Both candidates are socially liberal and are wary of our military entanglements overseas. Even if they didn’t like the fact I wasn’t one of them, they understood, and, I think, even appreciated the candor.
Advertisement
“My concern would be if people saw us go in on Johnson as a network, that would cause some concerns for people who maybe wanted us to go in on Trump”, he said. “It’s given us just a clearer focus as a party, and doing so, of course, that helps other people recognize us as something that’s legitimate and serious and a group that will have a real impact on the elections in November”. Johnson comes across as a decent, honest, and acceptably competent individual.
So let’s stop with this ridiculous notion that all Johnson does is take votes away from Trump.
Leaders of the Minnesota Libertarian Party, like their counterparts in other states, are canvassing voters to gather signatures to ensure Johnson’s name will appear on the ballot in Minnesota – and to plant the seed that he is a viable alternative. What drives me nuts, however, is that he doesn’t seem to actually want my vote, or the votes of other disaffected Republicans who could potentially give him his biggest electoral boost.
The sell-job really shouldn’t be all that hard.
Johnson and running mate Bill Weld are both former two-term Republican governors, Johnson from New Mexico and Weld from MA.
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson will make his first visit to Reno on Friday as the third party hopeful tries to drum up support in the Silver State.
What makes the Romney development so interesting is not necessarily what an endorsement can do, but what a Romney addition to the libertarian ticket may have done.
Shapiro also is concerned that Johnson supports government actions that infringe on religious liberty: Johnson is “OK with fining a wedding photographer for not working a gay wedding – a case from New Mexico where Cato and every libertarian I know supported the photographer – and forcing the Little Sisters of the Poor to pay for contraceptives (where again Cato and libertarians supported religious liberty)”. The Libertarian does not align perfectly with the GOP candidate, but he has more in common with Trump than with Clinton. Hillary Clinton, as president, would undoubtedly try to tilt the court further left. But on trade, Trump is closer to socialist Bernie Sanders; he’s a supporter of prohibitive tariffs and trade wars. In October, two more presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate will also take place.
You’d think that this situation would have Libertarian candidates salivating. At the time, he praised Weld – a Republican governor of MA before Romney’s tenure – but said he was turned off by Johnson’s enthusiasm for marijuana legalization. The Libertarian election was open to Independent voters, as well. Johnson’s campaign website says he “believes in the sanctity of the unborn” but recognizes that legal abortion is the law of the land. Johnson voiced opposition to religious exemptions from government mandates, and even strangely tied Mormonism to religiously-motivated gun violence.
Weld served as MA governor before Mitt Romney, who has publicly expressed his admiration of Weld and flirted with the idea of endorsing the Libertarian ticket.
“Having served as Governor of a border state, Gary Johnson understands immigration”. In the past, we have seen a few third-party candidates gain momentum in the presidential election, and Johnson feels he is verging into this territory.
Advertisement
Johnson advocates an agenda that stands on the principle of limited government in both economic and social life.
