Boston public radio station WBUR entered the debate this week over whether or not ballot-qualified candidate Dr. Jill Stein was worthy for inclusion in the gubernatorial debates.

In Controversy Grows Over Excluding ‘Outsider’ Candidates From Debates, WBUR features this nails-on-chalkboard quote from its own big-d Democratic political analyst, Dan Payne:

Because Jill Stein will get one quarter of the time and camera and she has not a million-to-one chance to become governor. For her to be given a seat at the table is unfair to the voters, who will then have to wade through the clutter of a fourth candidate in the race.

My question to WBUR: care to hire me as your Green-Rainbow Party political analyst? Who the hell appointed him as a guardian and protector of “the voters”?

I won’t go into any sort of counter-arguments to Payne or the other, a-hem, journalists, who think that the voters of Massachusetts are better served by the media packaging their choices for them rather than being exposed to the raw ideas and voices of the candidates that appear on the ballot, because the comments on the article by WBUR listeners and supporters say it all.

I was particularly fond of David Wean’s comment:

Let’s see – WBUR is part of the consortium that is excluding from the debate a candidate who has met the state’s requirements to be on the ballot, based on criteria that include the amount of funds raised. I’m considering redirecting my WBUR and WGBH membership donations this year to Jill Stein’s campaign.

When people get serious about redirecting their financial support of anti-democratic institutions into building the grassroots infrastructure for real change, then we’ll be able to roll over the obstacles these gatekeepers will continuously put in our way.

And here’s Nader’s stance:

“People in charge of the debates have no business pre-judging election outcomes when they decide who to let in on a debate…

“Furthermore, these debates are on public airwaves, which are owned by the people. And there’s an obligation to recognize that if a candidate is ballot qualified candidate, as Dr. Jill Stein is, then she should be in the debates.”

If you want to ensure that Dr. Stein treated fairly, and that her voice and yours aren’t shut out from the elite political discourse, then run right now to JillStein.org and DemocracyDays.com and help build the clean money tidal wave that will raise our voices so they cannot be ignored.