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I'm sure the republicrats are fine with preventing another voice being heard. Those who have a small government, Constitutionally based view of America's future have no place in a debate orchestrated to showcase just how similar the two "mainstream' parties have become.

Absolutely.

I would expect what would result is Mike's inclusion into the four publicly televised debates, and his explicit exclusion from the privately held, no televised NC Bar Association debate.

This is fine. I hope not to sound cliche', but we would rather reach potential voters (i.e. regular North Carolinians a.k.a. the "people") in a public forum than a private meeting with suited lawyers on a beach resort.

I believe it speaks volumes of the two parties that the the NC Bar Association was chosen as the *first* debate of this election cycle.

The irony here is that a true libertarian would defend the right of a private organization to include whoever it wants in a debate it sponsors. Munger certainly isn't arguing that the force of law should be used to ensure his inclusion, but the irony is amusing nevertheless.

Still, it's hard to justify a decision to exclude Munger. The bar association, for its part, says it wants to restrict its debate to candidates from major parties. Well, how do we define "major"? It'd be nice if the definition were something other than "those parties we like." A sensible and fair approach would be to include any party that has won enough votes to be officially recognized by the state. That would include the Democrats, Libertarians, and Republicans. If the Socialists and Greens wanted to be included, they'd have to get above the vote threshold.

"The irony here is that a true libertarian would defend the right of a private organization to include whoever it wants in a debate it sponsors."

Come to think of it, it WOULD be interesting to see the hissy-fit if an highly respected organization decided to sponsor a televised debate between, say, Munger and McCrory ONLY. After all, their parties are officially recognized by the state ... right?

I imagine Ms. Perdue would be raising hell ... but then, she's not a Libertarian.