Selecting a Presidential Candidate by Reality TV

Most Americans are less than enthusiastic about the Presidential candidates who are likely to be nominated by the major parties in 2024.?Rather than simply accepting what the Democrats and Republicans will offer up, a media phenomenon of this millennium presents a disruptive alternative.?Envision a reality TV series, along the lines of Survivor or American Idol.?Or think America’s Got Talent – but for “talent” on other attributes, not just an entertaining skill.?Conceivably, this revolutionary approach to campaigning could catapult a third-party candidate into the Oval Office.?It seems to be the only way that a third party could actually become a player…and not merely a spoiler.

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Choosing the Contestants

The contestants, who would be selected by a blue-ribbon panel, are believed by that panel to have what it takes to be President.?They are drawn from industry, academia, entertainment, law, military…and, yes, even from politics.?We could call the show “The Candidate,” “The People’s Candidate,” “Presidential Candidate,” or “[Third-Party Name] Candidate.”

This Contestant Selection Panel will have about a half-dozen members.?They would be highly respected journalists, perhaps from the print media (so that there are no network-conflict issues) along with political scientists from academia.?It could be chaired by one of the third-party’s leaders.

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The Show

Every week, for a few months, the contestants are confronted with an important challenge that might be faced by the next Administration.?They have a specified number of minutes in which to complete it.?In the early weeks, the challenges are simpler and the time period shorter, since there are a larger number of competitors.?As the weeks go on, and the field narrows, the challenges grow in complexity, and more time is afforded for their completion.?

How the contestants handle the challenge is evaluated by the viewers via the Internet.?After each show, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is removed from the competition.?If we start with a dozen competitors, with only one left standing at the end of this process, that person will surely have built up enormous public support and should have a decent shot at landing the Presidency.?No paid political advertising necessary.?It seems reasonable to expect that if this initiative is timed appropriately, to conclude around the time that the general-election polling starts, the last-standing individual will exceed the requisite 15% in the polls for inclusion in the debates.

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The Challenges

An example of an early, simple challenge is: ?“How would you solve the illegal immigration problem??You have 5 minutes to present a high-level summary of your solution.”?

An example of a later, more complex challenge is: ?“How would you restructure the tax system, to maximize its fairness while maintaining adequate capitalistic incentives??You have 15 minutes to give your speech to the American public, communicating your plan and convincing the citizenry that it is the best approach to take.”

The final week, when there are only 2 contestants remaining, the entire program is devoted to a head-to-head debate between them.?It would be moderated by the Chair of the Contestant Selection Panel.?Up until that final week, the contestants are kept in isolation while their fellow competitors are responding to the challenges.

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The Judges

There are only 2 judges per episode, to minimize the time taken up by commentary.?After a contestant performs, the judges each present a brief assessment of that performance.?The judges could again be nonpartisan journalists, perhaps drawn from the Panel.?Or, since objective news people are so scarce nowadays, perhaps one judge is conservative and the other liberal.

It is important that this judging activity be entertaining as well as enlightening.?Therefore, the judges ideally should be insightful, provocative, and charming.?There is no reason that the judges could not change from week to week.?Note, however, that they make no decisions.?They simply provide commentary, which contributes some color for the viewers in their voting decisions.

This show will be a groundbreaking, educational, entertaining, and intellectually stimulating experience for its viewers.?Attractive to its sponsors.?Profitable for its network.?And it might even bring us a President of exceptional and unprecedented “talent.”?Note, too, that this approach could be utilized on local TV stations, to nominate candidates for election to other political offices.

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Final Thoughts

In our democracy, we get to cast our ballots for the candidates we prefer.?But our choices are severely restricted.?Money, connections, gamesmanship, and the political power structure lay out our limited options.?TV and the Internet have been deployed to effectively promote these political candidates.?But to have a true democracy, would it not make more sense to open up the field via the power of reality TV – challenging a wider range of qualified individuals to demonstrate their capabilities to us all – and thus enable the population to put up another, more popular choice??

Given the widespread dissatisfaction with Washington, it seems that the time is right to profoundly transform our nation’s political process.?Through the competitive dynamics of this reality show, TV and the Internet can enable us to ratchet up the quality of Presidential nominees, optimizing the likelihood that we will acquire the charismatic and competent leadership our nation fervently desires and truly deserves.

#election #presidentialelection #realitytv #democracy #2024election