My Debate Rules

JoeMoma

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Nov 22, 2014
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Note: This thread is not about the debate between Trump and Biden that occurred on Sept 29, 2020. This is about rules that I believe would be conducive to a better debating environment for both Trump and Biden. So Mods, please don't merge this thread into the global debate thread.

1. Each of the two candidates would have a podium, a microphone, and a countdown clock and a "finished talking" button.

2. Each candidate would get turns to talk for let's say 90 seconds (the time can be adjusted) each turn. The candidate can say anything he wants to for that amount of time. He can ask a question or respond to a question from the other candidate. The candidate can press the "finished talking button" if he does not need the full time and let the other candidate talk. The microphone will only be turned on for one candidate at a time when it's he's time to talk. Also, if the time runs out, the mic is switched to the other candidate.

3. There will be no moderator asking the candidates questions or trying to referee the debate. Candidates are to debate/argue their positions back and forth.

I think these rules would have resulted in a much better, much more interesting, much more informative debate than the debate last night. What do you think? What rules would you have if you designed the debate rules?
 
Amazing how you describe this discussion to be about better rules for debates, and request the moderators to not merge it into the discussion about the recent presidential debate, and then you compare your rules to the recent debate.

Turning off the microphone is probably not going to work - the participants always speak out of turn. And we need to hear what they are thinking. The rules need to be made to accommodate that inevitable aspect of debating, and I can see that you are trying, but turning off the microphones probably will not work, and will probably be confused by the person regulating the microphones, which would be a referee. So it takes a half hour for the participants to exhaust their reasoning and stances - we get full deliberation, instead of trying to guess what they might have revealed.
 
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What they need most is a conch shell

Conch_shell_2.jpg


No conchy, no speaky!
 
Note: This thread is not about the debate between Trump and Biden that occurred on Sept 29, 2020. This is about rules that I believe would be conducive to a better debating environment for both Trump and Biden. So Mods, please don't merge this thread into the global debate thread.

1. Each of the two candidates would have a podium, a microphone, and a countdown clock and a "finished talking" button.

2. Each candidate would get turns to talk for let's say 90 seconds (the time can be adjusted) each turn. The candidate can say anything he wants to for that amount of time. He can ask a question or respond to a question from the other candidate. The candidate can press the "finished talking button" if he does not need the full time and let the other candidate talk. The microphone will only be turned on for one candidate at a time when it's he's time to talk. Also, if the time runs out, the mic is switched to the other candidate.

3. There will be no moderator asking the candidates questions or trying to referee the debate. Candidates are to debate/argue their positions back and forth.

I think these rules would have resulted in a much better, much more interesting, much more informative debate than the debate last night. What do you think? What rules would you have if you designed the debate rules?
No moderator to attack the GOP debate person and shut them down when trying to make a point?

The media will ever go for it.
 
Note: This thread is not about the debate between Trump and Biden that occurred on Sept 29, 2020. This is about rules that I believe would be conducive to a better debating environment for both Trump and Biden. So Mods, please don't merge this thread into the global debate thread.

1. Each of the two candidates would have a podium, a microphone, and a countdown clock and a "finished talking" button.

2. Each candidate would get turns to talk for let's say 90 seconds (the time can be adjusted) each turn. The candidate can say anything he wants to for that amount of time. He can ask a question or respond to a question from the other candidate. The candidate can press the "finished talking button" if he does not need the full time and let the other candidate talk. The microphone will only be turned on for one candidate at a time when it's he's time to talk. Also, if the time runs out, the mic is switched to the other candidate.

3. There will be no moderator asking the candidates questions or trying to referee the debate. Candidates are to debate/argue their positions back and forth.

I think these rules would have resulted in a much better, much more interesting, much more informative debate than the debate last night. What do you think? What rules would you have if you designed the debate rules?
No moderator to attack the GOP debate person and shut them down when trying to make a point?

The media will ever go for it.
I agree, the media will never of for it. Also, there would be no media person in the spotlight.
 
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Amazing how you describe this discussion to be about better rules for debates, and request the moderators to not merge it into the discussion about the recent presidential debate, and then you compare your rules to the recent debate.
The thread is not about the substance of yesterday' debate. It is about debate procedure which is not the topic of the global debate thread.

Turning off the microphone is probably not going to work - the participants always speak out of turn.
The participants can speak out of turn, but the idea is that if they do, no one will hear them which should put an end to them speaking out of turn rather quickly.
 
The moderator too must grab the conch when moderation is required and shall address the incumbent candidate as Ms. President, Sir, Boss, Main Homey, or Big Brother then clonk him/her in the head with the conch when he/she refuses to cooperate. The other candidate shall receive a back slap just for looking at the moderator funny and will be referred to as Sparky, Junior, Jive Turkey, Old Fart, or Fred (..regardless of gender).
 
The rules need to be made to accommodate that inevitable aspect of debating, and I can see that you are trying, but turning off the microphones probably will not work, and will probably be confused by the person regulating the microphones, which would be a referee.

The microphone would be controlled by the clock and the participants. The idea is that there would be little need for a referee. The candidate talks until his time runs out or until he presses the "finished talking" button and then the mic switches to the other candidate.
 

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