Candidates need to focus on big issues

"For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inherit this planet. We all breathe the same air.

We all cherish our children's future. And we are mortal."

- President John Kennedy speaking at American University, 1963

I was walking along Whychus Creek the other day and as I viewed the bare mountains, free of most snow, this quote of President Kennedy came to mind. If what the weather prognosticators tell us is correct, it could be much worse next year.

The President was, of course, talking about limiting nuclear weapons but the idea, i.e. planetary crisis, has similarities to what is going on with climate change. The similarity is he was talking about the leadership needed to deal with a worldwide threat and the tough decisions which had to be made. Every human being on this earth (and life in general) is affected - from Sisters to Shanghai. The problem is real, and 97 percent of all climate scientists agree. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt in my mind.

We live in the richest, most powerful nation on earth; and what leadership are we providing to deal with this crisis? Not much, it seems. Consider the process we use to elect our leaders. Look at the first Republican debate on Fox News. It was not really a debate, but more like a political version of "American Idol." It is incredibly embarrassing knowing those around the world are viewing this degrading and comical sideshow as the way we choose the person to occupy what is arguably the most powerful position in the world. Everyone was obsessed with trying to out-Trump Donald Trump. No one asked about climate change, our most serious challenge.

Most of the candidates on the stage (and those at the baby debate earlier) either deny man's contribution to climate change or they minimize its impact. Then, of course, there are the off-stage shenanigans like Lindsay Graham hitting a cell phone with a golf club and Ted Cruz cooking bacon on the barrel of a machine gun. Adlai Stevenson once, talking about Richard Nixon, said: "Nixon is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood and then mount the stump to make a speech on conservation." I think today Adlai would be speaking about all these candidates.

I am a firm believer in democracy, but our process needs some work. Some serious work. We need a system which is based on our core democratic principles and gives good candidates (the best and the brightest) a real chance to percolate to the top of their respective parties.

That system does not exist now.

After the Supreme Court issued its opinion in the Citizens United case the sky is the limit on how much money candidates may raise. Many quality candidates cannot or will not go through the process of garnering the support of those of great wealth. Campaigns cost an outrageous amount of money and every candidate seems to have their own billionaire(s) in their

stable. (Or every billionaire has a candidate in their pocket, if you want to look at it that way.) We need

a constitutional amendment limiting campaign contributions.

The process itself needs to be changed because it is far too long and far too media-driven. Come on, we are having party debates the summer before the party convention? We are so oversaturated and over-exposed it's no wonder there is so little voter turnout. We're numb and disgusted. We need to have a process that exposes the positions of each candidate in an informative way. We need to shorten this up, as other countries have done.

We now have a media circus a year before the formal process begins. We need a process that relies on content and not showmanship. I am convinced we have some outstanding leaders out there who cannot survive this political marathon.

If man's contribution to climate change is real (and it is) then man can contribute to rectifying it. Let's get some answers from these candidates. Time is short.

Dan Glode and his wife, Mona, have lived in Sisters part-time for 14 years and full-time for the last year-and-a-half. Dan served three terms as Lincoln County District Attorney. Since leaving the DA's office, he worked for the American Bar Association's Rule of Law Initiative program where he was country director for Russia and lived in Moscow between 2004 and 2007.