Debates don’t work, let’s face it with the Republican debate last night we’ve seen that it boils down to nothing more than a bunch of screaming children crying because they don’t get to talk and bullies making fun of other people and and attacking anyone who calls them out. If you’ve watched the town halls that have been done then you’ve seen that they work much better, there is much more substance to them and the voters actually get to hear from the candidates instead of just hearing a bunch of screaming and crying.
My Proposal
Dump the debate format and switch to a one on one town hall format. All you’d have is the candidate and a host asking questions, for 30 minutes. The host asks a question and the candidate can take as long as he or she wishes to answer, when the candidate is done the host asks the next question whether the candidate has actually answered the question or not, at the end of the 30 minutes it’s over and it’s the next candidates turn. If the candidate takes a long time to answer each question and don’t get to answer as many questions as the rest of the candidates then that’s their own fault. All candidates should be asked the same questions in the same order, and ever town hall style event should focus on one subject, economy, healthcare, defense, ect…
These town halls can be hosted by CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS, whoever I don’t care but broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX should be allowed to rebroadcast them if they wish. Radio networks should also be allowed to rebroadcast the audio. Having cable shouldn’t be an individual mandate to be informed about the candidates running for President of the United States, every citizen should have access to the information that these people want to get out.
Personally I think it should be broadcast on CSPAN then rebroadcast on at least of of the broadcast networks, the radio, and online. The people deserve to hear what the person who want to the most powerful job in the world as to say.
But some people will still want debates
Alright fine, let the debates be hosted by the party itself. If the DNC or RNC wants to host a debate then let them, they can host it on what ever cable network they want and exclude none cable subscribers all they want. But the town hall format I propose should be run by an independent entity to keep it as fair as possible, maybe the Federal Elections Commission, I don’t know.
Conclusion
No matter what we do, we’ve got to fix this broken system. We’ve reached a point where we aren’t getting any real information, running for President of the United States shouldn’t be about entertainment, is should be about the issues. Yes it’s boring, but it’s important and we need to start treating this like it is.