The absence of problem-solving in today’s Government comes from the inability of Congress or the President to achieve any form of balanced collaboration and conversation.  When people and ideas are brought together for collective endeavors, the conversation needs to be complicated by divergent opinions and perspectives, meaningful dissent, and distinctive contributions.  Only after this process can ideas be strengthened, placed in realistic and pragmatic terms…then executed.

Where does this balance actually happen today in our civil society?

The answer is pretty clear for most college students.  Comedy Central\’s The Daily Show.

In an age where unproductive and hyper-partisan talking points drown out the dialogue necessary for the incubation, innovation, and implementation of real policy ideas, The Daily Show continues to offer a forum for comprehensive debate on the problems America faces today.

In a recent interview with Bill Clinton, The Daily Show host John Stewart articulates how the current paralysis in Washington DC is rooted not by the lack of proposed solutions, but by the lack of depth of in how proposed solutions are presented to the American People.

The race-to-the-bottom competition over which party can offer the least substance to voters is becoming pathetically apparent to Stewart and his viewers around the country. The Daily Show’s uncanny ability to sift through the partisan garbage and generate substance in conversation may be the reason why so many of our respected leaders from Newt Gingerich to Bill Clinton to Mike Bloomberg choose to be guests on The Daily Show before going on the Sunday Morning Talk Shows. In a twist, the humorous model of presenting the news has become more serious than its traditional counterpart.

Photo Credit: Lubs Mary