Tag: Cable television

I discovered the Food Network at the gym. It’s a blueprint for fixing American politics. Consider the similarities between a national political race and a Food Network culinary competition. Candidates raise vast sums of money through fundraising appeals that emphasize their opponents’ fault — then spend that money on advertising, polling, and speechwriting designed to cast competing candidates or the opposing party in the ugliest light possible. While candidates are great at dishing it out, however, they usually can’t bear to take it. That’s not how things work on the Food Network. To my mind, one of the most appealing things about Food Network contestants is that they accept criticism with grace. Spending more time in the gym still hasn’t gotten me to four miles on the treadmill, but it has definitely convinced me that the Food Network should be in charge of elections. My fellow Americans, we’ve been complaining forever that our political system is broken. Well, here’s the way to fix it: Run the 2020 presidential race the way the Food Network runs “Chopped.” OK, I’m exaggerating.