theatlantic:

The Case for Letting Gary Johnson Into the Debates

When Gary Johnson was a GOP primary candidate, he watched in frustration as CNN invited an obviously unqualified Herman Cain onto the debate stage, even as it refused appeals from the former two-term New Mexico governor to take part or even to be included in the polls used to determine eligibility.

Now that Governor Johnson is the Libertarian Party presidential nominee, he has a similar problem but a different foe. The Commission on Presidential Debates doesn’t want to extend him an invitation. In an open letter to the organization, he’s trying to persuade them to change their minds. The third of voters who are loyal to neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party deserve to have at least some representation during the televised presidential debates, he argues.

Read more. [Image: Reuters]

Regardless of how much anyone agrees with Gary Johnson, there is no justifiable reason to censor the public debate to a narrow rhetorical prism.