Red State, Blue State, Green State Debate

It wouldn't be a Presidential campaign season it seems without the most important duty of a third party candidate: getting arrested while trying to get into the televised debate.

In an act of civil disobedience to protest their exclusion from the presidential debates, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested outside the site of the second debate on Tuesday.

Stein and Honkala attempted to enter the debate hall at Hofstra University, but were refused entry by police because they lacked credentials.

Stein said the presidential debate was a “mockery of democracy” because it only included Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Stein will appear on about 85 percent of state ballots this year. Another presidential candidate, Libertarian Gary Johnson, will also be on the ballot in at least 47 states. But neither third-party candidate will be included in the presidential debates.

After failing to outmaneuver a number of police officers who had created a blockade, Stein and Honkala sat down in the middle of the street. They were informed by an officer that if they did not move, then they would be arrested for blocking traffic.

Honkala responded that she didn’t want to block traffic, she just wanted to get into the debate. Stein and Honkala were then arrested without incident.

Well, that's certainly useful.

Look, I'm very sympathetic to the aims of the Green party, especially on global warming.  But pouting about not getting invited to the debate is just going through the motions, and it doesn't solve anything other than where Jill Stein spent Tuesday night.  What we need is a Congress willing to write legislation.  Green party needs to be focusing on Congress, not the White House.

That's just my take.