On October 13th, 1858, Senator Lincoln and Senator Douglas participated in their 6th official debate for the presidency. Lincoln was the first to talk, and he mentioned his views on slavery, saying such things as "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races..." He also was very quick to putdown and mock his opponent. When Douglas took the stage, first he took some time to defend himself and refute Lincoln's arguments, and then went on to describe how he felt he would do as president, and have the audience an idea of the way he works. “I correct myself, as a gentleman, and an honest man, and as I always feel proud to do when I have made a mistake.”
This series of debates is part of what helped to shape American history, and the nation that we all know today. It is probably partially because of these debates that Abraham Lincoln became president of the United states, and helped to free blacks from slavery, and probably caused many of the segregation issues that this nation faced and is still (partially) facing. These debates have been quoted many times by many famous politicians who like to employ these same values. And overall, the butterfly effect that having Lincoln as president has probably had has affected us all in ways we probably could have never predicted and will never be able to figure out.
I believe that the first presidential and vice presidential debates were great. They really helped me to gain insight on what both candidates believed, and the way it was set up made it really hard for either of them to lie, or even stretch the truth. The arguments and points were lively and easily understandable, and I was able to pick up on patterns from all the candidates, and identify what they said, how they said it, and what it probably actually meant. As for the most recent debate (the second presidential debate), I was not at all fond of it. It was far too informal, neither of the candidates answered any questions, and I found both to be highly annoying in different ways. I had thought that the town hall style would work, but as it turns out, it just doesn't.
My name is Kevin.
I am 17 years old.
It is quite possible that somewhere, an alien race whose planet takes far less long to travel around their sun would consider me to be a few hundred years old.
They would probably worship me as a god, and give me lots of food and funny emails.
But alas, I do not live on their planet, I live here, on earth. Here, on earth, as I stated before, I am 16 years old.
Sometimes I wonder - what if we gave peace a chance? Maybe, just maybe, then, the aliens would feel free to come here, where they would then proceed to give me lots of food.
And funny emails.
And shave Randy's beard.
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