Thank God for the little red flag.

The challenge call, made by head coaches, has reversed game-breaking decisions at pivotal moments of NFL history. It’s the failsafe in case the referees get it wrong and the coach is convinced his team is in the right.

I propose we do debates like we do football.

Under the current debate format, there are two candidates and a moderator. That’s it. No panel, no judges, nothing about it is gameshow-esque, save the rouge and hair dye.

The eventuality of every debate is each candidate accusing the other of lying or “misrepresenting the truth,” if “liar” is too aggressive a word choice.

But how will the American people know who is telling the truth?

Thus, I propose a new debate position: the Bullshit Referee, a fact checker and truth seeker.

The Bullshit Referee will situate himself or herself snugly beside the moderator. Each candidate will be awarded three challenges, much like timeouts in football.

If a candidate wishes to call bullshit on his or her opponent, he or she will notify the referee by the tossing of the red challenge flag.

At this point in the debate, both candidates are silenced and the clocks stop. The referee will ask the challenger what he or she wishes to fact check.

Armed with a laptop and Google, the Bullshit Referee will fact-check the aforementioned claim and eventually call bullshit on the ill-informed candidate.

If the challenger is correct and the opponent is lying or muddling the facts, the opponent will lose one of his challenges. Once lost, challenges cannot be redeemed.

However, if the challenger turns out to be wrong and the opponent is correct, the challenger will lose two of his challenges, while undoubtedly receiving heavy doses of shame for calling bullshit on the truth.

The audience could also be armed with tomatoes or those pop rock fireworks that look like little spitballs, if it’s to the network’s liking.

It’s important that the truth be told at debates or else the audience gets nothing out of it. Fact-checkers from newspapers across the country are never received as truthful because they do their work after the show.

We must call bullshit as it happens, while both guys are still standing in the room, in front of God and millions of viewers.

As Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

Americans deserve to know the truth, not the distorted, PR-spin put on by networks and the parties.

The position of Bullshit Referee does not require extensive practice, merely the ability to type and access to high speed internet.

Both sides of the political divide were envying the late, great Kurt Cobain by the conclusion of the last debate.

Under the new format, we could also stumble across the all-too-common occasion when both candidates are lying, perhaps eliciting an even greater response from the voting population.

We’re tired of hearing the phrase, “That is simply not true,” without the bravado to back it up.

Mind you, all of these additions would do nothing short of wonders for ratings.

So grab your milk, it’s time for spicy democracy.