Political Role Playing
Add comment August 22nd, 2011
I think I have come up with an original idea that may help solve the political gridlock in Washington that seems to be paralyzing our nation. It’s a form of role playing, and the people who can help are, in some ways, the people most responsible for creating the situation.
As I flip channels on the TV, I continually encounter political commentators espousing their points of view. We have the liberal commentator stating facts and opinions supporting the left, and the conservative commentator supporting the right. They all offer statistics and are very persuasive in their presentations. I think this is what’s happening in congress these days. We have become so polarized in our beliefs that we don’t know how to come to an agreement.
Well, here is where the political “role playing” might work. If (big if here) these talking heads truly want to help OUR country, why not put 4 or more (a workable number) commentators with different views on a panel with the understanding that they are going to argue their point of view, BUT , they WILL come to an agreement on an issue (let them argue the debt ceiling, for example). Any political commentator who won’t agree to these conditions will not be invited.
Can you imagine watching the dynamics of this panel. Give them some rules (time limits), and let them battle it out. They can fight all they want, but, what will make this process incredibly interesting and helpful is the fact that the political commentators all agreed (at the outset) to come to some sort of agreement in the end. This is the overriding mission of this panel, sort of like a prime directive.
Can you imagine getting Chris Matthews, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter and Rachel Maddow (or others) together in a room and let them teach our politicians how to solve an issue. These talking heads all state their love for America, well, here’s a chance for them to teach us how intelligent people with such divergent points can come to an agreement. Maybe, this will give congress a blueprint, or send them a message how people with polarized views can come to consensus. I don’t know.
We need a commentator like Anderson Cooper, or someone neutral to make some rules for the panel. Remember, these commentators come into the panel with the understanding that they will listen to each other and try to reach a compromise that is the best for our country. They’re not going to convince each other that their point of view is best (it may start out like this), hopefully the political commentators will find where they can agree. If these four panelists cannot do this, go down the list of political talking heads (there’s enough of them), until we get people who can let go of their “ego”, and do what was asked of them.
Remember, there are more things that bring us together in this country than separate us.