The Huge Difference Between The GOP & Democrats

Twitter is especially great at succinctly summing up any large topic, and during Sunday's Democratic debate, one user managed to show the biggest difference between the GOP and Democratic debates in a mere 140 characters. During a quick start to the liberal debate (compared with Thursday's Republican showdown, which seemed to trudge along with awkward campaign ad after awkward campaign ad), the candidates were asked a series of in-depth questions on how their potential presidencies in particular would help to solve racial inequality. Each candidate gave thorough, progressive answers that relied on an understanding of race and systemic oppression that seems to entirely bypass the GOP.

One of the first questions of the debate came from YouTube star Franchesca Ramsey, whose videos often tackle the problems surrounding racial stereotypes. Her question centered around the fatal Tamir Rice shooting and the conflict of interest often seen when investigators fail to indict local officers for crimes committed on the job. Despite the clear evidence regarding an unjust system that overwhelmingly favors officers, I cannot imagine a moment in which a Republican debate would even touch this question, which in part asked:

"How would your presidency ensure that incidents of police violence are investigated and prosecuted fairly?"

Sanders gave the most direct answer to this question, in which he replied:

This is a responsibility for the U.S. Justice Department to get involved. Whenever anybody in this country is killed while in police custody, it should automatically trigger a U.S. attorney general's investigation. ... If a police officer breaks the law, like any public official, that officer must be held accountable.

This seems to be when Twitter user and Vox.com Foreign Editor Max Fisher noticed the very distinct difference between the types of questions asked during this debate, and its GOP counterpart:

And that truly sums it up — voters have the choice between a Republican debate filled with talks of supposedly terrifying foreigners, and one in which the candidates address the true, aggressive nature of racism within the United States.

While the Republican debate concerned itself with the world "being on fire" and "torn asunder" (thanks to Chris Christie and Jeb Bush for their delightfully fear-mongering comments), viewers could tune in for a much more substantive Democratic debate.