The lesser of two evils?

If I only watched the debates, I’d have little to no idea what President Barack Obama or Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney believed in.

If I only watched the debates, I’d have no clue at all there were other
presidential candidates.

There are.

The Green Party presidential candidate is Jill Stein, physician and environmental health advocate.

The Libertarian presidential candidate is Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico.

Neither of these candidates have been represented in the presidential debates, which are organized by the supposedly “nonpartisan” Commission on Presidential Debates.

Stein and her vice presidential running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested Tuesday night when they entered the debate grounds in New York. They were charged with “obstructing traffic” on a street that had no traffic.

I can’t think of a more fitting image for dominant American politics than the policing and arrest of challengers to the established norm.

Instead of an invigorated debate featuring divergent ideas from candidates outside the mainstream, we witnessed a fight between two tired old guys.

Obama and Romney stalked and pointed fingers at each other during Tuesday night’s town hall debate. It was aggressive and exciting, but not enough was discussed.

Neither of them addressed the pressing concerns raised by the Occupy movement.

Neither of them really addressed gun control. Neither of them addressed drone warfare.

These are the kinds of questions ignored by the second-rate entertainment that are presidential debates.

These debates elude meaningful confrontation with political ideologies that structure decision-making in this country.

Viewers seem to be lost in a sea of lies and vague claims about America’s future.
The poll results bespeak gross generalization of the two-party system without much attention to the candidates themselves.

Who are these undecided voters who can differentiate between improving the economy and doing a better job to help the middle class?

I would have loved to see voter reaction to some new contestants.

The two-party system has restrained the voting public to “binders of women” memes and Obama quips.

There’s more to be said for American politics than this, not that any change will come of it.

Stein and Johnson will be debating at 7 p.m. today. The live webcast of the debate is available on ivn.us, YouTube and Google+.

I’m not encouraging you to vote for either of these candidates – the system is rigged for the two corrupt parties we know and fear.

It might do you some good to know other candidates exist.

At least you’ll get to hear something other than Obama’s posturing and Romney’s lies.

­— ptbeane@indiana.edu