Why didn't we get behind Gary Johnson?

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Nov 27, 2012
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I remember lurking the opposing candidates forum during the general election and it was basically people constantly shitting on Gary Johnson. To not support Gary, someone who agrees with you on 99% of the issues, because of minor imperfection is pretty ridiculous but the fact that people were actually hostile towards someone who should be considered a hero is just disgusting. Not once did I actually see someone post any of his policies and I read nearly every GJ thread.

He supports

- Cut 1.4 trillion year one and balance the budget immediately
- Repeal the PATRIOT ACT, NDAA, Domestic drones
- Extremely pro 2nd-amendment
- Due process for both US citizens and foreigners
- Leave Afghanistan and Iraq immediately, end many military bases, don't go to war with Iran or Syria

That alone should be enough to earn our support and that's just the tip of the iceburg.

- Abolish the department of education, transporation and commerce, maybe another one I'm not sure
- Legalize marijuana and decriminalize other drugs
- Audit the federal reserve
- Opposed to going into Libya
- Opposed to the drone strikes
- Opposed to all bailouts, corporate welfare, cap and trade, card check
- Eliminate government support of Fannie and Freddie
-

And most importantly he has honest convictions. When the patriot act happened he wasn't speaking out in support of it, when Iraq was happening he was speaking out against it, same with drug policy, bailouts, having free market education and health care, 2nd amendmant etc

Is he as good as Ron Paul? No. Is he perfect? No. But if you refuse to vote for and act hostile towards anyone who isn't a 100% perfect libertarian then the movement will go nowhere.

The reasons I saw for why people weren't voting for Johnson were usually

- He built a few private prisons as governor. Yes this sucks, but was it him being in bed with the private prisons or an honest mistake? Obviously the latter, the private prisons are scared to death of his drug policy.
- He supports legitimate humanitarian warfare (not like Libya or Syria) through the congress with a declaration. I don't agree with it but it's a minor issue and still constitutional.
- He only wants to legalize weed and decriminalize other drugs. I agree all drugs should be legal, but shouldn't this be viewed as a huge step forward and a reason to support someone?
- He wanted a federal legalization of weed. Shouldn't this be viewed as a gigantic step forward instead of a reason to oppose him?
- He believes taxation isn't theft. Good luck getting anywhere if you refuse to vote for anyone who believes this.
- He's pro choice. Good job letting one of the biggest issues the establishment uses to create the illusion between republicans and democrats determine your vote, especially when it will never become legal due to it being highly profitable and the public becoming more and more in favor of it.

It's sad because the movement had huge momentum coming off the Ron Paul campaign, and what do they choose to do? Support the marketable 2-term governor who agrees with them on 99% of the issues? No, clutch at straws that Ron Paul will somehow still win the republican nomination despite not winning a contest, even after Ron openly said they didn't have enough and Rand went on endorsed Romney. Whatever, you would think after Romney officially wins the nomination the movement would start backing Gary Johnson? No, then it becomes all about how you can write in Ron Paul for president, someone who isn't running and is remaining intentionally silent for the entire general election, despite the fact that write ins won't count in many states and we won't know how many write ins he got until long after the election was over.

And worst of all is that Ron Paul absolutely would have endorsed Gary this election if it weren't for Rand 2016. He endorsed 3 left wing lunatics because they agreed with him on Iraq, Afghanistan, Drug war and the federal reserve. Then he went onto endorse Baldwin who I'm sure wasn't perfect either.

So yeah, this is the Achilles heel of the liberty movement and it's sad that all the momentum from the 2012 campaign was wasted due to people in the movement being perfectionists.
 
No chance in hell of winning?


Gary Johnson Pulls One Million Votes, One Percent

Reason.com
Nov. 7, 2012

isn't that the same kind of self fulfilling prophecy they used against Ron that we hated? Didn't it irritate you when people said they liked Ron Paul but weren't voting for him because he's unelectable? Obviously if we act hostile towards GJ, ignore him and don't vote for him he has no chance of winning.

It wasn't even about winning though, just about making a strong showing in the general election and keeping the momentum up. Unfortunately people either gave up, focused on getting Ron Paul the nomination after he admitted he didn't have enough delegates to win and then trying to write him in for no apparent reason. Or they focused on getting 1-2 liberty people into the congress, somehow Art Robinson who obviously had no chance of winning got his own forum but GJ didn't. At the very least he should have gotten our votes if not our support and money.
 
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isn't that the same kind of self fulfilling prophecy they used against Ron that we hated?

Ron Paul supports common sense. Libertarians don't win elections. Republicans and Democrats do.

Ron Paul ran as a Republican.


Listen to this excellent advice.



Ron Paul: "[Larry McDonald] was the most principled man in Congress."
- The Philadelphia Inquirer


Ron Paul on Congressman Larry McDonald, the President of the John Birch Society.


Ron Paul went to Congressman Larry McDonald, a Democrat, for advice on running for Congress. McDonald said, "Run in the party you think you can WIN because political parties are irrelevant." This made Ron Paul become a Republican.​


Ron Paul explains:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQQ--ju7Vxk
 
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Because Johnson was not a true liberty candidate. The Liberty party is going to become even more irrelevant than they already are if they keep nominating people like Bob Barr and Gary Johnson for the presidency.
 
Because Johnson was not a true liberty candidate. The Liberty party is going to become even more irrelevant than they already are if they keep nominating people like Bob Barr and Gary Johnson for the presidency.

And why isn't he a true liberty candidate, because he isn't as perfect as Ron Paul? Doesn't going around the country speaking out about fiscal conservatism and the need to balance the budget, civil liberties, the benefits of free market health care and education, non-interventionist foreign policy, ending the war on drugs, stopping forms of corporatism like bailouts and corporate welfare and the 2nd amendment make him a liberty candidate?

You can't even compare Johnson to Barr, they are completely different in policy.
 
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Gary Johnson was too liberal on issues like secularism, abortion and gay marriage for a lot of conservatives that supported Ron Paul.
Also, as he was a Libertarian, he had no chance of winning.

As a result, a lot of people wrote in Ron Paul, didn't vote at all, voted for Goode, some even voted for Romney.

But really, why does it matter? The election was 4 months ago. We need to look at the future rather than dwelling over the past.
 
Because Johnson was not a true liberty candidate. The Liberty party is going to become even more irrelevant than they already are if they keep nominating people like Bob Barr and Gary Johnson for the presidency.


I wrote in Ron Paul, but not because I really had a problem with GJ. I would argue that GJ is at least as much a liberty candidate as Rand is, whom I also support. Not beause they are as pure or as principled as Ron, but because they are a very large step in the right direction.
 
I wrote in Paul, because Johnson favors abortion. Johnson will never have my vote. How can anyone oppose these wars, but turn around and favor abortion?

There are some areas where there is a must for me. My guy or gal has to be pro-life, a constitutionalist, and favor liberty.
 
Why? Because I don't want to encourage the LP by giving them Presidential votes. As far as Liberty is concerned, the battle was over after the primary concluded.
 
I'm confused by the OP. It looks like it was written by someone who did support Johnson. But if so, then why say "we" didn't? Whoever wanted to did.
 
Because Johnson was not a true liberty candidate. The Liberty party is going to become even more irrelevant than they already are if they keep nominating people like Bob Barr and Gary Johnson for the presidency.

Wow. Lumping Gary Johnson and Bob Barr into the same group? Really?
 
In the spirit of liberty, people should always vote your conscience... if you feel the best candidate was GJ, by all means...vote GJ. I personally thought Ron Paul was the best candidate and I wrote him in.

All of this is meaningless without a large number of people voting for who they think is the best, not who a party tells them is the best. Obama + Romney got 98% of the vote. What we needed, wasnt 1 candidate to get 10-15% of the vote, but for any non-republican/democrat vote to equal that 10-15%. That would have sent shockwaves through both parties. They couldnt give a rats ass about 2% of the vote going elsewhere, thats a margin of error. So whether you voted GJ or Paul or Stewart Alexander, from the Socialist Party...really made no difference as long as you voted.
 
I voted libertarian and I will do it again (Cause I am a libertarian just like Ron Paul) if the Reps nominate another status quo candidate. The Reps had better learn from this last election and get on our side or they will never win another election.
 
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