Last week, I wrote an article urging readers to explore candidates outside of the Republican and Democratic Parties. I wrote that there is no reason for a voter to be uninformed when it comes to the presidential election or any of the candidates whose names will appear on the ballot later this year. That being said, I know better than to assume that many of us will go out of our way to research other candidates that aren't spoken about on major television or radio networks. Therefore, I'm going to start introducing alternative candidates in the coming weeks. I'll begin with the candidates from the largest third party in the country today, the Libertarian Party.
There are three candidates who have a legitimate shot at landing the Libertarian ticket: John McAfee, Austin Petersen, and Gary Johnson. Most people don't know who any of these guys are, but the most recognizable name on the list, by far, is Gary Johnson. Johnson is the 63-year-old former governor of New Mexico. He served in that capacity from 1995-2003, and during his time in office, as he proudly announces at every opportunity, he "vetoed more legislation than any other governor." However, that fact is only kind of correct. When looking at the total number of bills, this statistic isn't true, but when looking at the rate at which bills were vetoed by Johnson, then it is very likely that this is the case.
It is clear that Governor Johnson is a small government guy. He has experienced success while in office. He cut the size of the New Mexico state government, and left office with a $1 billion budget surplus. Although he was successful in creating a more prosperous New Mexico, questions have been raised about exactly how Libertarian Governor Johnson really is. When he was governor, he was a member of the Republican Party. More recently, during the Libertarian national debate hosted by John Stossel, Johnson said that it would be okay to force businesses to bake gay or Nazi wedding cakes against their will (a very non-Libertarian view). Adding to the confusion, he was a bit unclear on his stance on gun control. He stated that the mentally ill should be kept from owning firearms, but then was unable to provide any way to determine who is or isn't mentally ill.
Love him or hate him, Johnson is definitely not a pure Libertarian. He is, however, the most popular and has the most name recognition. He ran for president in 2012 (only garnering 1 percent of the vote) and has experience as a political executive at the state level. Maybe most importantly, Gary Johnson seems to be very open and honest, and what you see is what you get with Governor Johnson. He's a 63-year-old, pot smoking, gun toting, mountain climbing, small government guy who has delivered on as many of his political promises as possible. Despite some non-Libertarian views, Gary Johnson is surely the most significant third-party candidate so far.
