Obviously Gary Johnson’s whole campaign is about promoting the Libertarian Party to a broader sector of society, and for whatever the reason he’s made a decision to target the liberal leftists on it. Yet with some policy evolutions, particularly on civil liberties and women’s reproductive rights, it’s possible that Romney could have shifted closer towards a political identity of moderate libertarianism, a position that Bill Weld occupies.
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Until this year always on the outside of the party, like a ’40s film Eve Arden character, Libertarians have in the past appeared to be on the sidelines, at best wags offering cutting assessments about the prom queen and king. “There’s an anti-third party campaign … which is, ‘If you do this, Trump’s gonna win, ‘ and there’s all this fear”.
I have voted for third party candidates before. “I don’t support Gary Johnson and I won’t vote for him, but people who want to vote for him should be able to”.
Johnson and Weld are former governors who share records of success and accomplishment.
Idaho-(4 electoral votes)-Idaho is suspicious of the federal government as well, and would find Johnson someone they could very well support. A handful of experienced conservatives are launching a new effort, Republicans for Johnson-Weld. Currently, the House leans heavily in favor of Republicans, but many of those Republicans are turned off by Trump.
Shapiro told me Garland “defers to the government more than anyone I’ve studied in depth”.
Why on earth would Libertarian candidates toss aside perhaps their most compelling argument of the election? Johnson voiced opposition to religious exemptions from government mandates, and even strangely tied Mormonism to religiously-motivated gun violence. Specifically, it hurts Johnson in states like Utah, where he’s been polling remarkably well.
He likes Johnson’s stance on tax reform that based on consumption. So he supports laws that force contrary views on social conservatives.
So at least, there is a long range possibility that on January 20, 2017, we could have our third President Johnson, after Andrew Johnson in 1865 and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963.
Of course, beggars can’t be choosers in this election.
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I just have trouble understanding why any ticket would be so resistant to a natural constituency that could potentially help them more than any other.
