. >> at attorney theresa the motto and economics professor james bennett argued the two party system is an artificial creation designed to exclude any party other than democratic or republican from winning. the cato institute in washington d.c. hosts the 90-minute event. .. >> weird buzzing sound on the television. thank you very much. the cato institute as many of you know, stance for individuals liberty and limited government. competition offers a means to the end and competition in the markets express liberty and creates choices coming electoral competition authors alternatives indeed as james madison understood. classical liberals will be skeptical of government efforts to suppress electoral competition by fostering were protecting in the party or the two major parties in the united states today. we should also say that third parties in other countries are associated with systems of proportional representation and in those systems, we can see for example, classical liberalism have been more true form of representation thinking of the free democrats in germany who sometimes hold p

and "not invited to the party" by james bennett. which is also available in both places. our final speaker today is the hans von spakovsky who is speaker at the legal judicial studies where he manages the justice reform initiative. in addition, von spakovsky studies the legal aspects including campaign fraud and voter laws and issues arising from registration and equipment. before joining heritage, and 2008, hans served for two years as a member of the federal election commission. previously he worked at the justice department as the council to the assistant attorney general for civil rights. he provided expertise and advice for enforcing voting rape and the help america vote act of 2002. his articles have a part in "the wall street journal." he has testified before stating congressional committees and has been presentation to organizations as the national, the federalist society, national council for state legislatures and the american legislative exchange council. hans took a lot agree at vanderbilt university. he received his bachelor's in political science from mit. h

bennett. and if i put down my name is james t. bennett and my address and signed jim bennett, that would be considered, you know, a bad -- and invalid petition signing. failing to dot an eye or cross the t., all of these kinds of things can invalidate whole pages. so the real issue is as you probably need 10 or 20% more than the minimum in order to be assured to get on the ballot, and the democrats and republicans, each election, hired lawyers and so on to challenge these petitions and a third party candidate needs to of course, higher counsel to oppose the council that the duopoly brings to bear on the problem. stringent access laws spread like wildfire in the 1930s to thwart the communist party candidate. although, the communist party was never a serious contender in any election. but the same restrictions that apply to the communist party also applied to the third parties of the independent candidates, but certain not to the democrats and republicans. put simply, clearing the hurdles throughout the nation emirate to get on the b

i have to agree completely with what james bennett said when he said the biggest problem in washington is that the government is too big and too powerful. what is true for tax policy is also very true of federal campaign finance laws. look, the commissioners i serve for all very well meaning people. there were six people over a federal bureaucracy of almost 400 individuals. you do not want government bureaucrats making decisions on what kind of political activity should be encouraged or discouraged in the political a arena. people should be free tax act as they want to and to speak as they want to. i say to you, compare the federal system with two states, virginia and utah, that have no restrictions. they do require disclosure. governing magazine rates utah and virginia as having two of the best run governments in the united states. you tell me whether you think virginia government or utah state government, are they somehow much more corrupt than the federal government, the federal system? most people in the state would tell you did think that probably have a cleaner government than th

social policy should be encouraged and what shouldn't and i have to agree completely with what james bennett said menees of the biggest problem in washington as the government is too big, too powerful and that is why so many people spend so much time trying to influence to benefit them and what is true for tax policy is also very true federal campaign finance laws, okay? the commissioners i serve at the embassy were all well many people that they were six people over a federal bureaucracy of almost 400 individuals and you do not want government bureaucrats making decisions on what kind of political activity should be encouraged or discouraged in the political arena. people should be free to act as they want to man to speak as they want to end i would say to you, compare the federal system with two states, virginia, utah that have no restrictions on contributions. they do require disclosure and governing magazine rates utah and virginia as having two of the best run governments in the united states. and you tell me whether you think virginia government or utah state government, are they someh

. >> in their book, "not invited to the party" attorney teresa ama t-o and james bennett argue that the two-party system is an artificial creation designed to exclude any party other than democratic or republic from winning. the cato institute in washington, d.c. hosts the 90-minute event. >> welcome to the cato institute. i'd like to offer a special welcome also for our viewers on c-span who will be joining us now and later. my name is john samples. i'm director of the center for representative government. here at the cato institute. our forum today concerns a new book "not invited to the party: how the demopublicas have rigged the system and left the others out in the cold." let me give you a framework and give you an idea about the event. we will hear from the speakers first for about an hour or so. and then that will be followed by criticize and answer period from the audience. around 1:30 or so we shall break for lunch when you will have an additional chance to talk with the authors and the speakers about the issues raised in today's forum. i'm admonished by our staff here that i s