It seems to me that the technical people who get invited to public debates are simply not competent or knowledgable enough. We definitely need to step up!
But a part of me wonders if this may be by design from the debate moderators - if a technical expert opens up by saying "we have a cryptographically secured solution that is backed by experts and privacy advocates alike", what's the next 45 minutes of the TV show going to be about?
The same thing every 45 minutes of every TV show is about -- selling cars and mattresses.