Why I’m Voting for Gary Johnson

Note:  For the first time in a decade, I have registered to vote without political party preference.  I'd been meaning to do it for a while...but now that Ron Paul is no longer around for me to vote for among Republicans, I feel like I'm better represented as one of those coveted "independent swing voters," rather than labeling myself as a Republican.  Of course, since I'm voting 3rd party, as you will see below, maybe my vote isn't so coveted.  Anyways, commence political ranting!

Election season is upon us.  Surprisingly, you have heard very little from me on the topic since the primaries ended.  Mostly, this is due to Ron Paul fading into the background.  He was (and still is) my guy (although his son endorsing Romney rubbed me the wrong play).  But, since he is not around for the general election, and I have yet to miss an election, I need to vote for someone.  I could always write in Ron Paul…but I found someone who is actually on the ballot who is worthy of my vote.

That person is definitely NOT Barack Obama.  The numbers speak for themselves.  The national debt just eclipsed 16 trillion dollars.  President Obama keeps a list of "nominees" for murder and holds meetings on Tuesdays to pick the winners.  President Obama has enlarged the U.S. military three years in a row, deployed it to more nations, engaged it in more secret wars, and invented a new form of warfare using drones (Syria, Libya, etc.).  These are on top of a war in Afghanistan that Obama tripled in size and intends to continue for two‐and‐a‐half more years before continuing at an unspecified smaller scale for 10 more years.

President Obama has publicly instructed the Attorney General of the United States not to prosecute any members of the Central Intelligence Agency for torture.  President Obama, together with Congress, has "legalized" imprisonment without trial for Americans or non‐Americans.  Oh, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few has advanced faster under Obama than under Bush.  So much for being the party fighting for the poor and middle class, eh?  Not to mention the atrocity that is Obamacare, as well as his party’s support for SOPA and similar acts aiming to restrict the free speech and the internet.

I mean, Jesus Christ, the DNC introduced the following slogan this week:  "Government is the only thing that we all belong to."  If that’s not terrifyingly Orwellian…my god.

Barack Obama has been the worst President the United States has ever had.  And it’s not particularly close.

However, before you think I’m just blindly voting along a certain party line, I will NOT be voting for Mitt Romney either.  Mitt Romney supports the PATRIOT Act, which gives the government unprecedented powers to infringe on our liberty and ignore personal privacy laws, with very little oversight.  Romney is against most social freedoms, actually…being very much against gay marriage and abortion.  I’m not a huge fan of either issue as a campaign issue, or as being an issue for the federal government in the slightest (leave that shit to the states)…but in the end, I’m for freedom…and this is as anti-freedom as it gets.  Romney is for war in Iran…despite the fact that they have literally no way of affecting us here at home.  More wars, exactly what we need!

Basically, I don’t see much of a difference between Obama and Romney…not where it matters.  Both are for endless war, feeding the military industrial complex, protecting bankers who got us into this financial mess, and infringing on our liberty and freedoms.  Both are in favor of the Federal Reserve, and the practice of just printing money out of thin air to pay for whatever gross expenditures they come up with.  Neither seems particularly interested in respecting habeas corpus, both being in favor of detaining both Americans and non-Americans without trial whenever they want.  Why would I vote for Romney just to get Obama out of office?  Is he the lesser of two evils?  Yes.  But only barely.  And why should we settle for that?

It’s disgusting how this country allows no room for any other viewpoints in elections.  You have to either be a Republican or a Democrat.  And labeling yourself as such means you believe this, or you believe that.  Of course, the media fails to point out that this and that are 90% the same…and the 10% that isn’t the same doesn’t matter in the slightest (gay marriage, abortion, gun rights, etc).  If we really want change in this country…real, actual change…we need to stand up and reject the two party system.

So, I will do just that.  I’m voting for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson.

Gary Johnson was a very successful governor of New Mexico.  He has been an outspoken advocate for efficient government, lower taxes, winning the war on drug abuse, protection of civil liberties, revitalization of the economy and promoting entrepreneurship and privatization.  As Governor of New Mexico, Johnson was known for his common-sense business approach to governing.  He eliminated New Mexico's budget deficit, cut the rate of growth in state government in half and privatized half of the state prisons.

Johnson promises to submit a balanced budget to Congress his very first year in office…rather than the “oh, we’ll balance the budget by 2025” crap we get from the big two candidates.  He will do so, in large part, by cutting military spending by 43%.  This will still provide us with the largest military budget in the world, and give us more than enough resources to more than adequately defend our borders.  He’d bring home all our troops from our ridiculous foreign wars, and from all our ridiculous number of bases around the world…bases left over from an ancient era of world war and the cold war. 

Johnson wishes to repeal the PATRIOT Act, respect habeas corpus, and open up airport security to the free market…basically, he wants to end the government’s assault on our privacy and defend our personal freedoms.  Along those lines, he wishes to get the government out of legislating personal morality and beliefs.  Get the government out of abortion decisions, out of stem cell research (let that be done by private labs, without federal funding), allow for marriage equality, etc.  He wishes to end our costly and senseless war on drugs.  He’d end federal prohibition of marijuana and let states decide on their policy towards it.  This alone would cut nearly one million arrests, relieve overcrowded prisons, and dramatically improve things along the US-Mexico border…all caused by the prohibition of a very natural herb that is less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco.

Gary Johnson has a history of standing up for our personal freedoms, taking a sensible approach towards drugs, fighting for a very limited central government, believing in the free market, and keeping our taxes low.  He has done all this as governor, and would do the same a President.  He’s not beholden to any major political party, any special interests, any bankers or Wall Street types…he just simply wants to get our country back on the right track.

Every time people listen to Gary Johnson speak, they believe in him and like what he has to say.  He was polling in the single digits in his first campaign for governor before he ran any TV ads.  Upon running the ads, and getting people to learn more about him, he immediately became the front runner.  Maybe this is why both the Republicans and Democrats are so terrified of Mr. Johnson and do not want him in the debates, and are working to keep him off the ballot. 

I encourage you to break free from the red vs. blue that the media and those in power are imposing on this country.  Make decisions for yourself.  Give Gary Johnson a chance.  If you read what he wants to do, and still believe that Obama or Romney are a better choice for this country, then by all means cast your vote.  But don’t sit there believing that these two men are the only choices we have.   The two political parties only have this sort of power over us because we let them.  Reject the premise of red vs. blue and find your own candidate.  One who stands up for what you truly care about…not just the one you are “supposed to vote for.”

I’ve found my candidate, and it’s Gary Johnson.  Take a look, maybe you’ll find your candidate lies outside the mainstream as well.