Bob Barr Polling at 69%

For years, the Old Party candidates have desperately tried to hold onto power by excluding other political parties from the political process.  They have set prohibitive restrictions on ballot access that force smaller parties to waste an excessive amount just trying to get on the ballot in many states.  They are excluded from participating in primary elections that all taxpayers are forced to pay for.  State legislators force alternative parties to play under special rules that incumbent parties don’t abide by while Two-Party controlled election boards simply wink-wink past them.  These genuinely sincere long-shot candidates are ignored and frequently ridiculed by ”enlightened” corporate media hacks (who probably don’t cling to either guns or religion.)  Third and Fourth Party candidates are often not invited to events that agenda driven organizations, who want a special interest “something” from government, hold under the guise of candidate forums.  And they are often deliberately excluded from the very type of hard hitting, informative  public debate that this country was founded on.

 This deliberate debate exclusion is especially outrageous when a political party is running a candidate who is probably more qualified than either of the choices the two Old Parties have dished up - and a strong majority of Americans want to hear what that candidate has to say. Zogby just released a poll that shows that among political “independents” 69% believe Bob Barr should be included in the debate.

 ZOGBY POLL   

Zogby also reports that more than half of LIKELY VOTERS - 55%- want to see Barr included in those debates. Despite the deck being heavily stacked against him, Libertarian Barr is on track to be on the ballot in 48 states ( that’s 96% for mathematically  challenged journalists.)

 So why does the Commission on Presidential Debates, a PRIVATE, non-profit entity set a polling standard that is nearly impossible for an alternative candidate to meet? Perhaps it is because it is the only way to keep Americans from hearing that alternative candidates like Barr and Nader are the ones that seem to be making the most sense. But with Old Media refusing to give credit where due, polls can be manipulated to make sure that Barr and Nader cannot speak directly to grown-up voters who actually may want to hear a real debate.

The high stakes discrimination may start today at the Saddleback Church in  Orange County California which wants to hold a candidate forum for Obama and McCain but exclude Barr and other candidates. However,  Barr apparently has some pretty smart lawyers who happen to believe that forum may be a violation of that horrendously awful piece of legislation  known as McCain-Feingold.  Apparently “federal election laws stipulate that an event such as the one Saddleback Church is hosting must provide pre-established and objective criteria for inviting candidates.  A failure to do so can be considered an illegal campaign contribution.” Not to mention the IRS guidelines for non-profit organizations.

 Like Libertarians at all levels, Barr is not going to take that violation without a fight Barr’s Fight  Libertarians are used to getting excluded and usually take it in stride. But when the future of a country is at stake, they certainly will not shy from a fight.  However, to prevent future fights, it sure would be nice if Obama would do the right thing and take a principled position by refusing to participate in ANY presidential debate that discriminates against non-majority candidates and violates the provisions of McCain-Feingold.

 If you are truly fed-up with politics as usual and simply have had quite enough, you may want to visit Bob’s website and find out what YOU can do about it.  Let freedom and phones ring.   

This entry was posted on 16. August 2008 at and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.