Today, at 8 p.m., the second presidential debate will take over the TV screens all across the country.
Anyone who watched the first presidential debate knows the value of these debates. You may have thought you knew the candidates before, but all we have seen before is advertisements and questionable documents about the candidates’ pasts.
Image should not matter in leading the country. Neither should past military service. The platforms of the candidates matter. And we do not actually see that until the presidential debates.
The debates do not support one party or the other. The debates are the closest we are going to get to actually seeing the candidates objectively. We actually get to see the candidates intelligently talk about issues that we care about and that will affect our country and each individual.
For many of us in college, this is our first time to vote in a presidential election. Voter registration has gone up. Students are taking an interest. And students are taking advantage of the debates as opportunities to inform their decisions, even going so far as join together to have debate parties.
The second debate will focus on domestic issues, and many of these issues are things that will directly affect us. Watch the debate. But after that, go to FactCheck.org, just to further inform your decision. Because your decision matters to this country.
The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Angela Adair, news editor Elizabeth Crisp, sports editor Craig Peters, entertainment editor Dustin Barnes, managing editor Pam McTeer and editor in chief Josh Foreman.