It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Campaign contributions from 'bipartisan' debate commissioners given exclusively to Clinton
The men and women who run the supposedly “nonpartisan” Commission on Presidential Debates have put their money where their mouths are — and it all has gone to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The amount of money is small by the standards of a modern presidential campaign, but it is one-sided. A pair of Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University examined campaign finance reports and found that all of the $5,650 in contributions that commission members have made to presidential candidates during this election season have gone to Clinton.
An independent can’t be President; here’s the real reason why
The Democratic and Republican parties, with full malice and intent, have acted to create a rigged duopoly. Neither wants a third challenger, and both have actively colluded to prevent one from ever having a chance. The parties instinctively understand that their key to political power lies in making sure that the choice is between the lesser of two evils. One way is by making it nearly impossible for third-party candidates to compete for donations on a level playing field. Right after the 2014 midterms, the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress met in secret and then changed the law so that individual donors giving to the two major party candidates could donate $834,000 per year in total contributions through their parties while those giving to independents were limited to just $2,700.
There are obstacles, too, at the state level. While Democratic and Republican parties are automatically put on the ballot, independents face different hurdles in all 50 states, including filing deadlines that are far too early, differing signature requirements, and other onerous regulations that make it difficult and costly to get on the ballot.
Then, there are the obstacles placed by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which was established in the wake of Watergate to oversee the conduct of federal campaigns. That FEC has become the most notorious, ineffective, inefficient and corrupt of all federal agencies. It is composed of three super-partisan members – often undisputable political hacks – from each of the two major parties. Because every vote is potentially a tie, each side is able to stymie any meaningful enforcement or regulation of the electoral system and to protect its side from any tough political sanctions. In most cases, the two parties collude to protect the duopoly. The chance that a challenge by an independent or third-party will be considered on the merits is about as favorable as the chance an African-American had of passing a literacy test in my native South when I was a child.edit on 18-9-2016 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss because: (no reason given)
Really? Maybe you should tell that to the OP.
The Big Story isn't how these particular debates may or may not be handled.
originally posted by: Phage
If the same rules apply to both of them, how is it "rigged?"
Doesn't matter, right? Don't even have to see the rules. It's rigged.
Interesting how the "rigged" system got Trump elected as the Republican nominee. The foot stamping and sniveling is wearing thin.
"They're cheating mommy!"