“Have you ever, in listening to a debate among adult
and presumably responsible people, been fretted by the extraordinary inability
of the average debater to speak to the question, or to meet and refute the
arguments of speakers on the other side? Or have you ever pondered upon the
extremely high incidence of irrelevant matter which crops up at committee
meetings, and upon the very great rarity of persons capable of acting as
chairmen of committees? And when you think of this, and think that most of our
public affairs are settled by debates and committees, have you ever felt a
certain sinking of the heart?”— British mystery
novelist Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), “The Lost Tools of Learning” (1947)
Were she alive today, Ms. Sayers—the creator of
master sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey—would undoubtedly find that the real mystery in
tonight’s Republican Presidential debate in Las Vegas is how many unqualified and/or scary
people have ended up participating as candidates.
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