An election that deserves a more serious debate

(CBS News) If you needed further proof of why people have lost faith in their institutions, look no further than today's Washington Post, and two articles a mere 16 pages apart.

The newspaper reports on page five that "Food-stamp use hits record high," with 46.7 million Americans receiving government assistance--a depressing number by any measure--and one that has gone up 3.3 percent since last year.

Then flip to page 21 and read "The media feasts in Charlotte," an account by Dana Milbank of the endless array of parties, Martini bars, massages and schmoozing among elites-- media and political--at the political conventions.

With unemployment stuck at over 8 percent, a record-high number of people on food stamps (see WP, page five) and a majority of people who now believe the American Dream is slipping away, here's what Milbank overheard outside one media bash: "It's like spring break out there, and this is like the cool party everybody wants to get into."

(Excuse me while I slam my head on my desk now.)

Is it any wonder there's a disconnect between the average American and Washington? And if you doubt that disconnect for a second, just look at the polls, which show confidence in institutions--the media, Congress and even the presidency--at historical lows.

In the latest Gallup survey, only 37 percent say they have confidence in the presidency -- down 8 points from the historical average. And 37 percent is a relatively good confidence rating, compared to institutions like newspapers (with a 25 percent confidence rating, also down 8 from their historical average), television news (at 21 percent, down 10 points), and, at the bottom of the pile, Congress (with a whopping 13 percent confidence average, half of what it's been historically).

In other words, people don't trust the media, they've lost confidence in the presidency, and they have nearly no confidence at all in Congress. So it makes your heart sink when you read an article like Milbank's, with the media figure crowing about his "cool party everybody wants to get into," and the who's who of politicians and pundits inside.

The message, fairly or not, is the press and the politicians and the powerful are cozying it up on the inside, while everyone else stays outside, powerless.

When you go out and talk to everyone else--farmers in Iowa, moms in Florida, factory workers in Michigan--they have a lot to say. They will tell you they're worried. They think America is in trouble. They see it, and they feel it--it's urgent and it's real. (See the Washington Post, page five, on food stamps.) There are serious issues facing this country and the world. But what they're hearing from Washington or the campaigns isn't touching them--it's all words.

It is hard for me to fathom showing Milbank's column to, say, Westley Crouse, of Woodsfield, Ohio, or Steve Lemley, who lives outside of Beallsville. Both work in the American Energy Corporation's coal mine in southeastern Ohio, like their father or uncles before them.

They both had on hard hats, work clothes and were covered in dust from the mine when I talked to them last month. Crouse told me his vote this November "is a vote for my life." Lemley said, "it's the most important thing to me that'll ever happen to me."

They don't care about the Democrats' messaging on Todd Akin or the Republicans' "you didn't build this," or the media's fixation with one or the other. That's not what they're voting on. They want to know who's going to help them make ends meet and make their lives better--and make a brighter future for their children or their grandchildren.

That's how a lot of Americans see this moment--and this election. It matters. It's serious. And we have just two months and one day until Nov. 6., when America gets to decide. Maybe before then, the debate will catch up to where the average American already is--focusing on what matters.