On Thu, Oct 18, 2012, at 12:36 PM, John Hudson wrote:
> Wasn't the Green Party's presidential candidate arrested when she
> attempted to participate in the Obama / Romney town hall meeting the
> other day on Long Island ? She was interviewed on CBC radio today when
> she said she was arrested just ahead of the commencement of the
> gathering and then released, without charge, upon its conclusion. She
> also said that she is a legitimate presidential election candidate whose
> name will appear on the ballot but that unfortunately the
> "establishment" parties wanted her banished; the police kindly obliged.
This is a sample of the ballot I will vote on:
http://www.johnson-county.com/auditor/sampbalgeneral/12GIAJOH_sampleIC04.pdf
As you can see, there are 7 party candidates running for POTUS. I
believe that who is included in the debates is dependent upon a
candidate's attaining 15% in some poll. Third candidates have been
included when they have reached this threshold in the past, most notably
Ross Perot in 1992. I don't know whether I agree or not, but it wasn't
legal for any other party candidate to be represented in the debates
this year. The Green candidate might very easily have been hauled off
to jail for trespassing and/or public nuisance instead of walking away,
but she probably knew that she would get away with it. You or I would
have spent some time in a paddy wagon. If folks like that think they
represent their cause well with such antics, God bless 'em. Personally,
I'd like to see a third party grow into something. But in general,
American history has been a continuing dialectic about government --
which is simply "us," not some external thing -- and whether we are or
are not responsible for each other in our collective will to secure
ourselves and promote our well-being. It has so far been quite
polarizing, and it plays out on many different fields, but it implies
that positions are largely on one of two sides. We seem not to be
enlightened enough to get beyond a two-party system or beyond parties
altogether.
Joel W.
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