# Liberty Movement > Liberty Campaigns >  Gary Johnson had a divorce.

## Baptist

According to wikipedia, he got divorced a few years ago.  I'm assuming that he isn't married right now.  Am I the only one who sees this as a problem.  Do you really think the American people will vote for a guy who is single because he divorced his sickly wife a few years back?

Ron Paul was as pure as it gets, and we had a hard enough time getting him elected/decent coverage.  Do you guys just think that this won't be an issue?

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## angelatc

> According to wikipedia, he got divorced a few years ago.  I'm assuming that he isn't married right now.  Am I the only one who sees this as a problem.  Do you really think the American people will vote for a guy who is single because he divorced his sickly wife a few years back?
> 
> Ron Paul was as pure as it gets, and we had a hard enough time getting him elected/decent coverage.  Do you guys just think that this won't be an issue?


It will be for me.

I've heard all the arguments there are, but my mind won't change on this. Morals matter to me.

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## MRoCkEd

I don't think he has enough of a chance for this even to be an issue. Gary Johnson is okay, but we can do better than that. Ron Paul 2012

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## itshappening

> According to wikipedia, he got divorced a few years ago.  I'm assuming that he isn't married right now.  Am I the only one who sees this as a problem.  Do you really think the American people will vote for a guy who is single because he divorced his sickly wife a few years back?
> 
> Ron Paul was as pure as it gets, and we had a hard enough time getting him elected/decent coverage.  Do you guys just think that this won't be an issue?


you answered your own question, RP married for 50 years and it didnt matter so it doesn't matter

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## Ethek

> you answered your own question, RP married for 50 years and it didnt matter so it doesn't matter


I divorced my wife who would go on streaks of personality disorder like behavior. It was an emotionally abusive situation, not the slightest chance for effective therapy.  Am I forever forbidden to aspire for political office? It won't stop me from trying to further the cause, thats for sure.

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## Elwar

Ronald Reagan divorced his first wife Jane Wyman.

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## Icymudpuppy

In a free market, individuals are permitted to make mistakes, and usually lose something for it for which they learn to not make the same mistake again, thus improving their station in the market.

So the guy made a mistake with his first wife.  Hopefully they both learned from the experience and are able to both find more suitable companionship.

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## acptulsa

> Ronald Reagan divorced his first wife Jane Wyman.


Exactly.  Do fundamentalists make moral exceptions for those who were plauged to live in Hollywood?  If not, it would be a non-issue.

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## specsaregood

How many Republican voters have had divorces?  I don't see it being a problem.
Of cource being single could be a problem if he plans on dating while in office.  Heck, there have been entire movies based on that plot.

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## ladyjade3

No one's saintly enough to be a politician, I guess.

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## brandon

Yea that's a big problem for me...I wouldn't say a deal breaker....but it's a big problem.

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## Dr.3D

Do we know why he divorced his wife?

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## specsaregood

> No one's saintly enough to be a politician, I guess.


When are you running again?

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## Brian Defferding

I honestly don't see how this matters.  Divorces happen.  Marriages don't work, as much as we like to or think they should.  We don't even know the story behind the divorce.  

Hell, this might mean he will have more time to campaign now.  I would love it if America had a divorced and single President (as long as she/he is a libertarian-Republican, of course  )

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## ClayTrainor

I don't care at all.  I still want the guy to run.

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## Pauliana

> When are you running again?


Ladyjade has been divorced too.  who would want to be put through all this scrutiny?  Not anyone who values their privacy, that's for sure, which is unfortunate for all you privacy advocates, that you'll never get a true champion.  By definition.

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## Dr.3D

> I honestly don't see how this matters.  Divorces happen.  Marriages don't work, as much as we like to or think they should.  We don't even know the story behind the divorce.  
> 
> Hell, this might mean he will have more time to campaign now.  I would love it if America had a divorced and single President (as long as she/he is a libertarian-Republican, of course  )


So true.

Some people believe divorce to be a sin.

This is not true if there is a valid reason for the divorce.

Marriage is a contract between a man and a woman with God as a witness.  If any of the terms of the contract are violated by either the man or the woman, then there are grounds for the contract to be terminated.

For example:
If either the man or the woman were to go out and have sex outside of the marriage, then they would have violated the "forsaking all others" clause.

Now suppose you were married and your spouse came home with V.D.   Would you believe they had not violated the terms of the contract?   Suppose they came home with incurable V.D. would you still believe you were supposed to stay married to them?

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## specsaregood

> Ladyjade has been divorced too.  who would want to be put through all this scrutiny?  Not anyone who values their privacy, that's for sure, which is unfortunate for all you privacy advocates, that you'll never get a true champion.  By definition.


Well just before her post that I quoted, I said, _"I don't see it being a problem."_  So, you can leave me out of the "you".  
And LJ has run for office before, so obviously she knows what type of scrutiny there would be.

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## 0zzy

Gee wizz lots of "morals value" voters here ha. 

He had a divorce, he is not good enough for me! I KNOW ALL AND I KNOW THAT HE SHOULD OF STAYED WITH HIS WIFE AT ALL COST! AHAHHHAHAHA -moral value voter

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## Flash

I wonder about some of you people sometimes.

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## amy31416

Was it a Gingrich/McCain/Edwards (soon to be?) type divorce?

If so, it does call his character into question, if not--don't care.

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## klamath

> Was it a Gingrich/McCain/Edwards (soon to be?) type divorce?
> 
> If so, it does call his character into question, if not--don't care.


From what I read he was seeing another woman while still married to  his wife that stood side by side helping him build his business. It was a little more than two people just growing apart.  She died not long after he left her.

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## Njon

> In a free market, individuals are permitted to make mistakes, and usually lose something for it for which they learn to not make the same mistake again, thus improving their station in the market.


Marriage is not economics; it's a covenantal commitment. Yes, people do make mistakes. People have moral flaws. But this suggests a large flaw in the man's character, especially given the circumstances of the divorce.




> So the guy made a mistake with his first wife.  Hopefully they both learned from the experience and are able to both find more suitable companionship.


His (former) wife is now dead.

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## Njon

> Was it a Gingrich/McCain/Edwards (soon to be?) type divorce?
> 
> If so, it does call his character into question, if not--don't care.


See the links at http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showpos...09&postcount=3 for an explanation of why there was a divorce.

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## MelissaWV

He's divorced?  Oh noes!

I wish I were divorced... damned stuff takes forever, and it's expensive.  

I really don't care if the guy likes putting on ladies' underwear and eating fresh fried kitten for supper, so long as he can steer the country in the right direction.  *I'm* not married to the guy, so *I* don't care about the details of it.

Some people live in some pretty brittle glass houses around here.

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## SimpleName

I really don't care about Johnson's private life, but I always question people involved in divorce. When things go wrong in a marriage, no matter the situation, aren't the couple supposed to go to any length to resolve the issues? I wonder if they did. And if such an issue was to strangle the relationship, why did they get married in the first place? I think too many people get married for the hell of it. "Well, we love each other. So lets get married." But that is just my opinion. Maybe marriage means something completely different to Johnson. No matter the case, I'd still vote for the guy and support him for any office (unless there were a better choice...Ron Paul for instance). People make mistakes. If we didn't forgive them, then everybody would be constantly mad at each other and we'd never make any progress. How about we forgive Johnson's marriage issues and move on? Things happen.

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## Baptist

> He's divorced?  Oh noes!
> 
> I wish I were divorced... damned stuff takes forever, and it's expensive.  
> 
> I really don't care if the guy likes putting on ladies' underwear and eating fresh fried kitten for supper, so long as he can steer the country in the right direction.  *I'm* not married to the guy, so *I* don't care about the details of it.
> 
> Some people live in some pretty brittle glass houses around here.


I should have been more clear in my OP I guess.  I wasn't throwing stones at him, simply asking a question.  I just saw that he was recently divorced and is single on Wikipedia and was wondering if I was the only one who thought this would be a problem. 

I'm not asking if people here have a problem with it, but do you think it would be a problem.  Regardless of what the liberty movement and RPF thinks, I find it hard to believe that most Americans would have no problem with a recently divorced single dude as president.

But, as a previous post pointed out, I guess being divorced in and of itself dos not present a problem.  I was just thinking back to Bush/Clinton/Bush but the previous poster pointed out that Reagan was divorced.

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## Elwar

Wasn't Giuliani divorced a few times and married to his second cousin? And yet the neo-cons still backed him as the leading candidate for most of the early campaign (until he tried the stupid strategy of focussing on Florida and skipping the first 3 states). 

The fact remains that he vetoed 750 bills as governor. He's got the steel to say No to the big government drones.

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## angelatc

> Ladyjade has been divorced too.  who would want to be put through all this scrutiny?  Not anyone who values their privacy, that's for sure, which is unfortunate for all you privacy advocates, that you'll never get a true champion.  By definition.


Ron Paul.

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## brandon

If a man can't keep the vows he made to his wife why should we expect that he could keep his oath of office?

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## angelatc

> Ronald Reagan divorced his first wife Jane Wyman.


While he was still a registered Democrat.

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## angelatc

> If a man can't keep the vows he made to his wife why should we expect that he could keep his oath of office?


We're not going to raise their standards. But they're certainly not going to lower mine either.

Easy divorce has had a horrific economic toll on this country. Pretending that it doesn't really matter is simply a lie.

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## Danke

> If a man can't keep the vows he made to his wife why should we expect that he could keep his oath of office?


Shorter term?  

(another good reason for term limits).

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## TonySutton

> If a man can't keep the vows he made to his wife why should we expect that he could keep his oath of office?


8 years of keeping his oath while serving as the Governor of New Mexico.  The divorce was a contract issue between Gary Johnson and his former wife.  I believe it has been resolved in court.

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## klamath

> 8 years of keeping his oath while serving as the Governor of New Mexico.  The divorce was a contract issue between Gary Johnson and his former wife.  I believe it has been resolved in court.


A contract he broke before being resolved in court. So should Americans be able to break contracts if they don't like it anymore and might in the future chose to get the contract disolved in court?

Johnson's reason for cheating on his wife was she wasn't running around doing sporting events with him anymore.  I guess if you are dying you just don't feel like climbing  Mt Everest.

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## Elwar

> Johnson's reason for cheating on his wife was she wasn't running around doing sporting events with him anymore.  I guess if you are dying you just don't feel like climbing  Mt Everest.


That's quite the leap. Any source on that reason and her being sick when they were separated?

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## Charles Lupton

First as you know I'm a supporter of his. Second while he was divorced he is currently engaged to a woman he met in 2008. Third it had NOTHING to do with health concerns, they just had different lives. He was adventuring and she wanted to stay home and work on her charity work which she was very active in. At the time she didn't have any health concerns, her death was sudden and unexpected. They had been married for 28 yrs. at the time of the divorce. He still cared greatly for her, but they had grown apart. People claim he cheated on her based on her statement, "My heart is broken with what Gary's done to me but I'm a survivor and I'll make it through this." She was talking about the divorce as I guess it was unexpected to her. Please, don't make unfounded accusations without proof. If you have any valid proof he cheated on her, I'll take that back.

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## Brian4Liberty

Why bump an almost two year old thread?

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## AndrewD

> If a man can't keep the vows he made to his wife why should we expect that he could keep his oath of office?


I'll side with brandon on this one. Marriage is a commitment. It's not always about love. Sometimes you feel like you don't even love your wife/husband anymore, but that doesn't matter. It's the commitment that matters. 

That's not to say there is no valid reason for divorce. If my wife cheated on me, that would be a clear violation of the commitment. Thus I would have the option to either forgive her and move on, or terminate. 

Gingrich is a bad, very bad person.

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## Charles Lupton

I bumped it because I am researching his past.

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## MelissaWV

Yeah, being able to get out of a contract whose most basic terms have changed over the years... that's bad.

Let's just forget the decidedly misogynist leaning that those contracts had for many years.  Divorce was a scandal.

Let's just forget the decidedly misandrist leaning that those contracts are taking on.

Tony Sutton has the right of it on this one for sure; the man's personal life should be between him and the people involved.  They seem to have settled matters to their satisfaction.  His voting record and his proposals should be the focus.  If you're going to be from the camp that divorce makes you damaged goods and an oathbreaker (and how modern for it to apply to the man), then you're going to have a very rough time with candidates.  While Ron Paul's marriage is a stellar example of two people who've made it work, it does not mean that someone whose marriage failed for one reason or another has a major character flaw.

Unless one of you is the former Mrs. Gary Johnson, I doubt you have all the facts, or even close to it.

* * *

And yay for zombie threads

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## speciallyblend

> It will be for me.
> 
> I've heard all the arguments there are, but my mind won't change on this. Morals matter to me.


so if someone geta a divorce they are un moral. sounds like the insane christian right to me!!

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## MelissaWV

Oh, and yeah, I'm immoral, but everyone knows that.

I did leave my husband.

I never voted to start a war, I never helped prop up the Federal Reserve, I never shirked my duty to make another human being's life as pleasant as I could when given the chance.  I help the poor voluntarily, in addition to paying taxes that go to kill and feed the poor by turns, and I donate whatever I'm not using so it may be put to better use in another's hands.  I take care of my parents, and my grandmother, and my sister, and my niece and nephew, and I've been known to stop and help a turtle across the road so it doesn't get run over.  I love church, though I confess I mostly go when no one is there, just to sit in the cool dark building, read the prayer books, and wander around the place.  I didn't even have it in me to get someone arrested for stabbing me in the arm because, on the balance, I got away and there was no point going back to vindictively put them in prison.

But I did leave my husband.

So I am immoral.

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## Charles Lupton

> ... and I've been known to stop and help a turtle across the road so it doesn't get run over.


 Funny you say that. I did EXACTLY that (he had been hit alreadly and had a minor crack, but was up and moving) just two days ago(and not the first time). I also stopped to help put out a fire(small grass fire starting to get out of control and stayed for about 15 min till fire fighters showed up) and take a picture of a nice sunset. It meant my 2 hr dive home was 2 1/2 hrs. but to me it was worth it. Personally, I've been married just over 7 yrs and never regretted a day of it.



> I didn't even have it in me to get someone arrested for stabbing me in the arm because


 I've had a similar situation with my wife when she was hit by a drunk driver, we refused to sue her or her insurance (no pain and suffering only got the value of the totaled car). Bruises fade and scars heal. Sometimes you have to look at the situation and realize someone made a bad mistake which they may pay for(the other driver did get a DUI and we didn't want to make her problems worse), but I never considered it my right to judge anyone. That is why I said unless someone has facts and not opinion I'll reserve my personal judgement, but even then I'm unlikely to share it.

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## Nathan Hale

Divorce is not a third rail character trait in the 21st century.  And he didn't leave his sickly wife in the lurch, they agreed to split long before it became apparent that she had serious health problems.

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