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RAPID MOVEMENT, USA |
An e-mail call to action has been circulating throughout
activist communities as of early this afternoon.

The writer, calling himself "A. Seed Planter", proposes that Americans
create a "rapid movement" to insure that third party and independent presidential candidates are heard --
in equal standing with the two major party candidates.

What does Mr. Planter propose? Nothing less than an instant grass roots campaign
to insure that the unrepresented candidates
have a "media event" of their own.

And how can that be done? Planter recommends that his message be carried far and wide, not just to third party headquarters, but to all potential media and democracy activists.

~ The full letter is printed below. ~

*****************************

Dear [Third Party] staff [Etc.],

I am writing to suggest an idea which might possibly
help your presidential and vice presidential candidate
receive the media attention they deserve.

It bothers me greatly that the private "Commission on
Presidential Debates" has conspired to exclude all but
those candidates which represent the party affiliation of the "Commission" leadership.

When we look at the statistics, we see that a majority of Americans would like to see some independent or third party candidates included in the televised
debates. We also see that 38% of the American electorate describe themseles as neither Republican nor Democrat. In what sense, then, can the CPD be said to represent the interests of the American people?

I propose that the major "third party" and independent candidates refuse to be sloughed off so easily. To remedy the obvious abuse of our election process, I
propose that all the major "third party" and independent candidates immediately work together to create a media event of their own, and that they do so quickly.

The staffs of each could work together -- with the
millions of Americans who are angered by the CPD --
in a grassroots effort to insure that our voices
will not and cannot be ignored.

Within America's activist community, with the aid of
the Internet, radio, and other tools, there is the
potential to assemble a large and almost instantanious
response to any and all abuses of power. But time is
short, and election day too near. So we need to work
magic.

Upon which institutions should e-mails flood?
Where and when should marchers hit the streets?

We know that a wildfire or an earthquake or a flood
will inspire an army of t.v. cameras, often in hele-
copters, to rush to the scene. Live satellite cover-
age of such events commonly begins within moments or
an hour. So we know it must not yet be too late for
a sudden grassroots effort to have a fuller represent-
ation of candidates in this presidential election.

Perhaps t.v. and radio networks will be slow to get
on board? But what if we plant the right seeds in the
already existing network of media and democracy
activists? What if a small buzz creates a flurry, and
that flurry rains down hard in a flood? Will the
media not cover a flood? What if there is an earth-
quake? a firestorm? What if we flatly refuse otherwise?

What if the people themselves were to demand a fair and
just -- and democratic -- election process?

-- A. Seed Planter