Originally published in the Deseret News.

“I come to you at a strange time in American politics.” Well-known journalist and author Cokie Roberts expressed this sentiment in a speech this week in Salt Lake City. Thursday night’s debate underlined this statement. A full one year and three months before Election Day, 10 Republican candidates squared off in the first primary debate. Seven other Republican candidates participated in a “Happy Hour” debate before and the Democrats will join the fray this fall. Unfortunately for the American public, the extended campaign, substance-lacking debates and made-for-TV drama fall short of the task at hand. There is too much ego in politics.

Consider the extraordinary things some candidates are doing to garner attention. Sen. Rand Paul put on a black T-shirt and jeans as he ignited 70,000 pages of the U.S. tax code. He added a chain saw for visual effect. I don’t like the tax code either, but I doubt if his pyrotechnics will bring about badly needed tax reform. It feels like a personal agenda for attention more than serious problem-solving.

Then there’s Sen. Lindsey Graham. After being called an “idiot” and a “stiff” and having his personal phone number shared by Donald Trump, Graham took a blender, a meat cleaver, lighter fluid and a golf driver to a Samsung flip phone. He then threw one off a building and said, “This is for all the veterans.” He spit back at Trump, but I would gladly trade his frolics for meaningful policymaking in the U.S. Senate.

And then we have Sen. Ted Cruz creating a video where he cooks bacon “Texas style” by wrapping it around the barrel of a rifle, coating it in foil and then firing until grease drops to the ground. He says, “There are few things I enjoy more than on weekends cooking breakfast with the family.”

Some of you will think this is all in fun, and I understand that perspective. YouTube creates a whole new way for candidates to engage with the public and participate in the public square. Some of it is actually quite funny. But something is wrong here. We are forgetting what American government is supposed to be. Personal ambition too often trumps the people’s business and hurts our country.

And then there’s Donald Trump. He speaks in plain language that everybody understands, but his understanding of the issues is woefully inadequate. Cokie Roberts joked that if you’ve ever stayed at a Trump Hotel, he has his picture on the water bottles. Having never stayed in a Trump property, I had to do a Google search. It’s true; he puts his portrait on the bottles! There is something very Putinlike about that and it’s not what I want in a presidential candidate. We need less ego and more serious debate about the challenges facing our country.

Sen. Orrin Hatch gets it. In a speech on the Senate floor he called out the lack of decorum by saying, “We are not here on some frolic to pursue personal ambition. We are here because people have entrusted us with the solemn responsibility to act on their behalf in shaping our nation’s laws.” He then said, “This is a high and noble calling.”

Thank you, Sen. Hatch. You fulfill your role as Senate president pro tempore well.

I go back to Cruz’s firearm-cooked bacon. Is it just me, or do others think his antics detract from finding solutions to serious gun violence in America? I still haven’t gotten over the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting when a 20-year old fatally shot 20 children and six staff members. And let’s not forget he shot his mother, too. Unfortunately, the episode seems to have been forgotten by our policymakers. Something is deeply wrong with all of this.

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan has made the observation, “Our politics do not reflect our knowledge.” She’s referring to the way we’ve allowed ambition and ideological extremes to undermine public policy in this country.

Sen. Hatch has admonished his colleagues, “We serve the people, not our own egos.” I long for an election season that brings us less ego-laden antics and more problem-solving for our country.