just simple, open-ended, non-judgmental queries a candidate can either knock out of the park or hang themselves with––depending on how well they know the person in the mirror, and how willing they are to be frank.

Read More

"The push to change the words “nigger” and “injun” in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, because the so-called offensive nature of those terms might limit today’s readership and appreciation of that literary classic, is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on how we avoid taking responsibility for our feelings––and therefore miss the chance to become more awake, more whole, more useful friends to one another."

The Essay: The Gold in Niggers and Injuns