I have been a strong supporter of Gary Johnson and his candidacy for a period of time now. He seems to me to be the best and most effective alternatives to either a Trump or Clinton presidency. So when Gary Johnson asked the simple question: "What is Aleppo?" during an MSNBC interview, I was frustrated, but not surprised, and definitely not completely fed up with the idea of a President Johnson.

The issue highlights one of my dissatisfactions with the Libertarian Party and its agenda. While many have called Donald Trump’s anti-free trade and anti-illegal immigration policies nativist, the Libertarian Party has long made calls for a more isolated state. Gary Johnson’s Aleppo blunder perfectly underscores the problem with isolationism. We live in an increasingly intertwined and interconnected world. What happens a world away is most of the time not only relevant, but vital to the United States and the country’s direction in the world. Not knowing a basic geographic fact, like the location of Aleppo, or the pivotal role it has played in the Syrian refugee crisis, constitutes a lack of confidence in the highest order. Gary Johnson should have known what Aleppo was and should have had a quick and decisive response to how he would handle the situation there.

That being said, Gary Johnson is not completely ignorant, as some news outlets have made him out to be. He has long stated that he plans to build a bigger and stronger coalition on the ground in Syria, incorporating the Russians in a diplomatic solution. He has also stated that he will surround himself with excellent policy advisers to fill in any gaps in his knowledge on the still continuing civil war. This doesn’t differ too much from Trump’s proposals (that he will surround himself with the best policy people) or Clinton’s (that she will end American involvement in the war). However, Johnson does differ and surpass the major party candidates in a number of other ways.

For example, Johnson has called to cut taxes and spending, to uphold and protect the 2^nd Amendment, and to look into and ultimately normalize marijuana for recreational use among a number of other policy suggestions. He also, unlike the major party candidates, has not been criminally investigated for treasonous wrongdoing and has not engaged in borderline racist or sexist rhetoric. He’s the only candidate to have had actual executive experience, working from the ground up in his home state of New Mexico, yet has had enough experience in the outside of world of business to recognize both sides of any given issue.

Was the Aleppo blunder an issue? Yes. Should it automatically disqualify Gary Johnson for running for president? No. If that were the case, then Trump and Clinton should also step aside. Gaffes are a part of politics and in a year with the extraordinary has become ordinary, a third-party candidate mistaking a key aspect of foreign policy should not be headline news but a notable reminder that no one is perfect.