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U.S. Presidential Debate Reform Group Uses Bitcoin To Give Voice To Independent Candidates

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:44 PM
Lester Coleman
Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:44 PM

Fair Debates picFairDebates.com, a project dedicated to changing the U.S. Presidential debates, is now accepting bitcoin as an option for contributing to the organization’s efforts to force the Commission on Presidential Debates to include independent candidates. FairDebates.com has launched a petition and is allowing supporters to contribute using bitcoin.

“With thousands of liberty-minded supporters, Fair Debates is a natural fit with bitcoin,” said Ron Nielson, FairDebates.com senior advisor. “Over the past several months, increasing numbers of those supporters have expressed interest in contributing via bitcoin, and we are pleased to now offer that as an option.”

FairDebates.com has added a bitcoin payment option to the contribution pages at www.ouramericainitiative.com  and FairDebates.com.

Polling Criteria Hampers Some Candidates

FairDebates.com wants to the Commission on Presidential Debates to remove the polling criteria and permit access to any candidate who achieves the ballot access required to win the election.

The petition urges the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to restrict he power of the federal government to gather information about and from American citizens without due process of law.

The commission that runs the debates leaves the news media with no alternative but to leave the American voter with the impression that their choices are limited to the Republican and Democrat nominees, FairDebates.com claims.

A Simple Criterion For A Manageable Candidate Field

The group believes that applying a simple criterion of having qualified for enough states’ ballots to achieve a majority in the Electoral College will produce debates with a manageable number of credible, qualified candidates.

Jill Stein // Facebook
Jill Stein // Facebook

FairDebates.com noted that in 2012, only four candidates for President met that ballot access threshold. These four were Massachusetts Gov. Romney, President Obama, Libertarian Party candidate and former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, and Green Party nominee Dr. Jill Stein. No other candidates could have been elected, given the number of state ballots on which their names appeared.

FairDebates.com claims the Democratic and Republican parties have created a debate duopoly that makes it virtually impossible for candidates other than the Republican and Democrat nominees to participate.

Both Gary Johnson and Dr. Jill Stein are running for President in 2016.

The Commission on Presidential Debates excludes candidates by applying criteria for participation — agreed to between the two “major” parties — that include a requirement that a candidate be polling at 15% in arbitrarily-selected national surveys. FairDebates.com claims.

The “Our America Initiative” believes this requirement to be not only unfair, but illegal. Any candidate who is 1) qualified to be President under the Constitution and 2) has qualified for enough states’ ballots to receive at least 50% of Electoral College votes should be included.

Featured image from Shutterstock.