Nader's third-party debate raises alternate issues

If you are bored by the predictable back-and-forth and toothless generalities of the presidential campaign, a debate of third-party presidential candidates is a nice antidote.

Sunday night in Washington, D.C., consumer crusader Ralph Nader hosted one of these debates, a kind of salon for fringey political ideas. The candidates are gathering again Monday on Russia Today, the Russian cable channel broadcasting in the United States.

While Mitt Romney and President Obama were barnstorming across the nation holding campaign events with thousands of supporters, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, Libertarian Gary Johnson, Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party and Democrat-turned-Republican-turned Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode sparred for two hours in the packed back room of a hipster coffeehouse/bookstore.

The debate offered some clear distinctions among the candidates on issues you don't hear much about in the mainstream political debate.

Johnson emphasized doing away with income tax and corporate tax and the Internal Revenue Service. Instead, he wants to implement an across-the-board "consumption tax" that could be as high as 23%. Goode said that may not be a bad idea but it should apply to used goods as well as new goods.

Goode, asked about energy policy, said "the wave of the future is going to be hydrogen," and much of his plan for economic growth involved limiting both legal and illegal immigration to free up those jobs for U.S. citizens.

Stein said U.S. foreign policy should be based on"international law and human rights," and not on "brute military force." She called for a "nuclear-free Middle East" that would be "free of nuclear power plants" as well, because they are a stepping stone to weapons.

Anderson suggested the United States launch a new WPA-like government employment program, hiring millions of people to repair and rebuild U.S.infrastructure.

And as the host and moderator, Nader -- a third party presidential contender in 2000 who famously did or did not cost Democrat Al Gore the election, depending on whom you ask -- used much of the debate as a podium for his own quirky ideas. He started the debate with two dozen yes-or-no questions for the candidates, allowing no discussion of queries like whether Americans should have a legal obligation to vote; whether the U.S.should legalize production of industrial hemp; and whether children and grandchildren of members of Congress should be drafted first in the event of war.

For all of its freewheeling funkiness, the Nader debate did an excellent job of enforcing the two-minute time limits by dinging a desk bell when a candidate's time expired. (Take note, Commission on Presidential Debates.)