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.
在圣诞后夜看一场史上最有娱乐性的政治辩论会的计划落空了。12月27日的Des Moines辩论会取消了，但是网上信息没法完全更新。对习惯于循Google Search查消息的人来说，比如我，就被很低级的愚弄了一下。现在就等1月3日的爱喝花粥初选了。最爱喝花粥的候选人，一般都是民意稍落后的人。
我回去又看了一遍Sioux City debate的录像。 Paul，Romney， Gingrich，Perry，Santorum，Bachmann，Huntsman七个候选人关于自身胜选能力，以及医疗、就业、外交、军事谁表现好谁表现差并不是我想说的。一个超越单个候选人的潮流。只谈美国的事情的话，2012大选的那个不被人注意的核心问题，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.
以上只是我写的一个共和党辩论会的脚本。真实的辩论没有按照这个进行，只是look a lot like it。
政治娱乐化是美国人在价值观领域胜过世界其他国家的一个核心特征。美国的政客通过每四年一次的大选，严肃地为美国人民（乃至全世界）提供各种娱乐题材。这个有效舒缓了美国政治给人们带来的不快。也是为什么一个在各种观念上都存在严重分歧的国民还能平和的在同一个体制下生活。四年一个轮回也好，定期都有机会轮换也罢。轮换是体制上的一种设计，保证任何的社会分配不公都不可能无限制地发展下去。而政治的娱乐化，并不是体制设计的问题，而是约定俗成的一个文化特征。如果把政治比作一瓶酒的话，美国政治这瓶酒让国民喝了不上头，最主要的原因就是这个政治娱乐化的特征。
