The upcoming "Debates"

The upcoming debates, thanks to stories on books like "No Debate" recently profiled by NOW with Bill Moyers on PBS and other recent mentions of the fixing of the process by the political parties have driven me to denounce our parties' debates publicly as a fradulent sideshow and complete joke.

In the past 20 years, the Republican and Democratic parties have conspired to keep spontaneous moments out of any debate by creating the official sounding but completely illegitimate Commission on Presidential Debates. This Commission and it's rules caused the League of Women Voters to stop sponsoring presidential debates so many years ago, and and TV viewership of the debates have dropped considerably.

I call on any other Democratic and Republican party officials to join me in publicly calling for independent debates. While a real debate is unlikely this year, I hope to see public television, a citizen commission and/or the League of Women Voters determine the format of our presidential debates.

While I am a Democrat, I do not trust placing part of the democratic process in the hands of a political party or parties themself, and this is what has occured.

Herb Riede

Current Party Positions:
Executive Committee, Adams County Democratic Committee
Correspondence Secretary, Executive Committee, Pennsylvania Young Democrats
President, Young Democrats of Adams County