If you were involved in the decision making process to hire employees, including executives, for Target, would you allow someone with a conflict of interests, like Walmart executives to screen the candidates and decide which ones you can interview?
Of course not, in the corporate world this would never be considered reasonable at all!
However, when it comes to choosing our politicians from high offices like the president and Senate to local officials that's exactly what the vast majority of the public do!
We have six oligarchs controlling over ninety percent of the media and they automatically provide obsession coverage for billionaires like Michael Bloomberg or the next in line within the traditional Republican and Democratic Parties, without even mentioning the vast majority of candidates running for many offices. This is how they routinely rig elections so that only those getting name recognition with coverage they control are considered viable, guaranteeing that we never even hear of candidates they disapprove of!
To put it simply the mass media can rig elections by refusing to cover candidates they don't like preventing them from getting the name recognition they need to become viable!
The media practically never tells the majority of the public that there are literally hundreds of candidates they refuse to cover or report on many of the issues they run on. On the rare occasions where they do, they treat it as if any candidates they don't cover are fringe or a joke. The only time I remember any pundits even mentioning that there are many more candidates running was years ago perhaps during the 2008 or 2016 elections when Rachel Maddow brought it up, only mentioning irrational or joke candidates like "Deez Nuts" giving her audience the impression that they're not serious and that there's nothing to check out there.
Unfortunately the vast majority of the public is simply letting them get away with this without even doing much if anything to change it, even many alternative media outlets, although some of them provide some coverage for progressive candidates like Jill Stein, who is far better than the candidates the establishment media is willing to cover, with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders; however, after the primaries were rigged against him in 2016 even he caved and endorsed Hillary Clinton, which may have actually helped Trump get elected since they rigged the primaries for such a horrendous candidate that he could look like the lesser of two evils to many people.
In 2000 there were at least five alternative candidates that had their names on the ballot during the general elections in enough states to win, but the vast majority of the public wasn't aware of many if any of them. The Mainstream media provided a minimal amount of coverage to Ralph Nader and Patrick Buchanan, who were included but there were at least three others as well, including John Haglin, who was almost certainly the best candidate by far, at least in my opinion; and I suspect if the majority of the public knew about him they would be much more likely to support him and he would have had a viable chance of winning.
But of course the mainstream media gave obsession coverage to Al Gore and George Bush, as if they were the only candidates the public could choose from and that they were popular, even though they both had high negatives polling, and they often made so many idiotic blunders that it seemed like they were both trying to lose.
Things only got worse from there with both Clinton and Trump having record breaking low approval ratings during the 2016 elections, which is of course exactly what the primary process is supposed to prevent. They're supposed to nominate the people the public likes the best; however the media only covers incredibly corrupt candidates collecting massive amounts of bribes thinly disguised as campaign contributions.
Every four years there're a few web pages including Ballotpedia and Project Vote Smart put out a full list of all the candidates running for office, including for president. Project Vote Smart also provides questionnaires for these candidates, which most traditional candidates boycott, as long as they can get away with it. If the voters raised questions about it they might be more likely to fill them out so people would know where they stand on the issues; if people refused to vote for them unless they filled out a job application, which is what I refer to them as, then they would routinely fill them out.
As I pointed out previously in Saving Project Vote Smart and improving it or replacing it these questionnaires could be improved and the grassroots should have more control over the interview process, but it's still the best application for candidates that I'm aware of. Working to create better applications is also something that the grassroots needs to work on.
Project Vote Smart has barely put out their page for these candidates and as of this writing it's still blank, but presumably within the next few weeks they'll start adding many candidates. Ballotpedia already has over four hundred and fifty candidates that have officially filed papers to indicate they're running. Most of them don't seem to have much additional information available if you Google their names for president, but there are at least a couple dozen that have some additional information available which I was able to find, although it's still early, and there will no doubt be more candidates entering the race and providing additional information.
If more of these candidates got more coverage, at least at the grassroots level, then they might be more inclined to put out more information on their positions, and this could help educate the public even if they don't have a chance to win. Not that I'm completely ruling out the possibility that a grassroots candidates can win, but of course we go through this every four years and the deck is stacked against them, especially if most people keep their heads in the sand.
If enough people wake up we can get real change, as many reformers often say, and it could happen suddenly at one point or another but that won't happen unless some people start spreading the word to the best of their ability. We may not b able to get the mass media to pay attention right away, but if more alternative media outlets start covering some of the most credible of these candidate they might have a chance of either winning or doing much more to educate the public.
I don't know whether Jill Stein is running again or not, her name recognition helps, but there might be an advantage to getting new nominees as well. Ian Schlakman and a few other candidates have declared they're going to run in the Green Party; I found some information on Ian, but if he wants to run a serious campaign he'll have to put out more soon, although it's still early.
Sanderson Beck provided much more information and is worth a very close look. Unlike traditional politicians he doesn't provide carefully scripted promises catering to each audience that he speaks to without providing a good stand on many issues that is consistent no matter who they're talking to, which is what we should demand from all politicians. It's now routine to for high profile politicians to put out multiple conflicting promises to different audiences, guaranteeing they have to break many of those promises to keep other promises; and they usually keep the ones given to their campaign donors while breaking those to the vast majority of the public.
Beck also wrote extensively about how he thinks that all candidates should be heard and came up with policy positions that can help ensure that this actually happens, which is one reason why the mainstream media would never cover him; but it's also a good reason why the majority of the public should here him out, even if they don't vote for him. He supports an end to wars based on lies, single-payer healthcare, reasonable protection of the environment, and many other positions the corporations controlling the debate want to suppress, which adds to the reasons they don't want us to hear from him, but it's in our best interest to do so.
James Valentine has also created extensive positions that people can review before deciding to support him, which prevents him from adopting a different position every-time he addresses a different audience, including writing his own constitution, which many people might consider fringe or audacious. However our Constitution allows power to be concentrated in the hands of the few controlling the many although it's not supposed to do that. They claimed that they created checks and balances but then they put all three branches of government in the hands of a small percentage of wealthy people. This started out in the hands of white land owners holding slaves and we had to fight a Civil War to get black people the right to vote campaigning and protesting for decades longer before giving women the right to vote; but now six oligarchs control the press and use this control to rig elections.
I certainly don't agree with all his ideas for his Constitution and doubt if most people will either; however they're worth considering as part of a process that might lead to better understanding of our own Constitution and ratifying one that the majority of the public helped create and agrees with. Right now our leaders want us to worship it like a Bible without understanding it. The Electoral College is one of many problems with it that is considered above reproach, and as long as we accept this assumption we won't be able to control our own government as a Democracy is supposed to work.
Hubert Sean Francisco has stated that if the government shuts down those responsible for it shouldn't get paid which should be obviously right to most of us, yet the current administration is clearly forcing those with out political clout to make all the sacrifices while the wealthy that are already profiting from his tax cuts, not benefiting the majority, continue profiting off this corruption, even blatantly funding the Clock Tower at the Trump Hotel and Mar-a-Lago party tents with tax dollars while people required to work aren't getting paid.
However his positions on border security and some other positions might be as draconian as Trump's. I'm certainly not saying all these candidates are serious or good, including a candidate running as the "She-Hulk" and another running as "Frog-Man," but some are much better than the establishment candidates that the mainstream media routinely cover with obsession coverage over and over again, so if we want real reform we have to at least be able to hear from candidates that haven't sold out before the campaign even begins, although many of them do a effective job pretending to support the grassroots during the campaign and only show their true intentions after getting elected and sometimes even then they at least partly cover up their real positions with propaganda and only those watching close enough realize they've been had by some of the politicians they thought would never betray them.
One of the most blatant examples that I went into extensively in over half a dozen articles including, Elizabeth Warren Makes Me Scream! Elizabeth Warren came from the same establishment she claims to stand up to and they helped her arrange to avoid a primary, even though her leading opponent supported single payer at a time she opposed it. She's supported planned obsolescence, while pretending to be a consumer advocate speaking against what she called the "over-consumption myth," which isn't a myth at all, and is part of the epidemic fraud she claims to protect us from, voted for a massive military budget, and waited until massive pressure from the grassroots before switching positions on Charter Schools, and perhaps Single-Payer, although like many other politicians she may only be pretending to switch on these issues.
After a close look it's clear that she hasn't taken the lead on many of the issues they give her credit for, and she's one of the multimillionaires she pretends to stand up to. Even Bernie Sanders caved and endorsed Hillary Clinton. Tulsi Gabbard also seems like one of the more credible progressives; however, if she was as good as many of us want to believe she probably never would have gotten the Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee in the first place. Her father was also a politician which means she also came from the establishment all along, and they have an incredible knack for pretending to be progressive when they're not. I checked her record on Vote Smart, below and she refused to fill out their questionnaire, like typical politicians trying to control the debate so they can push their own agenda or give different versions of their positions to different people, and during the 2016 Bernie Sanders also refused to fill out his questionnaire, although he has filled them out in the past.
I'm not saying that I wouldn't support Tulsi or Bernie against the other establishment candidates if we can't get sincere grassroots candidates like Sanderson Beck, John Haglin or Jill Stein; but, if that's the best we can do we'll need to watch them closely to make sure they don't betray us like Barack Obama did.
In addition to trying to hold establishment politicians accountable we have to prepare to give grassroots candidates a much better chance by trying to help them get more coverage, which will also put establishment politicians on notice. This would also help if more alternative media outlets covered some of these candidates as well. Below are a couple dozen more candidates to check out and what ever information I could find on them with a relatively quick search; however, there will be more, and some of the candidates listed by either Ballotpedia or Vote Smart will presumably be putting out much more on their campaigns, although we may have to search for it ourselves. I'll probably follow this up with additional reviews on more candidates as they expand.
Ballotpedia: Presidential candidates, 2020
Project Vote Smart: Presidential candidates, 2016
Project Vote Smart: Presidential candidates, 2020
09/01/2018-01/12/2019
My name is Ian Schlakman, and I am officially launching my campaign to be the Green Party's Candidate for President of the United States.
Sanderson Beck for President 2020 "The government can make sure that debates open to all candidates are held with fair rules and made available to all Americans by the media which has licenses for broadcasting for the public good. Commercial broadcasting is polluted by advertisements used to raise enormous amounts of revenue, enabling gigantic corporations to dominate the media. Taxing commercials would be a way of alleviating the economic inequality in the media so that the government would have money to invest in public broadcasting with diverse views. Broadcasting and cable should be available to all. I believe that people benefit more by watching programs that are not interrupted by manipulative advertisements."
Literary Works of Sanderson Beck Mostly Free Online
Progressive Democracy How Wise Love Can Produce Prosperity, Justice and Peace by Sanderson Beck Proposed Amendment: "The election campaigns of candidates for the offices of United States President, Senator, and Representative as well as for statewide offices shall be publicly financed. Citizens may contribute up to three hundred dollars to one candidate in each office for which they are qualified to vote during each primary or general election. No other funds can be used for paid media advertisements. Media may not provide free advertisements to any candidate unless they do so equally for all the candidates for that office. No other person, group, organization, or business may contribute to any election campaign for any of these offices. The contributions from citizens not spent by the campaign by election day shall go into the Treasury of the United States, which shall finance the debates broadcast for each office and the sample ballots mailed to the voters that shall give equal time and space to all candidates on the ballots. Whenever and wherever primary or general elections for officers of the United States are held, that day shall be a federal holiday."
James Valentine "The Valentine Constitution would instead have our government pay for all campaigns so that our politicians will be beholden to us Citizens instead of a few billionaires, by establishing a politically neutral body within the Judiciary to provide debates and other forums for all candidates equally so that new candidates and ideas may be exposed and real issues dealt with."
"The Valentine Constitution takes the money out of politics by prohibiting campaign contributions, lobbying and the revolving door so that no favors will be owed to the big-has-failed billionaires or the special interest lobbies who currently fund campaigns and receive favors in return; who have corrupted our government, and who have gained control of our government and our economy." "Toxic packaging used once creates waste. If the world lived like Americans, we’d need 8 planets to sustain us!" "We don’t have enough water to save all Americans, let alone more immigrants. Unless we reduce our numbers we will not be able to save ourselves. We must lead the world in water efficiency, sustainability and condom use."
Hubert Sean Francisco for President 2020 “A Free People absolutely have the Inherent Right to a fully operational government as its funding is derived from the People and for the People. My Administration will send proposed legislation as a stand alone measure, that the Candidate has drafted, called the Reciprocity in Services Act. This law will ban members of Congress from compensation during a partial or full government shutdown.”
“A Free People absolutely have the Inherent Right to be safe in their persons and property from the devastating effect that criminal immigrants pose. My Administration will enforce a "Zero Trade Zero Aid" penalty on Mexico until such time that ICE certifies that the Government of Mexico has secured their Northern Border with Mexican Troops and a Concrete & Steel Wall approved by My Administration.”
Luis A. Szydlowski- De Jesus
Darcie Allen
Rev. Pamela M. Pinkney Butts
Michael W Scruggs
Cecelia Sanborn
Richard Neece Ojeda II Retired Army Major and Former West Virginia State Senator, no issues on web page just requests for donations or shirts for sale claiming he's going to end corruption.
Christina Gerasimos Billings-elias limited content
Gary Swing
Green Presidential Candidate Gary Swing: Corporate Media "Focus on Distractrations Rather Than the Real Issues" 01/15/2012
Jennifer Walters or "She Hulk" for President
Eugene Patilio of "Frog-Man" for President
Alan Howe "To get more for our money, we must invest enough to get young adults on a secure path to the middle class. ..... That likely means more college classes in high school, more years of schooling at public expense, and more interaction between businesses and educators to see that we are meeting the needs of our economy and not relying too heavily on bringing in skilled immigrants to fill the gaps."
Glenn Scott Allistair Simpson
Daphne Bradford
Daphne Bradford Runs for President 12/20/2018
Angela Marié Baxley Glass
William Joseph Hurst "A fair wage should earn you a home, food, and transportation; not poverty. If our children are to have a future, we need to invest in renewable and clean energy, now."
William Joseph Hurst Twitter
Adam Seaman
David Aaron Karaffa for President
Meet Sean Collinson, Hip-Hop Presidential Candidate of 2020 09/20/2018
Twitter: Sean Collinson
Vote Smart: Dr Samuel B Hoff
Michael E. Arth Launches 2020 Presidential Campaign 11/20/2018 His books include: Michael E. Arth Introspective 1972-1982 (1983), Democracy and the Common Wealth: Breaking the Stranglehold of the Special Interests (2010), The Labors of Hercules: Modern Solutions to 12 Herculean Problems (forthcoming), and The Time Traveler: An Artist's Quest Through the Past and Future (forthcoming)
Facebook: Tulsi Gabbard for President 2020 Hey @realDonaldTrump: being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not "America First."
Tulsi Gabbard's Political Summary includes voting record but "Tulsi Gabbard has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2018 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you." so they searched her record to figure out probable answers under "Positions" at Vote Smart
Two Choices For President? Meet The 1,896 Other Candidates No One Ever Told You About 10/10/2016
very nice article!!
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