Americans were not the only ones watching the most recent Republican debate. People around the world tuned in to television, the Internet, radio, and social media to hear the words and ideas of the candidates for the most influential position in the world.
America's standing in the world is shaped by our credibility and moral leadership. Despite our many flaws, the majority of the world still views our country as a standard-bearer for democracy, peace, justice, tolerance, diversity, inclusion and freedom. It's hard to imagine that the world still believes that the GOP candidates are running for office in that same America.
Here are 12 messages that the world heard from the latest GOP debate:
1.The Muslim boogeyman is coming! Hide your kids, hide your wife...
2.Always, always focus on 9/11. Especially in an election year.
3.Let's close our borders and build a wall to be safe from stinky foreigners.
4.ISIS is going to destroy America unless you elect me, not the other wimpy candidates.
5.Let's kill the families of terrorists, since that's what the terrorists do.
6.Blame Syrian refugees, the main victims of ISIS and Assad terrorism, victimizing them all over again. Ban all Muslims and all Syrians from coming to the U.S.
7.Shut down the Internet. That will surely make us safer.
8.Obama hates America. Obama destroyed America.
9."All horse thieves are Democrats, but not all Democrats are horse thieves."
10.Allow the NSA to spy on Americans. After all, the Constitution is a nice document but it's not relevant in a crisis.
11.Killing thousands of innocent children and civilians in war is okay.
12.Assad, Gadhafi, Mubarak are (or were) bad men, but hey, we should not topple them because they are (or were) OUR bad guys. It's a bad idea to support democracy in the Middle East; friendly dictators are more useful.
Glibness aside, we must remember that with America's power and influence comes responsibility. Our country needs a president who leads with courage, reason, and fairness. We need a president who unites us and provides the world with moral leadership.
Terrorism is a real threat that must be confronted, but it cannot be successfully addressed with fearmongering and xenophobia. I am confident that we will defeat terrorism. But we must reject the politics of paranoia that might temporarily help a campaign, but permanently change the values our country was founded on.