The presidential debates are the most important events in our election process. We can’t have real democracy without a free exchange of ideas and an informed public.

The debates should give voters the opportunity to see all the candidates on the ballot, representing the diversity of American political thought, discussing important issues in an unscripted manner so that the people can make informed decisions about the direction of our country.

The right to vote means little unless we have the right to know who we can vote for.

The Democrats and Republicans created the Commission on Presidential Debates to seize control of the debates from the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, which called the commission “a fraud on the American voter.”

The Commission on Presidential Debates, which is actually a corporation controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties, stifles democracy by locking out independent candidates from the debates.

The debates commission sets arbitrary polling requirements and uses some polls that don’t even offer the Green Party as an option, which shows how this system is rigged to protect the establishment parties from competition.

The presidential debates should include all candidates who are on enough ballots to be able to win the Presidency. In 2016, that would mean four candidates in the debates, including Clinton, Trump, Jill Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson.