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originally posted by: John_Rodger_Cornman
Why are there no Libertarian party debates on network tv?
The Libertarian Party and Green Party and their 2012 candidates for president are readying a legal complaint against the Commission on Presidential Debates, hoping that a new legal argument -- an anti-trust argument -- will break the "duopoly" that's dominated the stage. The legal complaint, which was sent early to The Washington Post, argues that a "cognizable political campaign market" is being corrupted by the commission's rules. The commission, a private entity set up after the League of Women Voters' 1992 debates allowed third party candidate Ross Perot to participate, has withstood yearly assaults from the likes of Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan, and former Congressman Bob Barr. None of them have gotten past a 1999 commission rule: No candidate gets onstage unless he or she is polling at 15 percent or better.
originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: intrptr
More than two parties just would not work with the American system. It's possible one of the two parties fails and is replaced, but in the end you are left with two parties again.
The Presidential Debate Commission limits eligible candidates to only those polling above 15%. Gary and Jill think keeping other candidates off the debates is a big part of why third parties can't get any traction, and is one reason people don't think third parties can win.
So there is nowhere for a real libertarian to go. Many of the self-described libertarians I have talked with are still holding onto the myth of an actual free market in the US, and most of them have bought the right-wing propaganda that the GOP is the protector of free markets. Hence that apparent attraction.