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IMHO we need to not set up precedents for bending criteria. If he meets the criteria, he must participate in the debates. Rather than collect signatures now, supporters could have made their choices known during the primaries. We are past the primaries. It is not that he is not a worthy candidate. His supporters are just late getting to the "party". Start now for next time.
what? Are you hoping that some perfect bon mot on Gary's part is going to turn the 92% of American voters who have decided to vote for T or C into instant Johnson voters? Wasn't that already decided in the primaries when he got 8% or less of the vote and lost every primary in every state by huge margins?
What exactly is the purpose, at this point? You want to disseminate a new message, do it in the primaries when the voters can decide, not in the champion playoffs where the division leaders have already won their field and are going for the gold.
Your view is why the D's and R's will remain in complete control of the country. Everything is built to keep 3rd parties on the fringe and you like it that way.
Nobody would expect Johnson to win the election. That said, it would be better for the country for a debate to have 10 minutes less of Clinton and Trump and 20 minutes of Johnson. It's not like people haven't heard the Big Two already and will hear plenty more before the election.
I agree changing the rules now isn't great, but it beats perpetuating a rotten standard forever.
Your view is why the D's and R's will remain in complete control of the country. Everything is built to keep 3rd parties on the fringe and you like it that way.
Nobody would expect Johnson to win the election. That said, it would be better for the country for a debate to have 10 minutes less of Clinton and Trump and 20 minutes of Johnson. It's not like people haven't heard the Big Two already and will hear plenty more before the election.
I agree changing the rules now isn't great, but it beats perpetuating a rotten standard forever.
I see no reason why the rules cant be changed today and implemented for the next election. Things sometimes need to change, but they need to be fair to those who entered into something playing by those rules too.
I am hopeful he'll be in the upcoming debate. If not Gary should work a deal out with YouTube holding his own debate answering the same questions in the debate.
what? Are you hoping that some perfect bon mot on Gary's part is going to turn the 92% of American voters who have decided to vote for T or C into instant Johnson voters? Wasn't that already decided in the primaries when he got 8% or less of the vote and lost every primary in every state by huge margins?
What exactly is the purpose, at this point? You want to disseminate a new message, do it in the primaries when the voters can decide, not in the champion playoffs where the division leaders have already won their field and are going for the gold.
Either I am reading your post wrong, or you have no understanding of the primary vote.
The country does not hold a primary. Political parties do, and they don't run against each other.
(1) Republicans held a primary.
(2) Democrats held a primary.
(3) Libertarians did not. And hopefully, they never will. Delegates at the party convention should select the candidate.
I see no reason why the rules cant be changed today and implemented for the next election. Things sometimes need to change, but they need to be fair to those who entered into something playing by those rules too.
I know we have a general standard of not changing rules in the middle of a game and Johnson won't be in the debates. imo, the games (debates) haven't yet started. The arbitrary rules, which are set by a private major party dominated group, shouldn't prevail over giving the public a fair chance to hear a legitimate 3rd voice this year.
Didn't Libertarians have a Primary and a Convention. Not sure how the process works though. I know the Green Party had a convention I believe.
The Libertarians did not have a primary, they had a convention which was held in Orlando, FL. The delegates are selected by each states Libertarian Party and I think there is about 1000 delegates for the convention. It is the delegates that determine who will win their seat to run for POTUS.
I probably won't be voting for him, but I want him included in the first debate.
If his numbers don't go up, then exclude him from the rest of the debates.
I want to keep encouraging unaffiliated and independent candidates to run, and I think he will
bring a different perspective (Libertarian) and new ideas to the debate. We already know Hillary and Trump's answers to all the questions. Let's get a different perspective included.
It's unfortunate we have the debates controlled directly by the two major parties via the Commission on Presidential Debates.
It also seems very easy, since the debates are not mandated or controlled by any laws, nor described in our constitution, for an outside entity to host debates apart from CPD. This has been tried before, but of course the major parties balked.
We deserve a better format. The 2008 and 2012 debates were entirely empty of useful content. The answers were so scripted that it was obvious then the topics/questions were known beforehand. I want the candidates to be challenged; I want to see how they answer unexpected topics. We don't get that now.
So yes, I think Johnson should be in these debates. He won't, because the CPD has an arbitrary limit of 15% to keep others out, and an alternative doesn't exist.
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