I was talking to a friend today about the concept of having a low "Campaign cap" on presidential candidates to ensure we got a better cross-section of citizens in the race (not just rich people), when it occurred to me maybe there's a way we could take advantage of the unstoppable force that is reality TV to elect our next president.
Maybe we could take a little bit from the each of the different reality TV concepts and combine them into a new electoral process:
Let's narrow the field using the American Idol concept. Following a background check, travel to several major metropolitan areas, bring in every Tom, Dick, and Hillary that wants to be president and run them by a panel of judges from mixed backgrounds with no party allegiance. Maybe a cop, a hairdresser, a college professor, a cattle rancher, and a hip-hop record producer (I'm just thinking out loud here). Candidates give a 60-second stump speech and get evaluated by the panel. Once the panel weeds out the truly lame candidates, the rest get presented to the American Public who narrow the field down to 15.
Next up, is The Apprentice portion of the competition. Task each candidate with a series of political problems and scenarios to work out. Solve a healthcare crisis, use diplomacy to stop two countries from going to war, deal with charges of philandering, whatever. Have them work together as well as individually. Rate the results objectively and narrow the field to 8.
Finally we move to Survivor. Put all eight remaining candidates on an island and let them prove they're healthy and cagey enough make it in the Washington jungle. The winner gets four years in the White House. And a Toyota Prius.
This is just one idea. If you have another in the same vein let me know.
Maybe we could take a little bit from the each of the different reality TV concepts and combine them into a new electoral process:
Let's narrow the field using the American Idol concept. Following a background check, travel to several major metropolitan areas, bring in every Tom, Dick, and Hillary that wants to be president and run them by a panel of judges from mixed backgrounds with no party allegiance. Maybe a cop, a hairdresser, a college professor, a cattle rancher, and a hip-hop record producer (I'm just thinking out loud here). Candidates give a 60-second stump speech and get evaluated by the panel. Once the panel weeds out the truly lame candidates, the rest get presented to the American Public who narrow the field down to 15.
Next up, is The Apprentice portion of the competition. Task each candidate with a series of political problems and scenarios to work out. Solve a healthcare crisis, use diplomacy to stop two countries from going to war, deal with charges of philandering, whatever. Have them work together as well as individually. Rate the results objectively and narrow the field to 8.
Finally we move to Survivor. Put all eight remaining candidates on an island and let them prove they're healthy and cagey enough make it in the Washington jungle. The winner gets four years in the White House. And a Toyota Prius.
This is just one idea. If you have another in the same vein let me know.
