Prepared to get my critical thinking on for the last of the four parties on most state presidential ballots, I turned on C-SPAN ready to satire some leftist radicalism; at least plan out questions about how to work on implementing GP ideas with a Congress who will likely treat them worse than they did Obama.

“What happened is, we don’t have the rights to air that. So we’re working on getting those rights.”

I didn’t get that far on August 4th. It turns out, C-SPAN is not currently airing the GNC. “But we’re a democracy”, I thought. “Surely this is some internal mistake that can be explained by calling the network.” So I did. C-SPAN is a respectable organization and is interested in covering U.S. politics, after all.

I called 202–737–3220, the number listed as the main office, and introduced myself by name (adhering to my strict no anonymity in confrontation policy).

“Hi, I’m Sonia Montez and I just wanted to call to inquire about C-SPAN’s plans to air the Green Party Convention in the same way the network aired the Libertarian, Republican, and Demo-”

The kind voiced person on the phone was prepared with her statement before I finished my inquiry. “What happened is, we don’t have the rights to air that. So we’re working on getting those rights.”

I followed up, “Do you know when we can expect convention coverage to start?”

“Right now, we have clearance for Saturday”

“The last day?”

“Well yes, we have Saturday scheduled and are working on getting the clearance to air the whole convention on Saturday.”

I thanked the spokeswoman, wished her a good day, and ended our conversation.

Was this kindly voiced person telling the truth? As of now C-SPAN’s Saturday schedule looks like this:

C-SPAN Saturday Aug 6th Schedule as of 8/4/2016

Their C-SPAN 2 and 3 schedules are also filled with itineraries which do not include the GNC.

Even if I didn’t include my knowledge of licensing and publishing clearance from 20 years in the entertainment industry, this would still not sit well. C-SPAN has known the details of the GNC for over a month and have failed to mobilize in a manner matching other conventions. Their refusal to equally represent politics only serves to fuel the conviction of Green voter claim that they are being suppressed from the presidential race. Regardless of where political loyalty lies, championing democracy means supporting equal access to party platforms.

In a political climate where leftist dissenters regularly accuse the two-party system of subverting their voice, is it really the smartest thing to allow CSPAN to define a political caste?

If not, then maybe call them and let them know.

#hedicho