libertygrl
09-14-2008, 04:02 PM
Hey guys,
I just discovered this group and it sounds promising. I think the first step in fighting to allow popular 3rd party candidates in on debates so that we as Americans actually have a choice when we vote, is to abolish the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). This is the group that replaced The League of Women Voters. Please read on and spread the word:
The Issue
The Presidential debates -- the single most important electoral event in the process of selecting a President -- should provide voters with an opportunity to see the popular candidates discussing important issues in an unscripted manner.* But the Presidential debates fail to do so, because the major party candidates secretly control them.
Presidential debates were run by the civic-minded and non-partisan League of Women Voters until 1988, when the national Republican and Democratic parties seized control of the debates by establishing the bi-partisan, corporate-sponsored Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Posing as a nonpartisan institution committed to voter education, the CPD has continually and deceptively run the debates in the interest of the national Republican and Democratic parties, not the American people.
Every four years, negotiators for the Republican and Democratic nominees secretly draft debate contracts called Memoranda of Understanding that dictate precisely how the debates will be structured; co-chaired by the former heads of the Republican and Democratic parties, the CPD obediently implements the contracts, shielding the major party candidates from public criticism.
Such deceptive major party control severely harms our democracy. Candidates that voters want to see are often excluded; issues the American people want to hear about are often ignored; the debates have been turned into a series of glorified bipartisan news conferences, in which the candidates exchange memorized soundbites; and debate viewership has generally dropped, with twenty-five million fewer people watching the 2000 presidential debates than watching the 1992 presidential debates.* Walter Cronkite called CPD-sponsored presidential debates an “unconscionable fraud.”
Open Debates has helped establish a truly nonpartisan Citizens' Debate Commission comprised of national civic leaders to sponsor presidential debates that are rigorous, fair, and inclusive of important issues and popular candidates. The higher values of democracy and voter education will be restored to the presidential debates by the Citizens' Debate Commission.
Board of Directors
John B. Anderson: Between 1961 and 1981, John B. Anderson served ten terms as U.S. Representative to Congress from the 16th District of Illinois. He served on the House Rules Committee and for a decade was Chairman of the House Republican Conference. In 1980, Anderson ran for President as an independent candidate. He participated in a presidential debate with Republican nominee Ronald Reagan and received over six million votes. Anderson has served as the chair of the Center for Voting Rights and Democracy since 1996.
Angela "Bay" Buchanan: Angela "Bay" Buchanan is the President of The American Cause, an educational foundation dedicated to advancing traditional conservative issues. Bay served as the campaign chairman for all three presidential campaigns of her brother, Pat Buchanan. In 1996, George magazine recognized her as one of the top 20 political women in the nation. Bay is also a political analyst for CNBC, MSNBC, Good Morning America and CNN's Inside Politics.
Pat Choate: Pat Choate directs a Washington-based policy institute, the Manufacturing Policy Project. He was the vice-presidential candidate of the Reform Party in 1996, when the party captured 8.40 percent of the popular vote. He is the author of several books, including Agents of Influence: How Japan Manipulates America's Political and Economic System.
Jon Hanson: Jon Hanson is a Professor at Harvard Law School. He teaches and writes about the the sources and effects of commercial influence on our institutions. He is also a co-founder of Just Advocates, an information clearinghouse on private firms committed to the pursuit of justice.
George Farah: George Farah, founder of Open Debates, graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. He is the author of the new book No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates by Seven Stories Press. He is also the Executive Director of Open Debates.
Larry Noble: Larry Noble is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Center for Responsive Politics. Prior to that, he served as General Counsel of the Federal Election Commission from 1987 until 2000. Noble also served as the president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws from 1997 to 1998. He teaches Campaign Finance Law at George Washington University Law School.
Jamin B. Raskin: Jamin B. Raskin served as an Assistant Attorney General in Boston and is currently a professor of Constitutional Law at American University. Raskin has been a leading critic of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and he filed lawsuits on behalf of Ross Perot and Ralph Nader to prevent their exclusion from the presidential debates. His recent book, Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court Versus the American People, elucidates the flaws of the presidential debate process.
Randall Robinson: Randall Robinson is a Harvard-trained lawyer and founder of TransAfrica, the foremost American think-tank on U.S. foreign policy matters dealing with Africa and the Caribbean. Robinson earned international respect for his efforts to help end apartheid in South Africa, and, more recently, his activities prompted U.S. humanitarian intervention in Somalia and helped shape U.S. policy toward Haitian refugees. Robinson is the author of several books, including The Debt: What America Owes Blacks.
Paul M. Weyrich: Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation. From 1989 to 1996, Mr. Weyrich served as President of the Kreible Institute of the Free Congress Foundation, responsible for training democracy movements in the states comprising the Former Soviet Empire. He is a founder and past director of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the founding president of the Heritage Foundation, and the current National Chairman of Coalitions for America. Readers of Conservative Digest voted him as one of the top three "most popular conservatives in America not in Congress."
http://www.opendebates.org/yourrole/
I just discovered this group and it sounds promising. I think the first step in fighting to allow popular 3rd party candidates in on debates so that we as Americans actually have a choice when we vote, is to abolish the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). This is the group that replaced The League of Women Voters. Please read on and spread the word:
The Issue
The Presidential debates -- the single most important electoral event in the process of selecting a President -- should provide voters with an opportunity to see the popular candidates discussing important issues in an unscripted manner.* But the Presidential debates fail to do so, because the major party candidates secretly control them.
Presidential debates were run by the civic-minded and non-partisan League of Women Voters until 1988, when the national Republican and Democratic parties seized control of the debates by establishing the bi-partisan, corporate-sponsored Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Posing as a nonpartisan institution committed to voter education, the CPD has continually and deceptively run the debates in the interest of the national Republican and Democratic parties, not the American people.
Every four years, negotiators for the Republican and Democratic nominees secretly draft debate contracts called Memoranda of Understanding that dictate precisely how the debates will be structured; co-chaired by the former heads of the Republican and Democratic parties, the CPD obediently implements the contracts, shielding the major party candidates from public criticism.
Such deceptive major party control severely harms our democracy. Candidates that voters want to see are often excluded; issues the American people want to hear about are often ignored; the debates have been turned into a series of glorified bipartisan news conferences, in which the candidates exchange memorized soundbites; and debate viewership has generally dropped, with twenty-five million fewer people watching the 2000 presidential debates than watching the 1992 presidential debates.* Walter Cronkite called CPD-sponsored presidential debates an “unconscionable fraud.”
Open Debates has helped establish a truly nonpartisan Citizens' Debate Commission comprised of national civic leaders to sponsor presidential debates that are rigorous, fair, and inclusive of important issues and popular candidates. The higher values of democracy and voter education will be restored to the presidential debates by the Citizens' Debate Commission.
Board of Directors
John B. Anderson: Between 1961 and 1981, John B. Anderson served ten terms as U.S. Representative to Congress from the 16th District of Illinois. He served on the House Rules Committee and for a decade was Chairman of the House Republican Conference. In 1980, Anderson ran for President as an independent candidate. He participated in a presidential debate with Republican nominee Ronald Reagan and received over six million votes. Anderson has served as the chair of the Center for Voting Rights and Democracy since 1996.
Angela "Bay" Buchanan: Angela "Bay" Buchanan is the President of The American Cause, an educational foundation dedicated to advancing traditional conservative issues. Bay served as the campaign chairman for all three presidential campaigns of her brother, Pat Buchanan. In 1996, George magazine recognized her as one of the top 20 political women in the nation. Bay is also a political analyst for CNBC, MSNBC, Good Morning America and CNN's Inside Politics.
Pat Choate: Pat Choate directs a Washington-based policy institute, the Manufacturing Policy Project. He was the vice-presidential candidate of the Reform Party in 1996, when the party captured 8.40 percent of the popular vote. He is the author of several books, including Agents of Influence: How Japan Manipulates America's Political and Economic System.
Jon Hanson: Jon Hanson is a Professor at Harvard Law School. He teaches and writes about the the sources and effects of commercial influence on our institutions. He is also a co-founder of Just Advocates, an information clearinghouse on private firms committed to the pursuit of justice.
George Farah: George Farah, founder of Open Debates, graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. He is the author of the new book No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates by Seven Stories Press. He is also the Executive Director of Open Debates.
Larry Noble: Larry Noble is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Center for Responsive Politics. Prior to that, he served as General Counsel of the Federal Election Commission from 1987 until 2000. Noble also served as the president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws from 1997 to 1998. He teaches Campaign Finance Law at George Washington University Law School.
Jamin B. Raskin: Jamin B. Raskin served as an Assistant Attorney General in Boston and is currently a professor of Constitutional Law at American University. Raskin has been a leading critic of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and he filed lawsuits on behalf of Ross Perot and Ralph Nader to prevent their exclusion from the presidential debates. His recent book, Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court Versus the American People, elucidates the flaws of the presidential debate process.
Randall Robinson: Randall Robinson is a Harvard-trained lawyer and founder of TransAfrica, the foremost American think-tank on U.S. foreign policy matters dealing with Africa and the Caribbean. Robinson earned international respect for his efforts to help end apartheid in South Africa, and, more recently, his activities prompted U.S. humanitarian intervention in Somalia and helped shape U.S. policy toward Haitian refugees. Robinson is the author of several books, including The Debt: What America Owes Blacks.
Paul M. Weyrich: Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation. From 1989 to 1996, Mr. Weyrich served as President of the Kreible Institute of the Free Congress Foundation, responsible for training democracy movements in the states comprising the Former Soviet Empire. He is a founder and past director of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the founding president of the Heritage Foundation, and the current National Chairman of Coalitions for America. Readers of Conservative Digest voted him as one of the top three "most popular conservatives in America not in Congress."
http://www.opendebates.org/yourrole/