For anyone who cares about climate change, I have a simple message: If you're thinking of casting a protest vote for Gary Johnson, fugetaboutit.
And if you have friends, family and associates who are thinking about voting for Johnson (or Stein, or not voting) do everything you can to dissuade them. Friends don't let friends who care about climate change vote to for Gary Johnson or do anything else to allow Donald Trump to win the White House.
Quite simply, Gary Johnson is opposed to the government taking again action to combat climate change.
Here are comparisons between Gary Johnson's and Hillary Clinton's responses to questions about climate change and other environmental issues:
Q. Should the government increase environmental regulations to prevent climate change?
Gary Johnson answer: No.
Hillary Clinton answer: Yes, and provide more incentives for alternative energy
Should the government give tax credits and subsidies to the wind power industry?
Gary Johnson answer: No.
Hillary Clinton answer: Yes, the government should support more sustainable energy technologies.
Q. Should the U.S. expand offshore oil drilling?
Gary Johnson answer: Yes, and deregulate the energy sector to let the free market determine the best energy sources.
Hillary Clinton answer: No, and provide more incentives for alternative energy production.
Of course Donald Trump -- who's the real-life alternative to Hillary Clinton to become president -- says he believes climate change is a hoax cooked up by the Chinese to bankrupt America.
President Trump would tear up the Paris Climate Accord, or stop implementing it on Day 1 in office. Trump would encourage the burning of more fossil fuels. He would appoint Supreme Court Justices who would overturn President Obama's Clean Power Plan which was put on temporary hold by a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court shortly before Justice Scalia died. The case is likely to come back to the Supreme Court, and whether Clinton or Trump appoints the next Justice will likely determine its fate. (Trump is also likely to appoint young Supreme Court Justices -- who could serve for 30-40 years -- and would go even farther than Citizens United in permitting unrestrained political contributions by billionaires and corporations, uphold discriminatory voter suppression laws, and might well overturn Roe v. Wade which would send hundreds of thousands of women to back alley abortionists).
With climate change advancing so rapidly, the planet may not survive four or eight years of inaction and sabotage by a President Trump.
So you might think Hillary Clinton is flawed. I agree. I was a strong Bernie Sanders supporter and am frequently critical of Clinton. But a protest vote for free-marketer Gary Johnson is effectively a vote for Trump. Although Jill Stein has better positions on the environment than Johnson, a protest vote for her, or not voting at all, is also is effectively a vote for Trump.
What kind of protest is it to vote in a way that makes it more likely that climate change denier Donald Trump will be the next president? Can the planet survive that kind of protest?
If climate change denier Donald Trump is elected president and you helped because you voted for Johnson or Stein or decided not to vote as a protest, how will you feel on November 8th knowing that the next president will do nothing to combat climate change and will undo the progress made to date?
If you think Hillary Clinton's policies aren't strong enough, if she's the next president, then show up in front of the White House with 100,000 of your closest friends urging stronger action.
But don't help put Trump in the White House by lodging a protest by voting for Johnson or Stein or not voting.
The future of the planet is at stake.