isaac holeman

A few days ago I watched the CNN YouTube debate with the major Republican presidential candidates from a hotel room in Havana. The format of the YouTube debates revolves around short video questions which are submitted by citizens and selected by CNN to be discussed by the candidates. CNN claims this new approach harnesses technology to enable unprecedented popular participation in the debates.

I think that position is a little less tenable after seeing the questions that CNN selected. Although Health Care is a top domestic issue for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, not a single question regarding health care was posed to the candidates. CNN found questions such as “What does the confederate flag mean to you?” relevant, but chose to ignore all 40 video submissions regarding health care.

Joe Brewer of the the Rockridge Institute wrote a short piece about this on the Huffington post. He quotes the health care diarist nyceve at Daily Kos as saying:

I waited.

And waited.

And kept waiting.

But a single question about the plight of 47 million uninsured Americans, or the rest of us who have to wage an unending true holy war against the for-profit insurance industry, just didn’t make the CNN cut.

This is the vacuum the Archimedes Movement needs to fill. Major “unbiased” media outlets allow Republicans to avoid discussing the topic at all. In the process, they grant a perception of legitimacy to Democratic candidates who are really only discussing narrow aspects of health care finance, without looking at the system as a whole. Presidential elections are important, they are so important. There is also a lot of valuable information to be had from CNN and similar outlets. We should remember though that the real debates happen here, via word of mouth and other mediums controlled by people who aren’t just looking for a profit, because we can do it better than they can.