The political campaign for President is in tatters, brought to a low estate by nasty ad hominem attack ads full of dubious charges and irrelevant back and forth, sound bits, and campaign managers’ “spin”. It all began with high-minded aims, but soon was trashed. We parties to a grand social contract deserve and want better, unless you can say one side or the other stands more to gain from such a mangled process.
I know exactly how to make it all right again, picking up the shards of issues and restoring them to a lucid whole.
Put each candidate in a room with a television camera and a nondescript audience. Ask each to speak 5-8 minutes on the energy problem, the Iraq war problem, the health care problem, the national budget problem, or any other problem facing the candidates and voters.
That “nondescript” audience? It must contain a crowd of people, specialists, who have written book-length and scholarly “opinions” on the topic under discussion. After the position speeches are finished, the “audience” discusses the issue on camera as revealed by the candidates and how well each candidate would lead the nation to a plan for solving that problem.
The candidate will be revealed. And that’s all we need to know to vote wisely.
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