Okay, we’ve all heard the numbers about how many more people are checked into American Idol voting than actually voting in the political process. We’ve also all bemoaned the rise of reality shows and their effect on our collective psyche.

Well maybe it’s time to stop whining, embrace it, accept it, and make it work for Democracy. But instead of looking to American Idol, let’s retrofit Survivor into our political process.

Credit where credit is due: my friend Allison Sultan blurted out this idea, and the two of us went on to flesh it out. It goes like this:

We’ve got our two partisan tribes, yes? There are a zillion Democrats and another zillion Republicans running for President. Let’s embrace the fact that most folks are more motivated by who they’re against rather than who or what they’re for. Instead of debates, each Party should give their candidates a task a month, like – tour a factory, or kiss two dozen babies. Then every month they have TV specials where we review how they did. Then, at the end of the show, we have a 1-800 number everybody in America can call, and we vote out the one we don’t like. Clean. Simple. And so satisfying. Good bye Biden. Better luck next time Huckabee. Maybe you can go on Larry King to talk about your experience.

Ten months later, our process of elimination leaves us with two candidates. We can then have a final episode and vote one more off the island (island o’ politics, that is), or maybe we could even mix it up and put them through some sort of Fear Factor schtick. Climb in the tank with the snakes, Barack! Down a whole glass of pureed grasshoppers, Fred!

I know I’d set my Tivo for that.

And the great American experiment rolls on…