The Utah Debate Commission
July 27, 2014
Following is the text of a letter I sent this morning to the Utah Debate Commission, which has announced that there will be a debate between candidates for Utah Attorney General who show 10% support in an august poll.
To the Utah Debate Commission:
Thank you for sending me information on the Utah Debate Commission. Obviously, the debate format is designed to exclude "minor party" candidates, and will almost certainly exclude me. I received 5.4% of the vote two years ago, which is a decent showing for a "minor party" candidate. I may do better this year, but it is not likely that I will have reached 10% by August (a time when few people pay much attention to politics).
So, I will not participate in further interaction with your commission. I will leave you to stock your debate with "viable" candidates - Democrats who can reliably expect 25% to 30% of the vote, but will not come close to actually winning.
I learned something important in a high school social studies class many years ago. Eugene Debs ran for President 5 times on the socialist Party ticket. He did not come close to winning. A reporter asked him why he kept doing it when he had no chance of getting elected. He said his job was not to get elected, but to put new ideas into people's minds, and to "change the nature of the debate." I will not get elected this November, but Libertarians are changing the nature of the debate. On important legal issues such as the disastrous "war on drugs", marriage equality, and the militarization of our police, my party has been in the forefront of demanding change. And, on these and other important issues, we are winning. The GOP, with their religious morality, is a true dinosaur. Yes, they will win again in Utah this year; but they will lose the fight to prevent freedom.
Your guidelines simply make sure that only the old, tired, and discredited ideas of the past will be heard. The debate for Attorney General will not address the important issues and give people the opportunity to embrace real change. Shame on you and those others who work to throttle real debate. Your debate will have little merit except to give Mr. Reyes further opportunity to trumpet his intolerance and support for oppression.
Andy
W. Andrew McCullough
Libertarian candidate for Utah Attorney General
Following is the text of a letter I sent this morning to the Utah Debate Commission, which has announced that there will be a debate between candidates for Utah Attorney General who show 10% support in an august poll.
To the Utah Debate Commission:
Thank you for sending me information on the Utah Debate Commission. Obviously, the debate format is designed to exclude "minor party" candidates, and will almost certainly exclude me. I received 5.4% of the vote two years ago, which is a decent showing for a "minor party" candidate. I may do better this year, but it is not likely that I will have reached 10% by August (a time when few people pay much attention to politics).
So, I will not participate in further interaction with your commission. I will leave you to stock your debate with "viable" candidates - Democrats who can reliably expect 25% to 30% of the vote, but will not come close to actually winning.
I learned something important in a high school social studies class many years ago. Eugene Debs ran for President 5 times on the socialist Party ticket. He did not come close to winning. A reporter asked him why he kept doing it when he had no chance of getting elected. He said his job was not to get elected, but to put new ideas into people's minds, and to "change the nature of the debate." I will not get elected this November, but Libertarians are changing the nature of the debate. On important legal issues such as the disastrous "war on drugs", marriage equality, and the militarization of our police, my party has been in the forefront of demanding change. And, on these and other important issues, we are winning. The GOP, with their religious morality, is a true dinosaur. Yes, they will win again in Utah this year; but they will lose the fight to prevent freedom.
Your guidelines simply make sure that only the old, tired, and discredited ideas of the past will be heard. The debate for Attorney General will not address the important issues and give people the opportunity to embrace real change. Shame on you and those others who work to throttle real debate. Your debate will have little merit except to give Mr. Reyes further opportunity to trumpet his intolerance and support for oppression.
Andy
W. Andrew McCullough
Libertarian candidate for Utah Attorney General
posted by Andrew McCullough @ 11:52 AM
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