As November approaches and the tyrannical age of Bush is almost finally finished, I began to wonder who the 2008 Presidential candidates are. No I am not speaking of the overly publicized John McCain and Barack Obama. I was interested to find out what other parties had candidates running for President in 2008 and why our mainstream media wasn’t discussing the other nominees.
To my surprise I discovered numerous complications with our entire election and voting systems. Did you know that in order for a nominee to be placed on a ballot they need to produce enough signatures and money for that state. So if they cannot comply they aren’t included on the ballot, which means you cannot vote for them. Not only is that unjust to the nominee but it is unjust to the American people. How are we to determine who is the better candidate when the mainstream media solely reports on the Democratic and Republican parties.
Another major biased issue is the Presidential debates. These debates are run by a private corporation called the Commission of Presidential Debates. This corporation was formed by the Republican and Democratic parties in 1987. The two men who head the commission are Paul Kirk and Frank Fahrenkoph who each were former heads of the Democratic and Republican National Committees. Both these men are infamous lobbyist and obtain major sponsors for these debates with the sole purpose to exploit the two parties.
At first the Presidential debates openly welcomed third party nominees to join in the widely publicized debates. When the third party nominees started getting higher percentages in votes after these debates it caused the commission to exclude these candidates altogether. An example is in 1996 they barred Ross Perot from the debates. He had sufficient amount of money and 19% of the vote but the commission declared that he did not have “a chance to win”. Since when do lobbying corporations decide who has a chance to win? The truth is they have always decided who wins.
How do Americans handle these unjustly situations? We need to become more educated and vote for the people who want to give the power back to the people. We need to demand fair voting, elections, and debates where all nominees from every party are included. The American people feel like they need to chose one side, which causes separation and discord of the American people. I am going to state all other nominees and what their opinions on Americas issues are. I am not going to tell you who to vote because I don’t sink to the levels of corrupt institutions. You need to decide what issues are important to you and who you think the next President should be.
Firstly, I will discuss the Green Party. For those who do not know the nominee is Cynthia McKinney, an African American woman, who has another woman as her running mate, Rosa Clemente. McKinney supports the application for Impeachment of President Bush. She also opposes the expensive Military spending bill, which exceeds $500 billion dollars and doesn’t include the Iraqi spending Bill. For more information about the nominee for the Green Party you can visit her official website runcynthiarun.org.
Second is the Constitution Party whose nominees are Chuck Baldwin and Darrel Castle. Baldwin believes in Pro-Life and Pro-Traditional Marriage. He wants to strengthen our national security by protecting our nation domestically. He advocates Christian values, home schooling and benefits for Veterans. To see more of Chuck Baldwin his official website is baldwin08.com.
Next is the Libertarian Party represented by Bob Barr and Wayne Allen Root. Barr wants to eliminate big government spending which is resulting in higher taxes indefinitely. He wants to replace the IRS and income tax with a national sales tax by repealing the 16th Amendment. He wants to restore Habeas Corpus and fix our Constitution. Barr would like to secure our borders and apply a policy of non-intervention. Visit the official website at bobbarr2008.com.
Lastly, Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez are running for the Independent Party. Nader wants to fix the issues with elections and voting. He wants to cut the Military budget and reverse the U.S. policy in the Middle East. He supports the application for Impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Also he wants to promote Solar power use in the USA. To read about other issues, visit his website at votenader.org.
But I also need to include my opinion on the Republican and Democratic nominees who pulled out of the race. They are victims of the biased voting system as well. In the Kentucky primaries Ron Paul was not on the ballot even though he was still in the race. If we had fair voting I am positive candidates who really wanted to change our government, like Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, would be in the presumptive nominee positions today.
I encourage every American to examine every nominee thoroughly. Stand up for your rights and freedoms. Only the American people can reform our corrupt system and protect our civil liberties. Fight for the right of fair voting. Fight for what you believe in. Fight for the American Constitution. Fight for our Founding Fathers who started this nation and gave us the power.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the to alter or abolish it, and institute new Government…"
- Declaration of Independence
Thank you for your time in reading this essay.
Sincerely,
Marissa K. Calderon Figueroa
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