letter to first presidential debate moderator

Mr. Lehrer,
As you're certainly aware, your role as moderator in the upcoming Presidential election is an important one. As Americans from every state, economic class, ethnicity, and creed tune in, I have an urgent and crucial request for you, a member of the press privileged to represent we, the people of the United States of America.

That request is simple: while acknowledging your responsibility of a non-bias and objective set of topics and questions, I request only that you take the briefest moment to CLARIFY the candidates’ responses for the people. So much of the political rhetoric is bite-sized, timed, and rarely scratches the surface of the issue in question.

There are many contradictions between our current candidates' party philosophies and what they say in public. For one, if the candidates either support tax cuts or tax hikes, who is truly affected? To my understanding, both candidates have opposing views on how the upper 1% of income holders should be affected.

I also would like to request, for the record, that a 3rd party candidate should be represented here and supported by Public Broadcasting. Although I see your corporate sponsor logos below (including Chevron), a candidate clearly representing people more than corporations seems like something our founding fathers would not just be proud of, but consider a necessity in the democratic process.

Sincerely yours,
Ryan J. Gordon