The Democratic Debates

I have watched all three Democratic debates. I'll watch the fourth and any subsequent debates. If the Republicans have a debate I'll watch that. After the nominees are chosen, I'll watch the general election debates. That's what I do. I consume a large amount of news and the debates are news. All that being said, I hate the political debates, especially the primary debates. Here are some of my suggestions for improving these debates to make them more informative. 

First, never have 10 or 12 candidates on the same debate stage. No one gets enough time to expound on their answers or policies. There are also too many interruptions and overruns of the allotted answer time. A few candidates get a lot of face time, some get almost no time. 

Limit each debate to one or two topics. One on healthcare, one on foreign policy, one on the environment, etc. Besides allowing for more in-depth answers, the candidates and questioners could also better prepare for the subject matter.

Limiting the topics would fix one problem we have had this election cycle. The moderators insist on asking healthcare questions. In fact, they insist on asking the same healthcare questions. Will your Medicare for all require raising taxes on the middle class? Will your plan force people who like their current insurance to change? Then if the questioner doesn't like the answer, they ask it again. Those same questions were asked in all the previous debates. It is as if healthcare is the only important topic. Another tactic would be for the candidates to refuse to answer questions that they have been asked, often dozens of times. Steer the topic to those not yet covered. Refuse to answer the gotcha questions that the media is so enamored with. There is no useful or informative answer to these types of questions. (Do you still beat your spouse?) 

The DNC could require the networks and questioners to stick to the agreed-upon topics. Failure to comply and the network and/or questioner is banned from future debates. 

Find some way to give each candidate close to equal time. That may mean restricting the time of those who don't abide by the rules. Maybe turn off their microphone. Real debates have real rules that are enforced. These political debates are more consequential than a high school debate. 

The DNC, media, and candidates owe it to the public to make these debates or forums meaningful, informative, and factual. I don't hold out much hope that any of these changes will be implemented. Both parties and all media outlets seem to be invested in the current very flawed format. We can only hope.  

wjh