Republished with permission from Lucian K. Truscott IV

Ask yourself these questions:

Does it matter that women are dying needlessly because of draconian abortion bans in red states around the country?

Does it matter that JD Vance blatantly lied when he said he doesn’t support a national ban on abortions?

Does it matter that children have died and will die needlessly because JD Vance supports the fact that you can buy a gun as easily as you can buy a candy bar and many states allow you to walk around with concealed firearms so no one can see the gun you are carrying for the purpose of shooting up a school?

Does it matter that immigrants with legal status in a town in Ohio fear for their lives because of lies told about them by Donald Trump and JD Vance?

Does it matter that neither Donald Trump nor JD Vance will admit that Trump lost the 2020 election and persist in spreading lies that there are problems with the vote in this election?

Does it matter that both JD Vance and Donald Trump constantly spread the lie that climate change is a “hoax” even in the face of widespread flooding and death from once-in-500 years Hurricane Helene?

Does it matter that JD Vance thinks that Vice President Pence did the wrong thing when he presided over the certification of electoral ballots that decided the 2020 election as legitimate and declared Joe Biden the winner?

Does it matter that JD Vance refused to admit that the January 6 insurrection that resulted in the beatings and deaths of police officers and the looting of the Capitol was a genuine threat to democracy?

Does it matter that JD Vance wants to illegally deport 25 million undocumented immigrants, including their children born in this country who are have citizenship under the Constitution?

Does it matter that Donald Trump has pledged to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, if need be by executive order, which will result in people with disabilities and chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension losing their health care coverage, and JD Vance is just fine with that?

Does it matter that JD Vance refused to answer questions that would disassociate himself with lies told by Donald Trump on every issue from guns to health care to immigration to the legitimacy of the 2020 election to the widespread danger of allowing states to pass laws that endanger the lives of pregnant women?

I read coverage of the debate last night and this morning and let me tell you one thing I know: What happened in New York between JD Vance and Tim Walz was not a Broadway play with two actors playing roles during which one was better prepared and “more polished” and the other flubbed a couple of his lines.

The debate Tuesday night was about people’s lives and in some cases the loss of people’s lives. Tim Walz and JD Vance were not just answering the questions asked of them by the moderators. They were answering the questions of voters who want to know which of them lives in the real world and is willing to deal with the difficult issues and problems that confront us all.

Did the debate matter? You bet it did.