The democratic debate, operating entirely within the context of corporate TV stars' questions and largely Republican frames, shows once again why a for-profit "news" operation shouldn't be running a presidential debate. In 1988, the Democratic and Republican parties set up a corporation to handle the debates, and the League of Women Voters for the first time in generations refused to participate, saying the political parties had turned it into a sham. And a sham is exactly what we saw last night, with no questions at all about the environment, corporate power, media concentration (which gave Trump $2 billion in free publicity last time around), or why Congress only passes legislation to benefit the top 1%.

It's time to bring back deep and meaningful conversations like the league used to have, and get the multimillionaire TV stars off the stage.

-Thom