I watched the opening minutes of the Republican YouTube debate last night. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON? Shouldn't the Presidential debates be a bit more serious? Aren't there real issues out there? Or is this just one big game show?
That's it. Why not run our Presidential elections like Dancing with the Stars or American Idol? What better way to increase voter participation? Lets gather all Democrats and Republicans running for the office of President and house them in a mansion for 12 weeks and televise the thing for an hour every week on Monday nights, with the results show on Tuesday nights.
Each week, candidates would be shown holding meetings, conducting their business, answering questions, and making statements. They'd also be interacting with other candidates and American citizens. America would be asked to vote for their favorite, and the candidate receiving the least number of votes would be eliminated from the contest.
Messages would be texted in via cell phone at $1 per message, thus raising revenue to pay down the budget deficit. There would also be an ad-sponsered website where Americans could vote for free. Television revenue would also be transferred to the general fund.
The results night show would be star-studded gala. Celine Dion would sing songs. Frank Caliendo would do John Madden impressions. It'd be fantastic. At the end of each results show, America would find out who was eliminated this week.
Twelve weeks into the show, America would be left with only two choices for President. The Monday night show would take the camera crew to the hometown of each candidate, and show America friends and family. We'd see the baby pictures and meet the beer-drinking buddies.
Then we'd be down to the final results show...
"Congratulations, you are now the President of the United States!"