In a country where we value competition and the freedom of choice it seems absurd to me that we have an election system set up to exclude as much competition as possible. During the primaries we saw Ron Paul being excluded from the ballot in Texas because he would not sign a republican party loyalty oath, and we saw Kucinich and others excluded at the last minute from debates they were invited to. Now we have Obama backing out of any debate that allows the independant candidates to share the stage including the Google debates in Louisiana and the Fort Hood debates organized by veteran's groups. All this despite telling Tim Russert on Meet the Press that he would debate "any of my opponents about what this country means, what makes it great."
Now we will see a few debates between the Republican and the Democratic candidates paid for and hosted by powerful corporations, with a format that the candidates agreed to, but not made public by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
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