I am all in on this and I think any candidate for office in the U.S. should have to pass a basic science literacy test or be disqualified.
There's genuine, serious, downright critical matters that absolutely need to be aired in the public sphere. In normal times, at least some of them (energy, science education and research funding, CO2 driven climate change, mass extinctions, etc) would come up in the national conversation once in a while. Sadly, only one of our political parties is dedicated to governing and actually believes in the scientific method, the other one is an anarchic gang who believes in nothing.

I have no confidence in Louie Gohmert or Inhofe or most of the other elected burghers and used car salesmen we call legislators even being able to understand the basics behind the questions, much less formulate a response. Once again, the American public will be cheated out of the discussion we badly need to hear.

And the Presidential Science Debate…oh my Christ. This is how it would go.

CLINTON:
* Takes questions one by one
* provides short descriptive answer,
* demonstrates mastery of the concepts and challenges of the task
* background details in organized bullet points
* provides 4 year strategic plan
* details funding methods.
* corrects technical mistake by the moderator.

TRUMP:

<img src="http://chrispiascik.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/trumpshaker.gif&quot; ?="">