I would much rather have candidates take IQ and general knowledge tests than participate in honest debates
Sure you would. And if even a significant minority of the electorate agreed with you, you might see something like that happen.
what I would like to see is a DNA analysis of Presidential candidates to identify those with genes predisposing them to being sociopaths.
Would you vote for the more sociopathic or the less? I'm pretty sure in a competition between societies the last thing you want in a leader is someone who constrains how your team competes, especially if the other team is not so constrained. And given the competitive nature of the world, there will be teams out there that are barely or unconstrained.
This sort of argument doesn't make sense to me. If I'm operating purely on self-interest, the rational thing to do is to not bother voting. If I'm motivated by altruism, why should I give preference to people who live in the same country as me over people who live in another country?
See this Newsroom clip.
Basically, their news network is trying to change the way political debates work by having the moderator force the candidates to answer the questions that are asked of them, not interrupt each other, justify arguments that are based on obvious falsehoods etc.
How big of a positive impact do you guys think that this would have on society?
My initial thoughts are that it would be huge. It would lead to better politicians, which would be a high level of action. The positive effects would trickle down into many aspects of our society.
The question then becomes, "can we make this happen?". I don't see a way right now, but the idea has enough upside to me that I keep it in the back of my mind in case I come up with a plausible way of implementing the change.
Thoughts?