Harold Pease, Ph.D.
We are coming to the end of an election year where the “hunger games,” having gone on every four years for well over a century since William McKinley, are finalizing. The “game” part of the process is how it is done by the mega rich through their super packs and media outlets causing the people to believe that they actually choose their president. This, at least until 2016 when America rejected their anointed candidates.
For years I told my students that the quickest way to understand our political system is to watch the movie “The Hunger Games.” The strategy is to herd all voters into their two camps called Republicans and Democrats excluding all other political parties, where there exist few real differences on foreign policy and where the super rich have agreement. Since they own all major media outlets, information for or against those they allowed elevated is managed.
The few astute enough to figure this out and learn of other choices are easily brought back into the fold by the siren call that they are throwing away their vote if going outside the “ordained” two parties. Those disaffiliated with both establishment political parties, about 40 percent, called independents, are returned to the fold at election time still forced to choose from the existing approved candidates. And thus only candidate names change every four years.
I suppose that as a political scientist by profession, this is more easily understood to me. I write the Federal Elections Commission every Fall of every election year to find out who is running for president, which I have done since the early 1990’s. Never has the list of serious candidates for president been less than 200 and never has the list of serious political parties, most offering a presidential candidate, been less than 20.
So who are the excluded (deplatformed) candidates on the ballot in 2020. “As of September 21, 2020, 1,202 candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for president” (https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_registered_2020_presidential_candidates. This cite lists candidate names and party affiliation).
The Federal Elections Commission requires that anyone running for president that spends or collects $5,000 or more on his/her candidacy for president file with them. Obviously the number of presidential candidates and political parties has escalated far beyond that in the past. I went through the list and found forty political parties, doubling the number of political parties previously.
We used to assess the seriousness of a candidate by the $5,000 expenditure and how many states allowed his/her candidacy in their state. States decide who qualifies for their ballots and who do not. Since the Federal Election Commission has not yet published by state this information, as is common in past elections, it is difficult to know this number, but we can assume, as in past presidential elections, that it exceeds 20 political parties most offering a presidential candidate.
The Federal Election Commission has six commissioners but it requires four votes to accomplish anything thus many important votes end tied at 3-3. The president can only appoint three from his own political party so, in the most partisan time in American History since 1861, Democrat members have resigned and since August 31, 2019 the FEC has not had a quorum to function (Wikipedia, the Federal Election Commission).
So what other political parties offer choices for president on the ballot this year, absent the FEC state list and given the traditional non-coverage by the establishment media? They follow:The two strongest are the Libertarian Party with (Jo Jorgensen) and Green Party, with Howie Hawkins. Others that commonly provide a presidential candidates include: American Independent Party, Independent American Party, Constitution Party, Reform Party, Socialist Party, Peace and Freedom Party, and the Socialist Workers Party. For most of the last century the Communist Party U.S.A nominated Gus Hall but that stopped when they concluded that more gains were coming through the Democratic Party than they could achieve under their party label.
The Libertarian Party has offered a presidential candidate and convention in every election for decades and normally is on the ballot in every state of the union, but are never invited to the “big debates.” The same could be said of the Green Party and a few others. Certainly they feel excluded. One may argue, “but they do not have enough voter strength to warrant inclusion,” but in fact, they do not have sufficient voter strength because the establishment media does not cover them. Liberty Under Fire argues for debate inclusion for any candidate on the ballot of forty or more states.
In political science we learn that the first election is the medias. They vote first by their collective exclusion of those not registered as Democrat or Republican. The people get to choose from those the media have not excluded. The wisest, most experienced, most gifted and most honest person in America could not be president of the United States unless he/she were a Democrat or Republican.
Media corporate owners have required media collusion and, as we have said in other columns, they are overwhelmingly also globalist and Council on Foreign Relations members. In 2016 Trump survived this media filter by running as a Republican, and vaulted over the establishment by funding his own primary campaign enabling him to say things as he saw them and win over the majority of Americans who have also felt something amiss in Washington DC. That is why they hate him. He threatens their continued power.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
We are coming to the end of an election year where the “hunger games,” having gone on every four years for well over a century since William McKinley, are finalizing. The “game” part of the process is how it is done by the mega rich through their super packs and media outlets causing the people to believe that they actually choose their president. This, at least until 2016 when America rejected their anointed candidates.
For years I told my students that the quickest way to understand our political system is to watch the movie “The Hunger Games.” The strategy is to herd all voters into their two camps called Republicans and Democrats excluding all other political parties, where there exist few real differences on foreign policy and where the super rich have agreement. Since they own all major media outlets, information for or against those they allowed elevated is managed.
The few astute enough to figure this out and learn of other choices are easily brought back into the fold by the siren call that they are throwing away their vote if going outside the “ordained” two parties. Those disaffiliated with both establishment political parties, about 40 percent, called independents, are returned to the fold at election time still forced to choose from the existing approved candidates. And thus only candidate names change every four years.
I suppose that as a political scientist by profession, this is more easily understood to me. I write the Federal Elections Commission every Fall of every election year to find out who is running for president, which I have done since the early 1990’s. Never has the list of serious candidates for president been less than 200 and never has the list of serious political parties, most offering a presidential candidate, been less than 20.
So who are the excluded (deplatformed) candidates on the ballot in 2020. “As of September 21, 2020, 1,202 candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for president” (https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_registered_2020_presidential_candidates. This cite lists candidate names and party affiliation).
The Federal Elections Commission requires that anyone running for president that spends or collects $5,000 or more on his/her candidacy for president file with them. Obviously the number of presidential candidates and political parties has escalated far beyond that in the past. I went through the list and found forty political parties, doubling the number of political parties previously.
We used to assess the seriousness of a candidate by the $5,000 expenditure and how many states allowed his/her candidacy in their state. States decide who qualifies for their ballots and who do not. Since the Federal Election Commission has not yet published by state this information, as is common in past elections, it is difficult to know this number, but we can assume, as in past presidential elections, that it exceeds 20 political parties most offering a presidential candidate.
The Federal Election Commission has six commissioners but it requires four votes to accomplish anything thus many important votes end tied at 3-3. The president can only appoint three from his own political party so, in the most partisan time in American History since 1861, Democrat members have resigned and since August 31, 2019 the FEC has not had a quorum to function (Wikipedia, the Federal Election Commission).
So what other political parties offer choices for president on the ballot this year, absent the FEC state list and given the traditional non-coverage by the establishment media? They follow:The two strongest are the Libertarian Party with (Jo Jorgensen) and Green Party, with Howie Hawkins. Others that commonly provide a presidential candidates include: American Independent Party, Independent American Party, Constitution Party, Reform Party, Socialist Party, Peace and Freedom Party, and the Socialist Workers Party. For most of the last century the Communist Party U.S.A nominated Gus Hall but that stopped when they concluded that more gains were coming through the Democratic Party than they could achieve under their party label.
The Libertarian Party has offered a presidential candidate and convention in every election for decades and normally is on the ballot in every state of the union, but are never invited to the “big debates.” The same could be said of the Green Party and a few others. Certainly they feel excluded. One may argue, “but they do not have enough voter strength to warrant inclusion,” but in fact, they do not have sufficient voter strength because the establishment media does not cover them. Liberty Under Fire argues for debate inclusion for any candidate on the ballot of forty or more states.
In political science we learn that the first election is the medias. They vote first by their collective exclusion of those not registered as Democrat or Republican. The people get to choose from those the media have not excluded. The wisest, most experienced, most gifted and most honest person in America could not be president of the United States unless he/she were a Democrat or Republican.
Media corporate owners have required media collusion and, as we have said in other columns, they are overwhelmingly also globalist and Council on Foreign Relations members. In 2016 Trump survived this media filter by running as a Republican, and vaulted over the establishment by funding his own primary campaign enabling him to say things as he saw them and win over the majority of Americans who have also felt something amiss in Washington DC. That is why they hate him. He threatens their continued power.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
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