ELECTION - Third Party Presidential Debate

Third-Party Presidential Debate Talks Foreign Policy

All candidates condemned military interventionism, wars of choice, and drones

by John Glaser, October 23, 2012

AntiWar.com

Four presidential candidates running in third parties and excluded from the major Republican-Democratic debates gathered in Chicago Tuesday night to partake in a debate of their own, discussing issues foreign and domestic.
The candidates included Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode, and Justice Party nominee Rocky Anderson. The debate was moderated by former CNN host Larry King and hosted by the nonpartisan Free and Equal Elections Foundation.
Much of the debate centered on the unfair advantages and control provided to the two major parties over the election cycle. In opening statements following a question about ballot access, Justice Party’s Mr. Anderson ridiculed President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney in the last debate bragging about who would spend more on the military.
Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson followed up by claiming that whether Obama or Romney wins, the result will be the same. “We will still be heading towards a police state,” we will still engage in “military interventionism,” which has “created enemies that otherwise would not exist.”
Johnson went on to harshly condemn the drone war, saying it doesn’t just take out militants, but “takes out a lot of innocent civilians.” He added that “we should end the [Afghanistan] war tomorrow,” that we should “repeal the PATRIOT ACT,” and that he never would have signed the NDAA, which allows for Americans “to be arrested and detained without charge or trial.” All four candidates went on to condemn the NDAA.
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