Beyond The Broken Spectrum

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/476246.html

Peter Camejo finally made the front page. All he had to do to get there is die. Camejo, who died Sept. 14 at age 68, was a perennial third-party candidate. He was the Green Party candidate for vice president in 2004, with Ralph Nader topping the ticket.

You’ve probably never heard of Camejo, even though many Green Party ideas are now in the mainstream. And this illuminates one of the many problems with the way we elect presidents in the United States: We shut out all voices except those from the Democrat and Republican parties.

By “we,” I mean the mainstream news media — especially the electronic media — in collaboration with the two political parties, who tightly control the debate format.

This is something to worry about as we enter the quadrennial presidential and vice presidential debates. Democrat Barack Obama will square off against Republican John Mc- Cain three times (Friday, Oct. 7 and Oct. 15), and their would-be vice presidents, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, will go head to head once (Oct. 2).

They will do so before a national audience in the tens of millions.

Libertarian Bob Barr, the Green Party’s Cynthia McKinney, and Nader, an Independent, will have no such forum.

All three are on enough ballots— more than 40 states — to win the Electoral College.

In San Luis Obispo County, there are 1,600 people registered in the Green Party and more than 900 Libertarians. More than 3,000 are in the American Independent Party.

There are other minor parties across the nation, but Nader, McKinney and Barr and their parties have earned national status. They should be in the debates.

They won’t be, because since 1988 the two major parties have taken control of the process through the Commission on Presidential Debates. They require a candidate to have 15 percent standing in the polls.

There’s only one way to reach that threshold: exposure in the national media. That won’t happen unless the media let it, and they won’t, because they, too, are locked in to the two-party system.

Ask most mainstream journalists about having Nader or Barr or McKinney up there on the stage with Obama and Mc- Cain, and I’ll bet they will tell you that these people have no chance so why should we listen to them? That attitude has infiltrated the media culture.

My reaction is: Who gave us the right to decide whether they are credible? Shouldn’t voters decide that? Might they not have new ideas that would help them build a new political party?

Of course, Democrats don’t want Nader and McKinney siphoning off their votes, and Republicans fear Bob Barr taking theirs. Many still blame Nader for costing the Democrats the 2000 election.

I’m not suggesting that every candidate be invited. As amusing as it might be, I doubt that Lobsterman, the nominee of the Crustacean Liberation Party, would add much to a debate.

But if a party gets on enough ballots to take the Electoral College, I’d like to hear what they have to say. I’m guessing most Americans would.

There’s a two-headed hydra astride our nation’s capitol. One head is named “Democrat” and the other head is named “Republican.” It is an insatiably hungry beast. The more power, money, recognition, and adulation you feed to it the more it requires you to provide. Occasionally the heads appear to disagree; although it’s often hard to tell if the disagreements are real, or merely an effort to maintain the illusion of competition and political propriety. The body, heart, and soul is unified in a singular purpose: The promotion of damnable, unconscionable, and wholly un-American authoritarian government; irrespective of the cost incurred to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Be sure to do what the television tells you and vote for the hydra this November.

This is a letter that has been sent to Divided We Fail, and after reading it, I felt it deserved some blog space of its own.

While your motives (helping attain Health Care, and helping financial planning) seem noble, There are a few problems with your “campaign.”

First – These needs that people have are NOT rights, meaning, of course, that the Federal Government has no power to either spend money on them, nor to nationalize the companies either insuring or providing such services without a Constitutional Amendment. This is something your entire website overlooks.

Further, the Democrat and Republican parties are two private organizations – and suggesting that they are the only two sources of power in Washington and marketing them as though they are different is a deliberate attempt to solidify the power that those two parties yield in the mind of voters. There are other parties, and independents, that are running, are serving, and take rational, kind, and economical solutions to the problems that you set forth.

Instead of pretending that the government needs to take care of us from cradle to grave – and that the Democrats and Republicans are the de facto “rulers” of the country, perhaps you would get fuurther in your stated goals if you spent money on getting people health care and helping them plan for the future. Instead you spend money trying to convince people to demand that their government spend money on them. That seems inefficient, imperialistic, and contrary to the noble motives that you claim to have.

Further – your “election coverage” is nothing but free media for the two parties that don’t need any help saving their advertising budget, they already have plenty of media and money to buy more. Maybe, if you were really an advocate of any group of citizenry, you’d devote your precious web-space to some National Campaigns that are not constantly flaunted in front of the proletariat.

Or you are a shill, looking for handouts, hedging your bets on which Statist will be passing out your dole. In which case I understand why your website, commercials, stances, and “plans” all are how they are. At least you could say as much then, instead of hiding behind the propaganda of “bipartisanship” and “helping poor people”.

If you really wanted to help “poor” people, and not politicians and corporations, you’d proverbially be teaching them how to fish – not campaigning to have others give them more fish.

I don’t expect a response, but I couldn’t let it not be said – that I (amongst others) have you figured out, and it isn’t pleasing how you run this con on the American Public to expand the amount of money that you, your subsidiaries and sponsors will bleed from taxpayers, in the name of “progress” but all the while crippling what progress could actually be made if you spent your money on helping instead of begging.

If you plan on voting in the 2008 presidential election, which you really should be, more then likely you feel you have to choose between the lesser of 2 evils. You can either choose Barack Obama or John McCain. My question is, why?

Why would you want 4 more years of empty promises and more declining progress? Thats what you’ll get if you elect Barack Obama or John McCain. Both of these men are horrible choices and I’m sure some of you cringe at the thought of either having to vote McCain or Obama simply because you don’t like the other.

What few people know right now though, due to very little media coverage, is that there is indeed a 3rd candidate for president, and that is Libertarian Bob Barr.

Bob Barr is not afraid to cover all of the topics. He knows the issues and he knows what he wants to do to solve the problems that we face. If you haven’t noticed yet, neither Barack Obama or John McCain has really talked about all of the issues that we face, and when they have covered some of them, they promise a lot, but give no actual plan to accomplish their goals.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain want to increase the size of our government, spend more money, ignore our debt problems, and impose the government’s will on everyone’s personal life. Bob Barr believes that an individual has rights and liberties, and that the government is here to represent and protect you, not dictate to you how you live your life. Bob plans to decrease government spending and taxation. He believes that each individual can better decide how their money is spent.

I urge everyone to vote for Bob Barr come election day in November if you are interested in some real change. Bob Barr has a stance on every major issue we face with a plan for each one. I encourage everyone to do their own research and decide for themselves if Bob Barr represents their best interests.

If you don’t vote, you should really consider registering and voting this year, it matters more then you know. It’s easy to say, well one vote doesn’t matter, or it doesn’t matter who is in office, its all going to be the same. It matters because it can change your lifestyle depending on who is elected. Big government and big spending takes money and liberties from you, even if you don’t vote. Bob Barr is for small government and will reduce your taxes, putting more money in your pocket and giving you more control over your life.

Some may feel a vote is wasted if it isn’t a vote for a democrat or republican. A vote for a 3rd party candidate is not wasted, it is a vote for true change. No meaningful change can come about if we keep electing the same people to office. No candidate is “owed” a vote or a state even. They have to earn people’s votes just like all the other candidates. However the leading reason why your vote matters though, if Bob Barr gets at least 5% of the total vote, he will secure Libertarian access to the ballots and will help establish a stronger position for the Libertarian Party, no vote is wasted. Both Barack Obama and John McCain are highly unpopular, don’t let the polls fool you; with the right attention, Bob Barr can be your next President.

http://www.bobbarr2008.com/press/press-releases/113/bob-barr-warns-john-mccain-is-no-reformer-and-he-still-tops-the-republican-ticket/

September 1, 2008 3:17 pm EST