[Vision2020] LA Times: :Third-party debate showcases fresh faces and issues"

[Ted Moffett]

Issues addressed in this debate that were not emphasized in the
Demopublican/Republicrat debate include legality or wisdom of drone
killing, the massive US military budget continuing while domestic needs
suffer, NDAA tyranny, the damaging war on drugs and the massive US
incarceration rate, anthropogenic climate change, and corporate cash
influencing elections.  Comparing this debate to the Obama/Romney debate
charade, that was sometimes like a mano a mano testosterone verbal battle,
rather than a mature discussion of critical issues by two adults, made me
wonder why I bothered to even watch those debates.

*This debate was shown again on C-Span, and appears to be available in full
on the C-Span website here:*

*http://www.c-span.org/Events/Third-Party-Presidential-Debate/10737435220/
*

*Listening to this debate offered hope for our democracy, likely a vain
hope given the odds against any of these alternative candidates or anyone
like them being elected president.*

------------------------------------

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-third-party-debate-fresh-faces-issues-20121023,0,4056150.story
Third-party debate showcases fresh faces and issues

By James Rainey

October 23, 2012, 9:55 p.m

Four alternative candidates for president of the United States debated
Tuesday night in Chicago and agreed America needs a good dose of what they
could provide -- clear, straight talk that has not been market-pasteurized.

The third-party debate, sponsored by the nonprofit Free and Equal Elections
Foundation and streamed online with host Larry
King<http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/television/larry-king-PECLB0000005449.topic>,
offered up a heaping serving of candidates few voters have seen and
issues President
Obama<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/barack-obama-PEPLT007408.topic>and
Mitt
Romney<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/mitt-romney-PEPLT007376.topic>have
seldom raised -- including drug legalization, climate change and
indefinite holds on citizens suspected of terrorism.

Gary Johnson<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/gary-johnson-PECLB002602.topic>of
the Libertarian
Party<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/parties-movements/libertarian-party-ORGOV000277.topic>,
Jill Stein<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/jill-stein-PEPLT0008913.topic>of
the Green Party, Rocky
Anderson<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/rocky-anderson--PEPLT00008705.topic>of
the Justice Party and Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party may not
win
huge votes Nov. 6, but they rocked a Chicago hotel ballroom and the social
media landscape, which buzzed with commentary about their conversation.

“You’re all Don Quixotes in a way,” King, the former CNN host, said at the
end of the 90-minute session, “but the windmills have a way of stopping and
we have a way of saluting you just for getting into the fray.”

The encounter had a quirky charm,  featuring opening statements hastily
inserted after the candidates had already answered their first question
(supplied via social media). It also featured the affable King, an eminence
in this setting, who put up with none of the filibustering that the two
big-party candidates foisted on the moderators of the major televised
debates.

The four candidates were united on several issues -- their disdain for the
influence of money in politics, their opposition to massive defense
spending and foreign wars, and their determination to cut executive power
that allows the indefinite detention of Americans in the war on terror.

Johnson, the Libertarian former governor of New Mexico, said corporate
money had gotten so bad in politics that candidates should be required to
wear NASCAR<http://www.latimes.com/topic/sports/auto-racing/nascar-15039007.topic>-style
jackets to show all their corporate sponsors.

On defense, the liberal Stein said she would ban all drone strikes and
Johnson said he would cut defense spending by 43% (to 2003 levels). The
conservative Goode, a former congressman from Virginia who has the
rough-boned look of a Civil War officer, concurred, saying: “The United
States should stop trying to be the overseer of the world. That would save
us billions and billions of dollars.”

Anderson, former mayor of Salt Lake City and an outspoken liberal, called
the National Defense Authorization
Act<http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/defense/national-defense-authorization-act-EVGAP00024.topic>that
allows detention of citizens “the very definition of tyranny.” No one
on stage disagreed. The act has been supported by both
Democrats<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/parties-movements/democratic-party-ORGOV0000005.topic>and
Republicans<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/parties-movements/republican-party-ORGOV0000004.topic>in
Congress.

The “transpartisan” debate was not all a love-in, though. Johnson said he
would get rid of federal college loans, which he said had contributed to
the artificially high price of education. The Green Party’s Stein said she
favored free college for all modeled on the post-World War
II<http://www.latimes.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/wars-interventions/world-war-ii-%281939-1945%29-EVHST00000110.topic>GI
Bill. Rebutted Johnson: “Free comes with a cost. Free is spending more
money than you take in…. Free has gotten us to the point we are going to
experience a monetary collapse in this country.”

Goode had some of the most dramatic prescriptions. He said he would
instantly balance the federal budget with massive cuts and not tax
increases. He said he would block all green card admissions of immigrants
to the U.S. until the unemployment rate dropped below 5%. “We need jobs in
America for U.S. citizens first,” Goode said, acknowledging that many in
the crowd would not like what he had to say.

Everyone but Goode agreed that the U.S. should legalize marijuana. The
three -- Stein, Johnson and Anderson -- said the criminalization of the
drug had led to massive imprisonment rates that far outstrip the rest of
the world's, and huge costs that cannot be sustained. The three also
bemoaned the total lack of attention to climate change in the main
presidential contest. Anderson called it "a greater long-term risk to the
United States than terrorism."

In the last of six questions, the four were asked what one amendment they
would like to make to the U.S. Constitution. The two small-government
candidates -- Johnson and Goode -- said they would impose term limits on
Congress, assessing that the change would get lawmakers to focus more on
policy and less on reelection. Stein advocated a change to limit spending
by corporations in elections. Anderson said he had “already written” an
amendment that -- like the scuttled Equal Rights Amendment -- would give
equal protection under the law to women, and also to people regardless of
their sexual orientation.

Campaign professionals have said that a vote for one of the four would be
wasted because it would only take away from one of the sure winners, Obama
or Romney. But Johnson disputed that notion in his closing statement.

“Wasting your vote is voting for somebody you don’t believe in,” Johnson
said. “I am asking everyone watching this nationwide to waste your vote on
me … and then I’m the next president of the United States.”

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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