That meant that the Green Party candidate, Laura Wells, was not included in the debate, and in fact, was not even given a ticket to the debate. They debate organizers didn't even want her in the building. So Ms. Wells gathered outside the venue with some of her supporters (see picture above).
A ticketholder noticed the Green Party candidate and realized she didn't have a ticket, so he gave her two tickets to the debate. But security got upset when she and her campaign spokeswoman, Marnie Glickman, tried to use the tickets. They said the name on the tickets had to match a person's ID, and asked her to leave. When Wells refused to leave she was arrested by security guards, who turned her over to the police.
Wells was placed in a police car and driven away from the debate venue. She was then cited for trespassing and given a court date of November 2nd (which just happens to be election day.
This is all just so wrong. She had tickets and should have been allowed to enter the debate venue. But beyond that, she should have been allowed to participate in the debate. She is a legitimate candidate of a legitimate party, and all legitimate candidates should be allowed to participate in any debate of that office's candidates.
Third parties are put in a "catch-22" situation in many states in this country. They are told they cannot debate because they don't have enough support, but they can't get the support if the media and other organizations won't cover them and let them debate. Personally, I think the voters deserve to hear from all the candidates -- not just the ones approved by the powers-that-be.
It is the job of the media to inform the voters about all the candidates and their positions on the issues, and they should consider that a sacred duty. But it is NOT their job to tell the voters who the "real" candidates are and who they should not consider voting for. That is not only bad journalism, it is un-democratic and should never happen in a representative democracy.
In a first-pass-the-gate electoral system, what number of votes are necessary to absolutely guarantee you will be elected?
ReplyDelete1) A majority of the votes
2) 50% of the votes, plus one.
Now, what is 100% divided by 50%? Hint: 2.
Third parties aren't irrelevant in America because of a conspiracy, unless math is a conspiracy. They're irrelevant in America because we use a first-past-the-gate electoral system, and the only way to guarantee that you are the one elected is to build a coalition of what would be individual parties in a proportional representation system. The only way to deal with that reality is the way that the Religious Right did -- to burrow into one of the two coalitions and take it over from inside. That's the only way to guarantee 50%+1 votes to get elected.
Math. It's not just hard -- it's the fundamental law of reality, and as long as we have a first-past-the-gate system, 100%/50% will still be 2 no matter how much the 3rd party supporters wish otherwise.
- Badtux the Mathematics Penguin
Your math is correct, but I still think all candidates and parties should be able to fully participate in a democracy (and that includes being a part of any scheduled debates).
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