平凸雜談
才高五鬥不覺恥，水灌一壇隻作癡。凸情不枉君付意，子誌難琢我化石。
Until the last minute I noticed that the Iowa debate I was looking forward was canceled in fact. I was still anticipating, to a lesser degree since I know Trump’s withdrawal, that the debate would entertain me through this home-stay holiday season. The Sioux City debate that I missed out was the last one of its kind before January 3, 2012.
在聖誕後夜看一場史上最有娛樂性的政治辯論會的計劃落空了。12月27日的Des Moines辯論會取消了，但是網上信息沒法完全更新。對習慣於循Google Search查消息的人來說，比如我，就被很低級的愚弄了一下。現在就等1月3日的愛喝花粥初選了。最愛喝花粥的候選人，一般都是民意稍落後的人。
我回去又看了一遍Sioux City debate的錄像。 Paul，Romney， Gingrich，Perry，Santorum，Bachmann，Huntsman七個候選人關於自身勝選能力，以及醫療、就業、外交、軍事誰表現好誰表現差並不是我想說的。一個超越單個候選人的潮流。隻談美國的事情的話，2012大選的那個不被人注意的核心問題，the candidate who promise to work the least will get elected。
Gingrich：Education determines the future of America. So, (but) it is what the parents, not us in Washington, should decide and do about.
Paul: My government will need to tax less and work less by cut executive operations, period.
Romney：My experience ensures that I can let most American people back to work (so I’m able to work less).
Huntsman: As I have learnt in Utah, we shall reduce personal and corporate taxes by simplifying tax codes.
Bachmann: The first thing my government will not do is to take over the private health insurance industry like the Obama Care. I also agree to Mr. Gingrich that we shall spend less in education, and for that I propose no new taxes ever.
Romney: Well, come to education, there is one only thing that I can’t agree to Mr. Gingrich and Mrs. Bachmann. I like math. There is always an answer in numbers to every question we face.
Paul: Mr. Romney, you are trying to run our nation as if you were running a business. Unlike you, I hate the math. That is why I will gradually eliminate most of our government agencies, in particular the Federal Reserve.
Gingrich: Apart from education, I also worked hard to reinvent our healthcare system. Something I’d shared with Mrs. Bachmann. It wouldn’t work if you only want to amend our current system.
Bachmann: Thanks Mr. Gingrich, you are right. If we are just to amend it, who would pay you $40M before every Americans get covered?
Romney: That’s true what Mrs. Bachmann just said. The conflict between what Mr. Gingrich said and did comes from his a conflict of interest on our health care reform.
Gingrich: Mr. Romney, we all know that Obama Care of 2010 is all the same to your Romney Care of 2006.
Romney: No. I explicitly said that the mandate on individuals to buy insurance coverage has to stay as a state level legislation, not national level.
以上隻是我寫的一個共和黨辯論會的腳本。真實的辯論沒有按照這個進行，隻是look a lot like it。
政治娛樂化是美國人在價值觀領域勝過世界其他國家的一個核心特征。美國的政客通過每四年一次的大選，嚴肅地為美國人民（乃至全世界）提供各種娛樂題材。這個有效舒緩了美國政治給人們帶來的不快。也是為什麽一個在各種觀念上都存在嚴重分歧的國民還能平和的在同一個體製下生活。四年一個輪回也好，定期都有機會輪換也罷。輪換是體製上的一種設計，保證任何的社會分配不公都不可能無限製地發展下去。而政治的娛樂化，並不是體製設計的問題，而是約定俗成的一個文化特征。如果把政治比作一瓶酒的話，美國政治這瓶酒讓國民喝了不上頭，最主要的原因就是這個政治娛樂化的特征。
