DN! has again allowed ALL presidential candidates a forum to express their reasons for wanting to be president.  I couldn’t listen to the entire debate, as I’m out of time, but this is what I’ve listened to:

Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein’s arrest should send chills down one’s spine.  It is absolutely stunning that a person with a legitimate claim as a candidate for political office is arrested for trying to assert the right to debate.  And being handcuffed to a chair for eight hours??

As she said, this would not have happened if the League of Women Voters were still running the debates.

To shut them out is weak, in my opinion.  If you’re a strong candidate, allowing others in is not going to phase you.  What are they afraid of?  Legitimizing the Green Party? or Justice Party?

Having to actually answer questions that many Americans want answered?

I would say all of the above.  A robust debate helps the marketplace of ideas, but informed voters tend to start asking questions that most politicians would rather not answer.

On to the debate–

Dr. Stein and President Obama touch on keeping jobs here, giving tax breaks to those companies that keep or create jobs here.  In the place I grew up in, they were giving tax breaks out the wazoo to companies, at the peril of schools, which suddenly lost the tax base to keep schools running with adequate teaching staff, supplies, etc.  And what did these companies do when the mood struck?  Left for Mexico, China, etc.  Personally, I think when a company gets tax breaks like this, and then packs up and leaves, they should be made to pay back every last cent they took away in tax relief… plus interest.