Fwd: Third Party Debate

Would you like to hear more voices and have more choices in the presidential election?

If so, please support a Third Party Debate.

Make a pledge by October 8 at ThirdPartyTicket.com

While John McCain and Barack Obama argue about how many and what kind of troops are to remain in Iraq, and while they both plan on escalating troop levels in Afghanistan, there are a set of candidates, barely mentioned by the media, who reject the notion of maintaining any U.S. armed forces anywhere in the world.

These candidates—Ralph Nader (Independent), Bob Barr (Libertarian), Cynthia McKinney (Green) and Chuck Baldwin (Constitutional)—have agreed on a set of four principles (listed at the end of this message) that the two major candidates will never touch for fear of angering their corporate sponsors. Yet these candidates, with fundamentally different political philosophies, can agree on these principles because they defy political ideology, and encompass an ideal of a nation that respects its own citizens and the citizens of all nations—and does nothing to endanger the civil liberties, health and prosperity of either.

If you believe these four voices in the wilderness deserve to be heard by the American people, go to ThirdPartyTicket.com and pledge to support a debate between them.

By the way, John McCain and Barack Obama are also invited.

Nothing demonstrates the lack of alternative views more than the events of the last two weeks in regard to the Wall Street bailout, which saw both parties reach a consensus that the only thing to do was to give the fat cats on Wall Street $700 billion of taxpayer money.

If you happened to watch Democracy Now, or have read other views on the current financial crisis on the internet, you probably already know that there were alternative, more effective strategies that could have been used to solve this crisis.

While CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS only showed commentators that agreed on the basic framework of the bailout proposed by the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, other leading and well-respected economists — from a wide variety of political backgrounds — disagreed strongly to the plan that was pushed through congress in a "bi-partisan" way, and the two major presidential candidates.

From Paul Krugman, to Paul Craig Roberts, to Joseph Stiglitz, all proposed that the nation's economy would be much better served had congress concentrated on a bottom-up bailout instead of a trickle-down one. But these view points were not represented in the main stream media, nor were they voices listened to a congress deafened by greed and maintaining the current power structure.

Only by allowing other voices and choices into the mix can the American people find their way out of the policies of war, corruption and greed.

If you agree please, go to ThirdPartyTicket.com to make a pledge before October 8.

Four Principles Adopted by the Third Party Candidates

Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.

Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.

The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.

The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.

The four principles listed here were initially presented at a press conference, hosted by Texas Representative Ron Paul. To view this press conference on YouTube, click here.