Ron Paul, Minor Party Candidates and the 2008 Election

Yesterday I posted a video from CNN that had Ron Paul and Ralph Nader talking about the 4 points agreement made by the candidates of the Green, Libertarian and Constitution parties as well as Ralph Nader. Well C-Span has a video of the press conference available for viewing online. Unfortunately, I could not figure out a way to embed it in my blog.

An interesting news story about this press conference is that Bob Barr didn't show up. Evidently there are two reasons why. One, he didn't want to dilute his personal message by being on the same stage as Cynthia McKinney. The other being that he thinks Ron Paul should choose to support just one candidate, not four. More specifically he wants Dr. Paul to endorse him. He has also requested Ron Paul to be his running mate even though he doesn't expect Dr. Paul to accept.

Of course, the purpose of this press conference was to change the system. Get minor party candidates with varying beliefs to agree on something ( 4 major points ), that the major parties are not talking about and don't agree with.

This announcement of agreement was made just in time for the Lou Dobbs Independent Convention that will be happening today. I'm not sure if all of the 4 candidates will be on the show but I know that Ralph Nader will be on and I'm fairly certain Ron Paul will be there as well.

Ron Paul and Ralph Nader on CNN

Earlier today on CNN, Ron Paul and Ralph Nader showed up together to answer questions from Wolf Blitzer. Why were they both on? It seems there is a minor party agreement on four issues affecting our country. These 4 points have been agreed upon by 4 minor party candidates with the hope that it will either force the issues to be taken up by major party candidates or get a minor party candidate elected President. ...

Details of the 4 points of agreement between the 4 candidates can be found on the voteNader.org website, but they include foreign policy, national debt, privacy and the federal reserve. While I'm not a Ron Paul revolutionary like many, I think what he is doing speaks volumes. He is not supporting the party he is a member of he is supporting his values. No wonder so many people stand behind him as a political messiah. Thank you Dr. Paul, you have my gratitude.

The audio from the 4 candidate press conference led by Dr. Paul is available online. I hope to link to the C-Span coverage in a forthcoming post.

NPR talks third parties

I hate the term third party, it lumps all the parties that are not Republicans or Democrats in one group. However, it is a term people understand until we make a choice as American's to support more than one party two parties. None the less, NPR had a piece about what is happening outside of the "major" parties.

In this piece they talk about Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader and Michael Bloomberg. They also talk about the possibility of Ron Paul running as a 3rd party candidate.

Glad that's over

Super Tuesday is done, and I'm glad it's over. I just checked out CNN.com and was a little disgusted. I looked at the results and there was something glaringly obvious on the Democratic side. Edwards, Biden and Richardson - who have all dropped out of the race - showed up in the results but Mike Gravel - who is still running - was nowhere to be seen. Whether this is an issue of people not voting for him enough to show in the polls or that CNN has a problem with the candidate doesn't matter. Both are disgusting. ...

I understand that Mike Gravel has not been very visible lately. You would have to make an effort to look for him. Is he not trying hard enough? Are his supporters beaten down too much to make it happen? Is it the corporate interests keeping him away from the spotlight?

While I have done my best to remain diligent in this Presidential race, I am now making a change as of today. There is no reason for me to follow the Democrats or Republicans any more. I've never really liked the Republican party candidates. The Democrats hold very little interest for me any more. The largest reason, is because you already get enough information about them from the mainstream media. What do they need my help for?

What does this mean? I'm not going to cover or post full video of either the Democratic or Republican events. Perhaps I will post bits that include some people talking about lesser talked about subject. For instance Fair Tax. Three candidates from those parties are talking about that Gravel, Paul and Huckabee yet we hear so little about it. How about complete withdrawal from Iraq? Two candidates from those parties are talking about that( Gravel, Paul ). What about Mike Gravel's National initiative? It is probably the best progressive and truly new idea to come out of the democratic party since I can remember.

For the most part I am going to focus on what you don't see, or maybe you missed because you only had one chance to see it. I'm going to focus on the Green Party. I am going to focus on Ralph Nader. I am going to focus on Mike Gravel. I am going to focus on Cynthia McKinney. I am going to focus on non-presidential election issues.

My posts and my vote are a statement that I get to make. I am now going to focus on making statements with my political posts.