Disorderly democracy

Given the several hot-spot issues arising from tomorrow’s budget presentation by Finance Minister Colm Imbert, the subsequent debate is expected to be noisy, if not disorderly. There may very well be appeals to order and the rules.

This happened during last Tuesday’s presidential debate between Republican president Donald Trump and his contender, former Democratic vice president, Joe Biden.

This country, like the rest of the world, witnessed a noisy, disorderly television debate four weeks before the presidential elections.

The expected televised debate between our PM and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar failed to happen, the main reasons being the undeclared willingness of the contenders and uncertainty over the election date. So we can’t really compare.

There were universal concerns that the Trump-Biden exchanges were “unprecedented,” “chaotic,” “disrespectful,” “a brutal slugfest,” etc. Trump recalled Biden’s less than excellent school record, his wasteful 40 years in public office, his son’s “illicit” job contacts, his earlier “racist” postures, etc.

Such Trumpish allegations came noisily and discourteously, leaving moderator Chris Wallace irritated and sometimes hapless.

Biden called Trump a “liar,” “racist,” idiot,” even a tax cheat. It was “bam, bam, bam.” Both were decently dressed in dark suits, standing about 15 apart. But TV analysts, even those on the pro-Trump Fox News, noted that the reciprocal rebukes – insulting and overly personal – failed to live up to what a nationally-televised presidential debate is supposed to be. One Arizona voter declared, “America has fallen down.”

Now, among the strengths of American politics is its transparency and public accountability and all the noise that inevitably goes with it. With this, big lawyers and politicians have seen jail.

I am therefore not on the side of those who now call for cancelling the other two debates. Maybe a few adjustments as promised by the Presidential Debates Commission, such as a switch control for the moderator. You see, voters should know, apart from the intellectual content of each presentation, emotional restraint and temperament are vital criteria for judging suitability for high office. And the Trump-Biden debate exposed that.

The problem is that buffoonery often wins.

Some months ago, my columnist colleague Marina Salandy-Brown noted three “winning buffoons” – Britain’s Boris Johnson, the US's Trump and our PSA president Watson Duke. Buffoons (ludicrous people) get fan clubs too. Many people admire ludicrous narcissists' media performance over professional integrity.

In the polarising democracy that America enjoys, Trump has his supporters – black and white. How many? November 3 will decide.

But for now, as examples, there is black Prof Wilfred Reilly, in his new book, Hate Crime Hoax, saying there is no “systemic racism” in America, as the Rev Sharpton, Nation of Islam and even Martin Luther King Jr claimed. He said that “fatherlessness in the black family is the big problem,” reducing the politics to sociology.

Last Wednesday, TW Shannon, co-chair of Black Voices for Trump, celebrated Trump and his pro-black policies on CNN.

People living in democratic countries must understand the high and lows, the good, bad and ugly that democracy allows. You should not be so surprised at what happened last Tuesday night and what happens here in our own society. By its very nature democracy allows great slack for personal discretion and integrity.

And the antidote for personal failures in discretion and integrity is to feel ashamed of it. In other words, shame, like respect and compassion, comprises the flesh upon the skeleton of a democratic system. Tribal societies were largely controlled by shaming.

You see, the more we seek to tighten the laws and penalise such public misconduct, the more the system becomes totalitarian. That was part of the public debate here over the Sedition Act and the words “causing disaffection or ill-will to others.” How much can you legislate for decent, respectful behaviour?

Biden called Trump a “national embarrassment,” with Trump describing Biden as “sleepy Joe.” Biden’s supporters remind America of Trump’s remarks about Haiti and African countries being “sh--thole”countries.

By declaring “I stand for law and order,” Trump believes he is tapping into the fears of the middle class and conservatives.

This debate may not change many minds. Voting blocks remain shaken but standing by. The debate over the debate continues.

Ours will come with the budget.