‘Please pray for my country.’ Presidential debate showcased erasure of American values.

Last night, I had a text exchange with one of my international friends about the debate.

“That was something,” he said, unable to put it into words.

In my exhaustion over what I had just seen, “Please pray for my country,” was the only answer that came to me.

He happens to be one of my best friends, and just yesterday, before the debate, we had a long and detailed discussion about economics and fiscal policy. We disagreed with each other, but we were each willing to see the other’s side. He had facts, and I had facts, and we understood those facts mattered.

We never made things up. We never called the other names. We never yelled once.

We never thought the other was our enemy because we disagreed.

We thanked each other for new data and information the other provided that we had not been aware of. When we were wrong about something, we admitted it, and updated our understanding based on factual information.

This is how things get built. This is how things get better.

None of this is true of last night’s debate. It was a constant stream of insults, interruptions, and incoherent one liners that were supposed to be as memorable as “there you go again”, but instead, fell flat.

Can anyone, after the debate, honestly say they better understand how each candidate would tackle rising medical costs? Prevent 200,000 more deaths from a pandemic? Calm Antifa or the Proud Boys enough to make the streets safe and civil?

How are we going to help Eastern Kentucky now that demand for coal is disappearing for good? How will we get poor or rural student broadband access so they can participate in virtual learning, or join the modern world? How do we support small businesses that have been disappearing?

The only positions that were clearly articulated last night were the assertions that President Trump doesn’t care about people, and the Radical Left will destroy everything. They could have just used Twitter to tell us that.

In a democracy, liberty depends on debate. Freedom depends on civility. Justice depends on decency. These existed only in fleeting moments last night.

Our national framework relies on integrity, customs, and conventionality. The Founding Fathers understood self governance could not continue without them.

They have been slowly disappearing, and if they disappear forever the United States of America that comes out the other side will be unrecognizable, not just in its governing function, but in its governing form.

Then, my friend’s response to my request for prayer made me realize how much bigger this is than just the 330 million of us in the United States.

“It affects mine, [I] have no choice.”

Please, pray for my country.

Matt Young was the researcher and investigative reporter for the New York Times best seller, “Mitch, Please!” by Matt Jones. He is also the author of the forthcoming book “Jesus Wept: How a Corrupt and Political Christianity Created an Exodus of Young Americans.”