Drowning in a Sea of Duopoly

Where in all the media frenzy is Bob Barr? There is a good chance that you have not even heard of the Libertarian candidate running in opposition to McCain and Obama for the presidency of the United States of America. The sad reality is that despite the huge numbers of Americans who have come out in support of third party candidates over the years, the media and even OUR government has seen fit to channel our time and effort to their preferred candidates, namely whichever democrat and republican happen to be running that year.

The organization responsible for silencing the voice of millions of American voters is the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). This non-profit corporation is headed by (and has been since its inception) officials from the democrat and republican national committees. This corporation sponsors, produces and undertakes the research logistics of the debate proceedings. They also decide exactly who is going to participate and with only a single exception in 1992 for Ross Perot, there has always only been a democrat and republican on stage. This organization sets the bar wherever they need it to be to make sure that the appropriate voices are heard by the American people. They also decide which issues will be discussed and what questions will be asked. Even Ross Perot could not manage to hop the fence they built for the 1996 debates, and the bar still stands where they set it. In order to be allowed to participate in the debates a candidate must have an average of 15% favor across four independent polls.  

The CPD flies in the face of Federal Election Commission and the American tax payer. In 1996 Ross Perot qualified for $29 million in public campaign financing, yet he was unable to debate the democrat and republican candidates in an open forum. Perot had garnered the support of 8% of the American population by the time the debates rolled around yet… his voice went unheard. The public was willing to spend $29 million on a candidate who wasn’t worth the time and effort of the republican and democrat candidates. 

There is no law, no amendment and no requirement in our federal legislation for debates of any kind. However, what legislation stipulates and the circumstances and traditions of our times are two entirely different things. Mass media is THE WAY in which most Americans are exposed to the presidential candidates. We all expect that the people on the stage debating the concerns of OUR nation are the people who we have to choose from come election day. To place this kind of access to the American public into the hands of not only a private corporation but a corporation controlled by the two largest political parties in the United States is outrageous and completely unreasonable. Would we consider it appropriate if the prosecution hand-picked all the jurors in a court of law?

In 2008 you will not see Bob Barr on stage at the debates. Despite the fact that his name will appear on ballots in almost every single state, he will not be there because democrats and republicans do not want him there. If you are a democrat or a republican even you have been cheated. We watch the debates to see candidates test each other’s metal to see their strengths and weaknesses contrasted yet, the way things are today you see a candidate who has only had to speak to a single position and oppose a single voice. When a president is finally elected to office he or she will be called upon time and time again to hear the voices of millions and oppose the voices of hundreds of leaders from the nations of our world; yet, that individual has been tested against only a single voice a voice who his supporters in government have agreed to hear and he or she will speak to that one voice while millions may go completely unheard and drown in the sea of our American duopoly.

By: Tom Fox Oct. 2, 2008