If I Got to Regulate the Presidential Race

[raven_smiles]

Like most Americans, and perhaps non-Americans but I have no way of knowing since I live here, I've been inundated with political coverage. In a little over a month, I won't turn on NPR and listen to coverage on speeches made by presidential hopefuls, and I can't wait. This morning, I started thinking about what rules I would enact if I was in charge of the presidential race. I'm not even sure who is responsible for some of the items listed below, but if I had a say, I'd mandate the following.

• No lies or stretches of the truth from the campaigns, PACs that are endorsing them, lobbyists that are posting videos for them, their representatives, etc. If you're caught doing this, you lose an electoral college vote. You lose a vote each time someone lies or stretches the truth. I haven't figured out what happens to these votes, but you lose them.
• National Conventions will only be held if the party winner is not obvious, and the choice really needs to be debated within the party. When was the last time that the party nominee was really decided at the National Convention? If you can't remember, don't know, or it wasn't in the last 20 years, the conventions have served their purpose.
• If a National Convention is required (meeting the standards set in the above line), however much each party spends to put on the convention will be donated to one or more charities by the party. If the DNC spends $100 mil, they also have to donate $100 mil. If the RNC spends $120 mil, they also have to donate $120 mil. I'm not sure how much each party spent this year, but judging by the setup, I'd guess it was millions of dollars. This is ludicrous. There are people in the United States without health care, that are homeless, that are searching for their next meal, that are fighting just to pay the rent this month. Is it really necessary to have a fireworks display? Or to have a balloon drop that smothers reporters? Yeah, I didn't think so.
• The children of candidates should be in school, not on the campaign trail. Want to set an example on education? Send your kids to school! There's no need for them to traipse around the country with you. My only exception to this rule is a National Convention (which we probably wouldn't have), voting day, and campaigns within your hometown. I'm electing you, not your children. Keep them out of the limelight. Of course, if your children have graduated high school, that's a different story, and they're free to campaign with/for you.
• Town hall meetings should be held by each candidate, where the attendees are allowed to ask questions of the candidate. The questions could be submitted in advance so the candidate can prepare, as I know they don't know everything, but they should also accept off-the-cuff questions. Attendees are expected to be reasonable with their line of questioning, and candidates should give responses that actually answer the question. Follow-up questions are allowed, again within reason. Of course, basic rules of conversation and Q/A sessions will be followed. Reporters and political bloggers will not be allowed to participate.
• Reporters will follow the campaigns as they do now, but candidates will also work to accommodate political bloggers. This recognizes that they are an important part of the democratic process, and should not be taken for granted. Many a story has been covered for week by political bloggers, that suddenly becomes a mainstream topic. I'm not a political blogger, so I'm not sure if they'd even want to participate. Perhaps there are other rules we'd have to work out later, including how many bloggers the campaigns should accommodate, as there are many bloggers, and any Joe-Schmo can decide to start a political blog.
• Shouting questions at candidates or representatives of their team will not be tolerated. Think of a paparazzi style interrogation: there's no need for this. Same with press conferences. Shouting over one another, interrupting candidates is not polite, therefore unacceptable.
• Candidates would need to provide detail that outlines how they would enact their platform. Universal healthcare is great and so is lowering taxes, but I want to know the nitty-gritty pieces of it. I want to know what it's really going to take to get this to work. If it's been done in other countries, or by other cities and states, show proof of that. I want a proof of concept. Yes, I understand that things change, and no matter how much planning you do, you can run into snaggles, but phrases like, "We're going to fix the economy," irritate me. How?

What else would you change? I've lived through many elections, but I've only participated in 2 presidential elections. (Yes, I'm that young.) So what did I miss? I know the changes I listed are idealistic, but I don't think they're that difficult to enact. Some are just personal pet peeves, but others might agree with me.