Recap of Presidential Debate Without Romney and Obama

You will not see free college education, the legalization of marijuana, or fixed terms for congress members featured in the two party presidential campaigns, but these were just some of the topics discussed at the alternative presidential debate in Chicago Tuesday night.

Hosted by talk show host Larry King and organized by the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, four presidential candidates debated six topics, including the war on drugs, military spending, college fees, and new U.S. detention laws. The questions were submitted through social media and selected by Larry King’s team.

“I think they deserve a voice,” King told Politico of the third-party candidates. “It’s obvious they’re not going to win, but in the Constitution it never says there’s a Democrat or a Republican Party. It never mentions a two-party system … We’ve always had independent candidates. They deserve a voice, and they haven’t had a voice in this campaign at all.”

Jill Stein, candidate for the Green Party, advocated repealing the Patriot Act, free college education, more action on climate change, and stopping the persecution of government whistleblowers.

“We need a foreign policy to fight for climate change, not to fight oil wars,” she said.

The Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, said he would legalize marijuana to stop the drug wars, reduce students loans, which he says are driving up college fees, and encourage immigration—but with work visas, not green cards.

Rocky Anderson, the candidate for the Justice Party, decried the military industrial complex, the influence of big business, and increasing infringements on civil liberties. He would like to see more money go towards free education, dealing with climate change, and reduced prison numbers, in part by legalizing and regulating marijuana.

Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party wants to cut back spending across the board to bring the deficit into balance. He would place a moratorium on green cards until unemployment drops below 5 percent, introduce term limits for Congress members, and put an end to super PACS.

The Free and Equal Elections Foundation is calling for votes on the four candidates, the two with the highest number to participate in a debate in Washington, D.C. Tuesday morning, Oct 30. The venue is to be announced.

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*Republished with permission from The Epoch Times