From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Apr 17 2000 - 11:36:37 MDT
> I wonder if there is any way to get the Libertarians, or other "third"
> parties, seriously campaign? Yes, I know, they need money which comes
> from donors exposed to the party by media attracted by the party
> spending money...but how can we get this cycle to *start*, with
> sufficient momentum that there would be a significant chance of a
> non-Democrat and non-Republican President of the U.S. next year? It
> seems like the responsibility lies with these "third" parties to start
> getting the word out...for instance, challenging the Dem/Rep candidates
> to debates *and making a major media flurry - major enough to get
> noticed by a significant percent of the American public - out of their
> lack of response*.
Jesus, this is frustrating. What do you think we've been doing for
20 years? Do you think we haven't been trying like hell to be
_allowed_ in the debates? Do you think we haven't been sending
releases to the press every week for years? Do you think we haven't
been using paper, the web, and every other medium available to get
the message out?
It doesn't matter that nearly every radio talk show host in the
country hs called or including the LP in debates. It doesn't matter
that most newspapers have as well. It doesn't matter that the
league of women voters (who used to sponsor the big debate) called
for inclusion. The Ds & Rs took over the process and created the
"non-partisan" commission on debates specifically for the partisan
purpose of keeping out the LP, and as long as the television network
media let them get away with it, it will work.
The existing system does everything in its power to supress third
parties and keep them out of the process. We have to spend most of
our money just getting ballot access--the major parties talk about
the democratic process, but when it threatens their power structure
they are quick to subvert it and create barriers to entry, and
they get away with it--because ignorant voters just assume that
the process is working and the third parties just aren't trying
hard enough.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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