Experience: Is it as big of a deal as people believe?

So what is all this talk about experience? Watching the mainstream media, it appears to be one of the most important qualities that a person can have when running for public office, especially for the presidency. But is experience actually the safety net that people make it out to be?

First of all, if we are to believe that experience is the key to a successful president, wouldn't George W. Bush be the best man for the job? He has seen this country through war, economic hardship, and many other difficulties during his tenure. However, I doubt that many voters would be willing to vote for him, were he able to run for a third term.

So then experience is seemingly not what it is cracked up to be. It seems that maybe the issues are more important than experience. For our current president has all the experience that anyone could ever ask for, but his stances on the issues and the way in which he governs are what truly matter.

Therefore, I would ask that this ongoing conversation about experience, vis-a-vis the upcoming presidential election, stop. Instead I would ask that the questions and conversations revolve around each candidates view of the issues and how he or she would govern, rather than attacking Senator Obama or Governor Palin for lack of experience. Because as we know, experience cannot guarantee that a candidate will do well. Case in point, our current president.

The Beginning of the Conversation, Part Deux

This project was birthed out of a desire to see people engage in meaningful discussion about important issues that affect the way we think about what it means to be "American" in this period in history. In the interests of seeing that goal come to fruition, the good news is that there seems to be no shortage of things to talk about! There is no doubt that we are all witnesses to an extraordinary and volatile time in the life of our nation.

Like the inaugural entry to this blog states, the overall purpose of this project is not to push a particular political agenda, or to add to the noise of partisan squabbling. I think we are here primarily because we are interested in the defining issues of our generation, and we feel a measure of responsibility as informed individuals to contemplate and engage those issues.

Represented here are some of the finest young minds of our time. The hope is that each of us, drawing on our respective fields of expertise, will be able to contribute to a rich and balanced body of work that engages the fundamental issues and crucial challenges we face as a nation today.

More than assuming a pedagogic stance, we are here to raise questions. There is an abundance of information already out there from which to draw upon. We are here to focus the scope of inquiry. In doing so, my hope is that you will draw your own conclusions and join us in the conversation.

“Yonder sits the Fourth Estate…”

“…and they are more important than them all.” It’s true. The members of the Fourth Estate – journalists – play an incredibly important role in the American political process. Politics wouldn’t be as engaging, as divisive, as relevant, or as defiant without the help and hindrance of the press, who chronicle and catalog the goings-on in political centers across the world. They are the key holders to elite, sometimes locked, and oftentimes blockaded, fortresses. They possess the power to spring open those doors and shine light into dark quarters. The citizens of this country place arguably more trust in the work of a journalist than they do their own representatives, senators, executives and judges. The role that the press takes in the political process will be the focus of my posts; as a student of journalism and a teacher of broadcast journalism, I have a keen interest in the behavior of the press and its role in current American society. I shall try dutifully to bring to light certain acts of journalism that are worthy of discussion and I hope that you, dear reader, will contribute your thoughts as well.

The Beginning of the Conversation

As I sit down to write the inaugural entry in this blog, the election quickly approaches. Media sources are inundated by partisan squabbles over minutiae occasionally interrupted by turgid rhetoric promising to return our nation to its rightful place in History. The necessary volition to undertake this project came as I sat down the morning after Governor Palin’s convention speech and immersed myself with expert analysis of her performance. The media, from print to punditry, lined up to heap praise upon her performance. Not of her policy preferences or her explanation of her record, which were highlighted only by their omission, but as a piece of theatre. She stirred up partisan rancor and moved the debate away from the relevant, ignoring the critical issues affecting our nation.

I do not believe myself naive. I hardly expected either convention to engage in substantive argument or reasoned critique of their opponents, but the layer of analysis provided by pundits and journalists alike was so thin it could no longer presume to be wrapped around any sort of meaning. That realization was the genesis of this blog. Not to advocate for any certain political point of view or set of policies, but to have an honest discussion about the challenges facing all aspects of American life from within and without.

We are always looking for contributors. Feel free to contact us if you feel you have something to say. We would love to make this the forum for that expression. This will be the first of many posts and hopefully the beginning of a reasoned and lively debate.

The Hamiltonian