I get it: We live in a democracy with various political ideologies and issues.

With this in mind, it’s best that we hear from various points of view in regards to dealing with these problems.

This is also why we have a primary two-party system. The democrats and republicans often disagree on how certain issues should be handled.

That’s where the voters come in. And for undecided voters, we have presidential debates.

We’ve had a total of five Republican debates ending in 2015 compared to three from the Democrats.

Again, I could understand this since there have been many more competitive Republican candidates vs. Democrats. We basically have Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley (somehow still) and Bernie Sanders on the left.

But from what I’ve seen and heard so far, these Republican debates are a joke within a joke.

I first tuned in to the Fox News debate in August because I was curious to see what each candidate on the right would have to say. Some may say I want to stay informed. Others would say I’m a masochist.

Let’s go with both.

Even at that point I was surprised to see Donald Trump take the lead among others in the established party. I still believe he’s a joke compared to the others, but I now think he’s less of a laughing matter and more of a depressing, radical reflection of the right’s insecure, xenophobic views in general.

Noam Chomsky, an MIT professor who specializes in media and politics, went so far as to describe the established GOP as less of a political organization and more of a “radical insurgency,” according to a September 2015 article from Salon. In addition, Chomsky has credited established Democratic candidates, such as Clinton, as representing someone who may have more leaned toward the right in past politics.

I would say this interpretation seems more than accurate. During the Democratic debates, we see candidates focus on slightly varied topics in regards to local economics, healthcare and foreign policy.

These Republican “debates,” on the other hand, seem more centered around troubles in the Middle East and scare tactics with the word “terrorism”—and this is when various candidates aren’t doing their best to figure out how they can steer the conversation away from Trump’s inane ramblings.

As I understand, we had another Republican debate Wednesday night.

I could be wrong (I’m no Chomsky, after all), but I’m pretty confident there won’t be a lot to take away from this next debate (aside from crowds finally booing Trump for his Cruz birther attacks).

Even if I were more of a fiscal Republican, one who sides less toward controversial social issues but still believes it’s essential to deregulate economic markets, I would be incredibly disappointed with the current troop of Republican candidates we have to deal with.

Hell, if I described myself as a “fiscal Republican,” I’d probably feel like Hillary represented me better than anyone else.

But no self-identifying Republican would vote for a Clinton anytime soon.

I’ll keep my eyes and ears open if something amazing happens from this last debate (Marco Rubio seems to have his moments of grand articulation), but I’m not holding my breath.

Come later this week, I expect to see my online social media feeds crawling with “Trump said this” and “Democrats ahead in the polls against Republicans” as usual.

And I never thought I would say this, but I’m starting to miss Mitt Romney.

The opinions expressed in Bassinger’s column do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff.

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