Level the Playing Field is the group that asked the Federal Election Commission late last year to require the Commission on Presidential Debates to expand entry into the general election presidential debates. Level the Playing Field has been working hard to garner publicity and to get endorsements from influential individuals. The Associated Press article is here, and here is a different article in The Hill.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
More useful than an hour and a half of watching two candidates shuck and jive while answering each question by imperceptibly as possible into snippets of canned stump speeches:
Have the LWV submit 15 to 20 questions to the candidates (all of them) one day in advance, and limit each answer to a single paragraph with a specific word count limit. Then, display on all carrying networks each question, one by one, with all candidates’ answers side by side (they can choose not to answer any question), and repeat the displays for a period of about an hour. This could be done before the “debates” if that vaudeville is still deemed informative, but I’d prefer that it be done without the live debates at all. They are little more than a Punch and Judy show which yields virtually no information of substance, and serves little more purpose than providing the candidates (and not necessarily all of the candidates) a chance to slip up and make fools of themselves.
F’rinstance:
“And those three departments are…”
“Oops.”
For the graphical presentation of questions and answers, there could be little objection to including third party candidates, except that perhaps too many American voters can’t read fast enough to keep up. But I suspect most of them would be watching reruns of “American Idol” in preference to the presidential debates.
And to add to this “leveling of the playing field, provide each candidate $xxxx dollars paid for by the Federal Election Commission, and NO private monies used at all.
And, as I’ve pointed out before, any campaign worker, or even the candidate who is found guilty of spending private funds on the election, the candidate will be removed from the ballot, and all involved will spend the next 30 years in Prison.
All games of chance should be outlawed. The list is endless of families who go to bed hungry, and without adequate clothing because of someone being led to believe they can get “something for nothing.”
And haven’t you noticed how they legally call it “Gaming” instead of “Gambling.” “Gambling” comes across as sort of
“family-like” and “innocent” where “Gambling” tells it like it really is.
If Gambling must be allowed, each person must gamble only with identification such as a valid Social Security Number. The slot machines as well as the tables could be programmed where the social security number would have to be used first to play, and would have a limit of $100 per month regardless of what casino one gambled at. This would help stop gambling, and more families would have money for food and adequate other material needs.
But don’t expect the Democratic and Republican parties to ever suggest such. And I’m afraid that some 3rd parties would find themselves in bed with the major parties on this issue.