So who did win that Republican debate, anyway?

Political debates are good for the candidates and especially good for the country. They throw political advertising into the shade for shedding light onto solid ground for making sound decisions. In fact, it might behoove us to eliminate political advertising altogether and merely run a series of debates whereby we vote from home until they are all eliminated.

But seriously, I enjoyed that debate last week and wrote the winner a letter, which I shall publish here…

Good morning, Herbert Cain, and congratulations. You, Sir, won the hearts and minds of more Americans than any other Republican candidate for president in last week's debate. However, I posit as full disclosure, that this conviction is based solely upon my personal opinion and comes with a caveat from Mark Twain. “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority it is time to pause and reflect.”

You, Mr. Cain brought to the table the best and brightest idea for fixing our dispirited economy, the 9-9-9 tax plan, a plan to replace our existing tax code with a nine percent tax on corporate and personal income, and, the implementation of a nine percent national sales tax.

But more importantly, Mr. Cain, you answered the question, “What would you bring to the White House as President?” with these poignant words, “I would bring a sense of humor, because America is too uptight.” You're right, Mr. Cain, and it's precisely because we've got our knickers in a knot that we cannot resolve our differences and get moving again in a natural gait.

We as a nation have become so galvanized by our political zealotry that we have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves. We have become so solemnly righteous that reaching across the isle is no longer a consideration, and having a drink with the opposition at the end of the working day is an impossibility.

Every candidate eluded to the “American Way,” but you, Sir, were the only one who mentioned the elixir -humor. Humor is to politics what Preparation H is to hemorrhoids, and America right now has a serious case of hemorrhoids.

All of the Republican candidates are capable people, and perhaps therein lies the pitfall of the Republican Party. Capable people tend to believe that all Americans should be capable, and would be capable if not taxed or regulated. When capable people get together they are apt to form a Tea Party. When less capable people get together they are apt to from, well, a union.

It is all very predictable and amusing, and yet you, Sir, are the only Republican candidate for president who sees the humor in it all.