Unless we take action now, the upcoming presidential debates will just be an opportunity for politicians to recite their talking points, and moderators will continue to ask puffball, general questions rather than asking questions designed to reveal flaws in the candidates' arguments.

I urge everyone to sign this non-partisan petition demanding real political debates and send it to all your friends.

The petition demands that questions should be designed to make a candidate defend their positions, not just state what they are. If someone is running for President of the U.S., they should be able to defend their positions and respond to critics.

And, it suggests that panels of subject matter experts - from across the entire spectrum - be used to craft tough questions. Moderators - together with those experts - can ask a series of questions in order to hone in on a candidate's actual positions and in order to reveal flaws in their policies.

One of the greatest threats to the U.S. political system is that politicians are frequently allowed to make obviously wrong or misleading statements without being challenged. Please sign the petition in order to end this practice and craft real debates about vital issues.