How about these candidates?

They’re quite unusual, aren’t they? And they are very, very good.

Smart, experienced (some of them more than others), full of excellent ideas and plans for restoring our government after the monumentally destructive #ReignofMadKingDon.

Some of them have more charisma than others and although I’m not a devotee of charisma as a front-running quality for my vote, I do recognize that connecting publicly with people is not necessarily a bad thing. Although it can be a bit ad libby and demagogue-ish. That is, I take several steps back from politicians who are loving being in front of crowds too much.

But I do deeply appreciate watching democracy do its stuff right in front of my nose.

So let me again recommend a way of getting your nose right into this event without (a) getting it snipped off of (b) taking a lot of time in watching and listening to the candidates.

For everyone who is staunch in rejecting Twitter: don’t be. Twitter emissions have, thanks to the #ReignofMadKingDonald, become part of the official record. I’m grateful to Twitter because the people who are running for the presidency use it to tell us what they’re up to, what bills they’re introducing, what policy ideas they have and/or are supporting.

Thus, if you follow them, you’ll find out what’s going on in Congress. Despite what you read in many newspapers, a lot is going on in Congress.

It won’t take up a ton of your time, either, because tweets are limited to 280 characters (although there’s a way of adding a search string to that first tweet, but you don’t have to read the search string) and all politicians have adapted their campaigns to using this most brief form of presenting themselves. Without taking a lot of time, you find out so much on Twitter.

And when you do have the time, you can click on videos posted by the candidates as they make appearances and speeches all over the place. Instead of reading interpretations of what they say, hear them say it.

(For one big thing, I think you’ll get a major kick out of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who responds in a blink — with brilliant wit — to her GOP critics. They really should give up trying to attack her; they are losing so badly.)

Twitter is easy. And free. Open an account. Although Twitter “suggests” people you might like to follow, you can ignore their suggestions. Follow which of the candidates you’re interested in or follow them all. Enter the name way up on the upper right in the “search” space. When the name comes up, click on it. (I just did, for Pete Buttigieg.) Up on the upper right side you’ll see a lozenge-shaped space reading “Follow.” Click on it.

If you get sick of someone, you can similarly unfollow them.

There is, in a sense, a great public short-form debate going on via Twitter. You can reply, retweet or just “like.” Or do nothing but read.

If you think of yourself as an educated voter, it’s worth your time.

 

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