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President Johnson?

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An unusual year, far from over.

This week, the Libertarian Party holds its presidential nominating convention in Orlando, Florida. Next November, after all the votes are counted, the party’s likely nominee, former two-term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, and his likely vice-presidential running mate, former two-term Massachusetts Governor William Weld, may finally be going to Disney World.

To celebrate . . . before moving into the White House.

Crazy? Sure. But this is the year for crazy.

Polls show Gov. Johnson garnering 10 percent support. With both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton drowning in their own negatives, plenty more votes are winnable to the right, left and everywhere in between Crooked Hillary and the Trumpster Fire.

Okay, sure, but . . . win the presidency?

One needs 270 electoral votes to be elected president and to win states to nab those electoral votes. In 1992, Ross Perot received 19 percent of the vote nationwide, without winning a single state.

But what if Johnson won his home state of New Mexico? In 2012, he got only 3.6 percent in the Land of Enchantment. If that grew ten-fold to 36 percent in a three-way race, he could prevail.

And, as explained at A Libertarian Future, if Trump carried enough swing states (say, Colorado, Florida, and Ohio) to keep Clinton from reaching 270 electors, the whole shebang . . . would be thrown into the House of Representatives.

Who trusts Congress to choose responsibly?

Yet, with the Libertarian ticket sporting this much horse-race relevance, more Americans might contemplate greater freedom and less Big Brother government.

Think liberty, America.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.


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Gary Johnson, Williamn Weld, libertarian, party, president, election

 

4 replies on “President Johnson?”

What would be REALLY cool would be if the Libertarian Party stopped nominating failed Republican has-beens and did something else instead. Like, maybe, nominating libertarians. Unlikely, perhaps, but we can hope.

My political beliefs certainly align more with a libertarian mind set. I do not like the choices of Mrs Clinton & Mr. Trump. However, the current chances of a Libertarian Presidential success story has more to do with a financial war chest than ideology. Yet, this election could set the stage for change in that direction; since as I look at the polls the negatives for both candidates are enormous. The electorate is angry.

I hope you are right, Paul. It would be truly freeing & exciting.

It would be exciting, but it remains doubtful. The GOP lost its first presidential race, but it resulted in the demise of the Whigs. Only with the Whigs out of the way could the GOP prevail nationally. I’d love to see what you suggest become a reality, but I hold little hope. Instead, we’re more likely to see a repeat of the 1912 election. The anti-Democrat vote was split between Taft and TR and the Democrats won. As long as we have a republic and not a parliamentary system, a third party cannot win. If Johnson got enough electoral votes to force the election into the House, I can’t see twenty-six states voting for the Libertarian candidate. The Libertarians would need to garner enough support to push one of the main parties off the national stage. Then maybe they would have a chance of winning in future elections.

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