WASHINGTON -- It was another hot, humid day earlier this summer, and Gary Johnson was in town again. This time he didn't offer to come to HuffPost's offices. We would meet at Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle.
"Isn't that kind of a date place?" asked a colleague. "It's like, 'Look how well read I am!'"
But if we'd hoped to find America's Libertarian presidential nominee fingering a copy of Friedrich Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom," we were gravely disappointed. He arrived about a half beer after my editor and I did, and was interested in neither the books nor the bar.
People have talked about Johnson as an election spoiler, theorizing endlessly about from which camp he'll draw most heavily and in which states. That's a conversation he hopes they keep on having. It's good publicity after all, and though he served two terms as the Republican governor of New Mexico, he has no qualms about taking votes away from the GOP. "I long to be a spoiler in this race," he said.
Those sentiments were only reaffirmed by watching last week's Republican National Convention, according to Joe Hunter, Johnson's press secretary who was on the ground at the convention in Tampa, Fla.
"He was not hearing what needs to be said from the Republican standpoint on balancing the budget," Hunter said.
What Republicans characterized as bold still isn't bold enough for Johnson, who advocates balancing the budget by cutting $1.4 trillion in spending in 2013. Plus, there's his distaste for the party platform on social issues.
"I was going to go to my grave labeled a Republican," Johnson said that summer day. "I feel so much better. I really do."
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Seriously, no joke, I felt that awesome!
And who has benefited from these policies? The Military Industrial Complex, just as Ike, one our greatest leaders forewarned as the Cold War was in its infancy. In case you are like these other neo-cons and forgot, Ike was a Republican.
Get out of that media induced Red State- Blue State trance. Gary Johnson is for liberty. Liberty has no color, it's clear!
When we teachers asked to see the minutes of the school board meeting where our benefits were cut, the new school principal told us that there was no school board, only state employees who set school policy. We could not know their names, see minutes, or know where and when they met.
Johnson's Republican administration did everything it could to undercut a subsequent teacher unionization drive. The day before the secret ballot election to certify NEA as our representative, management had me escorted off the facility, despite a perfect evaluation that year. Two letters said that the school would be better off with my absence, and that I would be paid for the months remaining on my contract, as long as I did not show up on the property.
According to later court records, every juvenile correctional officer was ordered and refused to do Johnson and Wilson's dirty work, escorting me off the facility like a criminal. They knew it was retaliation meant to scare other teachers just before the certification election. (The teachers voted near unanimously for a union, anyway.)
I am disappointed by the articles written about this guy. Certainly, Huffington Post can find more worthy subjects to support or promote.
I cannot support the GOP movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions... and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power. That uses any tactic to win elections whether it's lies or purging votes is totally against our democratic principles ...our founders would be appalled.
Why being an actual adult rather than a GOB baby is a breath of fresh air!
I've been a member of a 3rd party before, Peace & Freedom, but that had just a few things in common with (for instance) Libertarians and about ten times as much that was a strict departure in philosophy.
So, the key would be to find a hot-button issue on which there is agreement, and becomes a platform of the party.
Libertarian Constitution Party, RRR RacistRednkRepublicans,(just kidding) but you get the idea. You go to the PTA's and include the women and discuss the issues and "hello LISTEN to them on it. Another thing is the strongest, "sanest" parental/teacher/machinest, mill worker, farmer, start the vetting, once you get an answer on if they will run. Keep moderate donations on the off year coming to build a treasurey to run introduction and "do not lie" on the fliars, poll calls, or advertisements.
It's insulting to the voters to think they weren't respected enough to NOT BE LIED TO IN THEIR FACE AND PAYING THEM IN DONATIONS TO DO SO.
It may take about 4 years for steady supporters of the platform for solutions to finally run people in the political offices, because the media madness will dig and dig until you are squeaky clean. So don't run anyone, that can be dismantled by the public by past financial misdealings, and shady night life.
it's not hard, persistance is key. If the person can't respectfully talk of people, then they aren't "people politician matierial for public office.
Ever notice how nasty some people in positions of helping others, humiliate them further talking loudly and snootily?
Let's get the right cheerful encouraging people in the positions that encourage success.
The conventions are paid by the RNC and DNC.
I don't think the other parties have the kind of scratch to waste on pulpit-pounding.
Republicans owe America all kinds of apologies.