On Oct. 3, millions of people watched the first of three debates between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney. However, what people saw and will see in these debates bears no resemblance to what most people think of when they consider the word “debate.” A true debate, where participants battle each other in an unrehearsed but structured argument over key issues, will be replaced by what amounts to nothing more than an elaborate press conference.

Since 1988, the presidential debates have been organized and produced by an organization known as the Commission on Presidential Debates, a group with a name that sounds like a government institution, which hides the fact that it is made up of private companies like Anheuser-Busch and Philip Morris.

Through the privately run “Commission,” the Democratic and Republican parties set rules in a secret contract with the CPD that among other things detail the political requirements of the “in studio” audience members, the topics of questions and, most importantly, which candidates are allowed to actually attend.

Eighteen pro-democracy groups recently joined together to try to force the Obama and Romney campaigns to make public the secret debate contract that was negotiated with the CPD. This would not be the first time the legality of the debates has been challenged in court. It will not come as a surprise that these attempts may not result in any significant change to the debates because the capitalist legal system is maintained by representatives of both mainstream parties.

Most recently, in an unprecedented turn of events, three corporations withdrew their sponsorship for the 2012 presidential debates, citing the undemocratic and fully partisan nature of the CPD.

Tech giant Philips North America, one of the withdrawing sponsors, released a statement stating in part: “We respect all points of view and, as a result, want to ensure that Philips doesn’t provide even the slightest appearance of supporting partisan politics.”

Of course, these corporations are not the stalwarts of “democracy” they claim to be, but such surprisingly candid statements should cause us to pause and think about what we will actually see going on in these debates.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is circulating a petition calling for all third-party candidates on the ballot to be allowed into the debate.

It explains:

“There are many things wrong with the U.S. political system, from the enormous sums of money required to campaign, to ballot access laws that make it extremely difficult to run for office. The problem of debate access has a quick and immediate fix: the Federal Election Commission and the Commission on Presidential Debates must change their rules!”