Dancing with the Votes

I am sold on the concept of 'direct democracy.' Why should there be an electoral college at all? Why not have everybody's vote count the same?

It would be so easy to do things differently. We could follow the model used by shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Most of us are already familiar with the concept. The candidates would have to perform for us so we could select the finalists. Since that's exactly what already happens, the transition would be a no-brainer.

The Issue Selection Committee would choose the key issues, and each candidate would team up with their writers and campaign staff to address that issue. The performance would last for 3 to 5 minutes, without pesky interruptions. Judges could grade the performance on quality of information, use of visual aids, and depth of solutions.

Imagine the fun voters would have making their choice:

     Voter 1 - The challenger danced a clever side-step with the gun control issue...
     Voter 2 - Yeah, but did you see the incumbant's razzle-dazzle pie charts? 

Being voted off means candidates can't stay in the race and take up space. They can get back to their current job without further ado. No more fundraising, and their backers can consider which remaining candidate to support. Think what a time-saver that would be for us and them.

Instead of an exhausting death-march across the campaign trail repeating the same catch phrases, the candidates must move on to the next issue and perform again. This exposes those 'one-issue wonders,' who are so eloquent about a single topic but an 'empty suit' when it comes to everything else. 

What a concept! Instead of leaving their jobs to campaign for 2 years, ladder-climbing politicians would have to do the job they were elected to do. Finally! ("Remember your last campaign, when you wanted your current job so badly, Senator? Go do it. Make the tape on your own time.")

Both the primary and the election performances would be run, frequently, right up to voting time. The discerning public would have a chance to view these, and additional information, such as voting records, attendance, and Q & A sessions.

I mean really. It's our tax money the politicians cheerfully hand over to other people for the wars, foreign aid, bank bail-outs, and other nonsense. Shouldn't we see a more in-depth explanation about how these clowns propose to spend it?

We should require more substance and less misleading rhetoric. We deserve everybody's vote to count instead of just the votes of the Ohio independents. Above all, we need to pick our president with at least as much scrutiny as we pick our American Idols.