28 September 2008

Of, By and For the People … Not the Parties.

Posted DebateTheDebate

The idea of opening the debates to include voices beyond that of the
two major parties seems to have the power to unite people from either
end of the broad spectrum of American viewpoints…

" The Commission on Presidential Debates is a corrupt
stranglehold on
our democracy. " --- Phil Donahue

Many people would likely expect to hear such a quote from someone
described as "having gone off the deep end of the left-wing", but
how many would expect a person so often described
as a "right-wing extremist" to agree…

" I'm for more open debates. I think we have nothing to fear by allowing people
to be seen and to argue and to talk with each other and I think the very concept
of an elite commission deciding for the American people
who deserves to be heard is
profoundly wrong. " --- Newt Gingrich

And who would expect an actual participant from either camp
to confess such complicity…

" I'm trying to forget the whole damn experience of those debates.
' Cause I think it's too much show business and too much prompting,
too much artificiality, and not really debates.
They're rehearsed appearances. " --- Former President George HW Bush

The following petition is being circulated by Open Debates, a non-profit,
non-partisan organization working to ensure the public's interests:

We, the undersigned, support Open Debates' campaign to reform the presidential debate process. We believe that the presidential debates should serve the American people first, not political parties. We support replacing
the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates with
the nonpartisan Citizens' Debate Commission, so that inspiring formats can be employed, pressing national issues can be addressed, and popular independent and third party candidates can be included.
Please visit this link to add your name and to see the
growing list of your fellow citizens in support of debate reform.
http://opendebates.com/yourrole/petition/index.php

Whether you choose to sign or not, check out http://opendebates.com/
for yourself to find a wealth of reliable resources on the topic,
including this well-documented overview:
The Commission on Presidential Debates is a Tool of the
Major Parties - It's Time for a Citizens' Debate Commission
http://opendebates.com/theissue/

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