King of the World: Coverage of Third Parties
In case you’re not aware, I’m a libertarian. I voted for Bob Barr for President in the last election and, as a general rule, I vote for the Libertarian candidate in an election unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. I believe the Government is far too intrusive and as long as you’re not doing anything to deprive someone of their life, liberty, or property through force or fraud, the government should butt out.
Take a look at any election coverage, however. You almost never hear anything about parties other than the Republican and Democrat parties. You might occasionally get some coverage on a “freak” angle (which is the main reason Nader got so much coverage over the years), but you rarely get the same coverage of them you get for the two primary parties.
If I were King of the World, this would change. I am firmly convinced that one of the reasons we’re stuck with this broken two party system is because the media refuses to cover anyone else. There are a number of “third” parties out there that have good ideas, but the media refuses to pay attention to them for whatever reason. I will grant you that some of them really are fringe elements or they have fringe elements with far too much of a voice (such as the Libertarian party), but the blockade by the media is one of the biggest stumbling blocks that keeps them where they are.
The continued barring of alternative party candidates from debates is something that truly needs to stop. If the networks can handle debates with more than two candidates in the primaries, there is no reason they can’t do it in the post-primary season. Many of the networks will point to the fact they have requirements regarding how much of the vote a given party receives before they can be on the debate, but if the media isn’t providing any meaningful coverage of these parties, they never reach the voters in numbers to allow them to be on the debate. Such a nice little vicious circle the media has set up, isn’t it?
I am a firm believer that the United States can only benefit from more disparate voices being involved in the political process. It’s truly a shame that the establishment (don’t I just sound like a 60’s radical now–my mom would be so proud) makes it nearly impossible for any of them to be heard.