why is electability a threashhold?? i think having a wider range of political opinion represented on the national stage is well enough reason to include a couple outside candidates. if it is only the demos and repubs then they just try to edge each other out of the center. what about all of us citizens that don’t inhabit the center, and would like to see some approximation of our views at least entered into the fray??
There have been a ton of people- Jesse Jackson, Barney Frank, Cokie Roberts, who want Nader not just out of the debates but out of the race. Because his 5 or so pecent might damage Gore’s chances.
So this is our idea of democracy? I am free to vote for Tweedledumb OR Tweedledee? Gee thanks.
And even though he has hundreds of thousands of supporters, he has no REAL chance of being elected so he shouldn’t be allowed in the debates. Here I thought who would be elected was decided on voting day.
This is why no body wants to vote.
I saw Harry Browne on TV last night. He said there will be a minor-party debate with him, Nader, & whoever the Reform candidate is, probably on C-SPAN or another cable channel.
What’s interesting about that is that Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the Rainbow/PUSH founder, proposed legislation to lower the threshold for entering the debates.
One of these days I’m going to get this “cable” you speak of. I can only hope it will be simulcast on NPR.
All I seem to hear about politics lately is people complaining that they’re tired of the same ol’ thing, and they want something new in politics. They’re tired of politicians, ETC… ETC… ETC…
And then… It’s perfectly cool to, YET AGAIN, only be exposed to two born-into-politics same-ol same-ol’s? Seems to me that the people are as full of it as the politicians they claim to hate if they won’t actually demand to see something else.
And besides, Bush and Gore are, by my standards, highly similar in many of their policies. They need someone to represent some very POPULAR opinions and highlight the fact that the other two candidates do not support them. Some examples:
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Both Bush and Gore support the death penalty…
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Both Bush and Gore support NAFTA as it is being imposed…
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Both Bush and Gore accept soft money campaign
contributions… -
Both Bush and Gore support economic sanctions on nations such as Cuba and Iraq
And that’s just a few. Ralph Nader might not be particularly popular right now, but many of his ideas ARE. And if the debates go on with just two people, a MASSIVELY popular amount of political ideology will be completely ignored in this presidential debate.
Presently, Ralph Nader is in third place of the popular vote. Who better to represent this massive chunk of political idealogy that is presently being ignored?
- Rog