Jill Stein Blasts 'Two-Party Cartel' Controlling Presidential Debates

The presidential debates have been transformed into “a choreographed and carefully scripted farce that prevents honest discussion of the real issues our country faces,” Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein declared in an op-ed on Tuesday. 

Citing a recent Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll that showed more than three-quarters of likely voters want Stein and Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson to participate in debates, the Green Party candidate blasted the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) as a “two-party cartel” that curtails democracy.

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“The CPD is a thinly disguised scheme to protect the two establishment parties from competition,” Stein wrote at the Guardian, “and perpetuates a political system controlled by the wealthy and big business interests.”

A recent Morning Consult poll similarly found that more than half of registered voters believe Johnson should partake in the debate scheduled for Sept. 26 and 47 percent believe Stein should.

Observing that the CPD “also keeps the debates within a narrow set of issues determined by party bosses,” Stein called for “a new independent debate commission” that would “reflect the true diversity of the American public” and in turn “usher in a new era of debates that truly inform the voters and challenge the status quo.”

The CPD requires that candidates poll at 15 percent or higher in five national polls to be included in the debates. The RealClearPolitics average currently has Johnson polling around eight percent and Stein hovering at three percent.