Other Voices

'In' POt1ie5 Are Making Life More Difficult For Independents

SEP 3 1976 .
BJ
C9nt'rary t.o what la llldlcated by th
vlrtQus news media, who are understand ,
ably - If blindly - consumed by . the .;
Jimmy Carter and the fury of the
, camp, there are other serious .
In this. election besides those
' thrust upon ua by the two "major"
. . .
' . One la former Democrat and u. s.
. Senator Eugene and another ts
\ the candidate ot . the lndepend
. ent Party, Lester Middox. .
i ' These candidates have chosen to run
,Independently either beea\Jae they don't
aaree with : .. ; qi41 . .
. 10, or;, in McC..-thy'';
i case, because :.h.f! d"'8't feel they
1
for much of anything. ,
But as the McCarthy campaign . bu .
, found state after state and In coming ti
with. the media, It' la easier lai4
than done to. present a viable challenge to
the po1lUon .. ot "In'.'
parties.
IN MORE .'fflAN a dozen
McCarthy has been' forced to i.ke
" action before even being allowed nU;
; as these states do not allow an ..
ent to "clutter" their. ballots. In the cue
of at 'least one state ' the Carter forcel
have openly wisted In the effort to deny
McC8:fthY the right to appear . on
ballot. Thia In the name of unity, of
course.
In the states where It la legal to run as
an Independent, the requirements for
filing lack any logical 11-ntformlty. The
requtromenia . Qf signatures for ballot
plaCement riliJe tea than 1,000 if ,
: Martin, 21, la the state coordl
.utor. for lhe Eugene McCarth1 campaign
, In Kellt1Jcky. He bu helped work In other
itatel to . get McCarthy's name on the
ballot.
Qver 100,000 in a few states, one of
whlclt ts Georgia.
, Even In Kentucky, the party-attlllated
politicians made the situation as difficult
as possible: The law clearly states that
the signatures mst be submitted 30 days
prJor to the election ln which the
candidate la participating;' ln Md::ai'thy's
case In Noveipber.
But the attorney General, a Democrat,
ruled that they had to be .turned ln prior
. to the prtmiry In which McCarthy wu
nQ.t even 4 participant. Thia left flve days
collect i, 700 signatures. The Democrats
and Repblic8fl8 have places reserved on
state. ballots and need not even circulate
petitions.
THE ()NL Y candidate to
ever win a place on all 50 ballots wu
George Wallace and he accomplished this
supposedly by using employes from the
Alabama state government for petitioning.
: . McCarthy hopes to be on at least 40
ballots with the rest having lnsurmounta
.. ble requirements.
A problem of even greater niagnltude
has presented _Itself for the first time ln
this election.
Under the guise of reform, the two
parties passed a law which, for the first
time In our history, established two
"offlclal" parties funded In presidential .
elections by tax dollars.
, Tiley deny thla. tax . money to others and .
add a provision which limits the amount
that can be donated to an independent. Jn
' real terms this means that the. Democrats
and Republicans receive $2 mllllon each
for their conventions and $20 mllllon each
for fall campaign. McCarthy will get
notblni
IT IS SAFE to assume that the bulk of
these great sums wlll be spent on
expensive Madison A venue ad campaigns
designed to ''sell" the candidates and that
little will be spent on the Issues.
This "reform" law flies In the face of
both the Constitution and the American
people, many of whom call themselves
Independent. It Is one of the main factors
that . moUvated Gene McCarthy to run as
an indepeooent rather thin a Democrat .
He has called the law, "The worst
Intrusion upon the Bill of Rights In
history." His opinion Is backed by Jetter
son, Adams, W ashlngton, Thomas Paine
and Henry who all disdained
political parties.
Paine ". . . It Is the nature and
Intention. of a constitution to prevent
governing by party." The Founding Fath
ers were typically Insightful on this Issue.
They foresaw the bipartisan failure that
has come to pass.
WHILE rr IS not euy to excuse the
plundering of the Constitution by politl
clans, It Is even harder to forgive the
nations TV and press for ignoring altema_.
live candfdates and their serious discus
slon of the Issues; forsaking . Intelligent
analysis while blabbering on and on about
the horse ra<;:e between the two leading
contendersichomplng at the bit of victory.
Instead of learning what McCarthy and
Maddox propose for curing employment
and dealing with problems of defense and
the environment, we hear nightly stories
about lemonade stands and charisma. One
Is momentarlly drawn to the conclusion
that these are the issues until the latest
employment figures are uncovered. A
little reality cures ail.
EVEN HERE AT home the Herald
chooses to run quaint edltorlala such as
one about quadrennial candidate Harold
Stassen and rejects McCarthy as "not
news" even though he hu commanded 10
per cent in a Harris poll running against
Carter and Ford and has been a candidate
for two years.
When questioning executives from TV
networks about McCarthy's lack of cover
age they become defensive and hostile and
again declare that he Is "not news." They
even deny him the right to purchase time.
to address the nation.
What all this means Is clearer each day
as the election nears. Money flows slower
and slower for a candidate that the media
says has "no chance." Mr. Carter and the
Republican candidate will be seen nightly
on network news whlle McCarthy will be
burled on page 10 of tomorrow's paper.
DIE TWO nominees will probably
debate on TV In front of an audience of
millions while McCarthy has not been
Invited to do so. Once again the Demo
crats and Republicans, with acqulesence
from the media, will smother any discus
slon of our country's problems with slick
campaigns and polished rhetoric. And, as
usual - unless this time the people stand
up and say "nol" - the victim wlll be the
country we cherish.