Why the people are being denied the debate they want
With the first presidential debate taking place tonight, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced, Friday the 16th, that Dr. Jill Stein and Gary Johnson will not be participating in the first debate. The CPD claimed that Dr. Stein and Johnson both, only met two of the three criteria necessary for participating in the debates: constitutional eligibility and being on enough state ballots to possibly win the Electoral College majority. However, Johnson and Stein did not meet the 15% polling average needed to be included; Johnson peaked at 12% and Stein peaked at 6%. Four-time presidential candidate, Ralph Nader places the blame of this “Two-Party Tyranny” on major corporations; stating that these major corporations donate money to the two major political parties in exchange for future benefits. Broadcast Journalist, Amy Goodman presents a different possibility, in which Republicans and Democrats are guaranteed the only two spots because the CPD is controlled by the two parties. Stein and Johnson are both developing their own strategies to deal with this inequality.
Gary Johnson, the candidate for the Libertarian Party, went to Facebook and posted “the two-party controlled debates commission may have excluded us from the first debate, but we can still get on the stage in October. Help us reach 1 million signatures and we will deliver them to the CPD on behalf of the 62% of America that wants to #LetGaryDebate”. Johnson references the survey statistic that claims over 50% of Americans want to see him and Dr. Stein take part in the debate, despite not having previously voted for him in the polls. While deciding to petition for the possibility to appear on the debate stage in October, Dr. Jill Stein is using a different tactic.
During the first presidential debate in 2012, Dr. Jill Stein and her running mate, Cheri Honkala, were both arrested for trying to enter the debate at Hofstra University, the same location as this year’s first presidential debate. After being denied entrance, Stein and her running mate sat down on the ground and refused to move until the police placed them under arrest. Stein has already gone to Twitter to announce her decision that she will be protesting this debate as well, she posted “Fed up with the rigged political system? Want real Democracy? Stand w/ me for #OpenDebates!”.
Despite being two of the most disliked candidates in US history, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are the only two candidates that will be participating in the first presidential debate.
