So it’s settled: Hillary Clinton will square off against Donald Trump, in a full-tilt general election poised to become a hall of horrors for Americans seeking constructive debate. The tone was set this week by Trump’s suggestion that if the Russians find Clinton’s “lost” emails, they turn them in to the FBI – leading Team Clinton to decry the scenario as a national security threat. Soon to be confronted with formal televised debates between these two unprecedented candidates, Americans could almost be excused for tuning out now and saving what’s left of their sanity.

But there is a better option – indeed, as the debates are concerned, the only option: let Gary Johnson in. Don’t worry; the Libertarian candidate, a successful former governor with no ethics cloud or security problems, won’t make a mockery of things like third-party figures of yore, who typically lack the chops or the bearing to fit in with the big names.

More to the point, he’s the only person on planet Earth – literally – who could break the debates out of what’s otherwise sure to shape up as a lurid, protracted death hug. Trump and Clinton, two monstrously unpopular egomaniacs driven by circumstance to defame one another, actually share a past so chummy and privileged it’s unseemly in its own right. Whatever train wreck or bloodsport value their televised faceoffs may have will be fully eclipsed by the psychic damage they do to American politics and the American people. Johnson has no part in this madness and yet he’s the most seasoned and mainstream third party candidate who would ever hit the stage. Amid the rancor and clamor of Trump and Clinton, his is a voice many will clutch like a life preserver, regardless of its specific content. And no mean number of voters will also notice he sometimes offers more pleasant and palpable views to the right and left of center than either Clinton or Trump, both of whom struggle with principle.

This is no pipe dream. Although neither Trump nor Clinton shows any sign of a coming collapse, voter dissatisfaction with these choices remains high. The two are tied at around 40 percent in the polls; at least a third of Republicans are unhappy with Trump, and a quarter of Democrats with Clinton. “In a development not seen in any modern presidential contest, more than half of all voters hold unfavorable views of the two major party candidates and large majorities say neither is honest and trustworthy,” the New York Times reported. “Only half of voters say Mrs. Clinton is prepared to be president, while an astonishing two-thirds say that Mr. Trump is not ready for the job – including four in 10 Republicans.”

Both candidates’ nominating conventions were marred by protests and internecine anger, with the outcry even stronger among Bernie Sanders holdouts than Ted Cruz enthusiasts.

Meanwhile, surveys averaged by RealClearPolitics show that support for second-tier parties is swelling. Green Party nominee Jill Stein has amassed slightly more support than Ralph Nader did with his most recent try – and Johnson, paired with fellow ex-Republican governor William Weld, has climbed to almost 10 percent despite running what could forgivingly be described as an under-the-radar campaign. While Republicans have always feared that Libertarian spoilers will trash their chances come November, it’s clear this time that today’s ideologies are now so fluid that something less lopsided would happen. Even Ross Perot pulled more of his voters from Bill Clinton in 1992 than you’d probably expect.

It’s a very modest goal to rise from winning 1 in 10 respondents to winning 15 percent of the national electorate – the threshold for participation set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, using their own specially-concocted average, incorporating the most recent results obtained by “five selected national public opinion polling organizations” when the commission makes its final decision. (There’s also a viability rule for ballot access, which the Libertarian Party has well in hand.) That’s coming in a bit over a month: not a huge window for Johnson/Weld to hit the magic number, but more than enough time to do so, especially if Americans begin to realize that Johnson can rescue the debates from disaster without automatically throwing the election to either of his polarizing and pugnacious opponents. Johnson would also be aided if the commission allows him a place if he hits 15 percent in a three-way poll but not in a four-way with Stein included.

There’s a bit of a Catch-22 involved in closing the deal. Without being included in more important polls, Johnson will have to struggle to gain the exposure he needs to be included in more important polls. But the trend lines point in his favor. A July sampling from CNN put him all the way at 13 percent, a big jump from his 9 percent showing tabulated by CNN’s pollsters in June. And in a suitably grassroots development, a petition to land Johnson in the debate making the rounds at Change.org is closing in on its goal of 50,000 signatures.

The bottom line is simple. You don’t have to be a card-carrying Libertarian, a Bernie Bro, a RINO, or a Never Trumper to recognize the great benefit to us all in witnessing how Gary Johnson’s political agenda stacks up against Trump’s and Clinton’s.