By Gabe Dickens | City of Rusk, Carpenter County

What makes a good speech? Is it the emotional impact the speech has on the audience? Is it meant to rile up audiences? Express pride? What does a good speech communicate? Does it explain how one stands out from the rest? Or does it do something a little more useful for the audience?

Many of the speeches at Badger Boys State seem to lack an important quality; specific details as to what a candidate may do. Not generalized statements about the qualities a leader possesses or sweeping statements about how a specific leader would unify, or bring to power a specific city, county or state.

This technique of exciting an audience to vote for a candidate by shouting and keeping the excitement high does not truly inform any audience of what is needed.

For example, if a candidate wanted to say that he would push for a specific legislation, a candidate would explain the in’s and out’s of how he would reach this goal and take the time to explain his process.

Secondly, by stating that we are all qualified to be at BBS, one evades explaining the details of his qualification, taking away the audience’s chance to judge his merits on the premises of his experience in leadership.

Naming leadership characteristics without providing specific examples of how they apply to a candidate, or what things the candidate has done in the past to prove his claims denies the audience the capability to make an informed decision on the candidate.

Granted, while this technique is a reasonable way to be elected, it frankly is dishonest.

Exciting the crowd is a way to get votes and hustling the populace to make a brash decision may get one elected, but it should be the case that one backs his claims on his merits.

Even though there is limited time to make a detailed speech, a short and sweet story that explains ones’ merits and provides examples would suffice.

Some speeches did explain the backing behind sweeping presumed characteristics. Each outburst of energy and partisan tribalism nulls the ideas of those who would quietly express the backing behind their merits.

Crafting such speeches are difficult and one can’t claim they would know precisely how, but with the knowledge that BBS citizens pose, such a speech should be within their capabilities.

It is imperative that audience members take a critical look at the merits of candidates, whether they be part of a year long summer camp or the actual political process.

Voting along party lines or for your friends whom you’ve developed loyalties towards is unacceptable without further critique.

Certainly this is not a critique on the candidates themselves who possess amazing qualities, but while good qualities including personability, charisma and honesty matter in an effective leader they pale in comparison to those actual skills and knowledge one possesses; all one needs to do is demonstrate they possess such knowledge with evidence.