So I’m bored and had a great idea: A presidential debate where they treat us like intelligent adults instead of pandering to the extremists. They could do it as a pay per view fundraiser so that the audience is only those of us really interested.
Rules:
-No discussion of birth control, gun control, or gay marriage. Those are 1990’s issues. It’s 2012. Birth control and gun control aren’t going anywhere. Gay marriage is coming state by state as our generation displaces our parents’ generation. Don’t waste time on fake issues. We have bigger fish to fry.
-Use white boards when debating economics. If you can’t graph your shit you don’t know it. We don’t want to hear rhetoric, we want to see your ideas.
-Moderator slams a buzzer if they use class warfare buzzwords. “Job Creators” “wall street” “main street”
-Bullshit detector. If they state “facts”, not opinions, that are blatantly false, they get a big X and a buzzer that flashes in the room and on TV, like that talent show. 3 X’s and they are out of the debate. Examples would be Michele Bachmann saying that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation.
-If the candidate hasn’t addressed the question asked within a certain number of seconds, cut them off. Example would be taking a question about foreign policy and somehow ending up giving a response about health care, for or against. Sarah Palin used to do this when the question was something she didn’t know or didn’t want to talk about.
-Have a 5 minute section to make the candidates accountable for their ads. Play some of the ridiculous claims and accusations that each candidate’s ads have made and make them justify them.
-Find some way to involve the public/viewers to allow them to ask some questions directly without making it an idiot fest. Not sure how to implement this.
i don’t think this is possible or if it was it would invariably yield poor results whereby every politician to the end of time will look like an idiot; except ron paul.
reason being, anyone with half a brain can lead a much much more rewarding existence without all of the scrutiny and pressure of this level of public office.