Why I Do Not Watch the Debates

As you all know, the third and final presidential debate is held tonight.  I do not expect to watch.  This isn't because I dislike politics.  I love politics.  No, check that.  I love studying politics.  I love the strategies and the personalities, for the same reason I love history and in the same way I can appreciate a good sporting event when I don't care who wins.

But the situation is entirely different when I do care who wins.  When in the midst of a campaign or a political controversy, it's harder to see politics as a game.  Now it matters.  My blood pressure rises as the other side makes some move I perceive as unfair.  When I care about a candidate, I hate that who "won" a debate turns on who looks at his watch or who delivers the "zinger" rather than who has the better argument.  I become aggravated as my candidate does something different from what I would do.  I feel elation or relief in victory and utter despair in defeat.  And all the while I know that politics is a game for the biggest stakes of all.  The wrong choice could meen irreparable damage to the country's finances/resources/morals/health/education/civil liberties/security.

Enjoy the debate.  I'll be watching the baseball game -- and I don't care who wins.