Gary Johnson and the “Wasted Vote”

“Thinking isn’t agreeing or disagreeing. That’s voting.” – Robert Frost

It can be amazing how much clearer things get when you break it all down into numbers. A 2011 Gallup poll reported that at least 50% of Americans say marijuana should be legalized, and legalization measures are being voted on in three states this election cycle. This past June, Gallup also reported 66% of Americans believe immigration is a good thing. 54% of Americans polled a few weeks ago say the government is doing too much that could be done by individuals and businesses, and about 50% say the government has too much power. And according to a Times/CBS Poll, a whopping 68% of Americans were against all or part of Obamacare as of June. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney line up with these views perfectly. It boils down to a phrase that most readers have either uttered themselves or heard from friends: “Well, I’m fiscally conservative, but I’m socially liberal.”

A few weeks ago, I made the first political donation of my life. I donated to a presidential candidate. You have probably heard little, if anything, about him. He has made few major headlines. In fact, hopefully without sounding too much like the broken record of conspiracy theorists in this country, he has been systematically denied from almost every major news source in America because he is neither a Donkey nor an Elephant. Yes, the wildly popular two-term former governor from New Mexico, Gary Johnson, is a Libertarian, and the Libertarian candidate for President of the United States. His stances on that buzz word, the Issues, match almost completely with the viewpoints of the majority of Americans, especially the fiscally conservative, socially liberal ones.

So what is Libertarianism? Gary Johnson has been running a wildly successful (relatively speaking) campaign with the tag line, “You ARE Libertarian.” Libertarianism is the belief that civil liberties stand above all else. It means spending money only on what is necessary. It means getting the government out of the bedroom, not just because many Libertarians support things like gay marriage, but because it is not the responsibility of government to dictate marriage terms, or social terms in general. It means legalizing marijuana, which would save billions in law enforcement, keep countless people out of prisons, and make state and federal governments that much richer from taxation. It is about taxing less and spending less. Libertarianism is about individual freedoms, about Government doing for us only the things that we cannot do for ourselves.

The two terms that Governor Johnson served as the Republican Governor for Democratic New Mexico earned him a nickname: Governor Veto. A recent Fox Business article reported that he vetoed 750 bills, cut taxes a grand total of 14 times, and left the office with a $1 billion budget surplus. Despite much adversity, he has garnered enough signatures to be on the ballot in every single state and Washington D.C. And he is still fighting Republican challenges to his ballot aspirations in the two remaining states, Michigan and Oklahoma. He describes himself as more socially liberal than Obama and more fiscally conservative than Romney. He has promised to balance the federal budget, not by some far off date, but by the end of 2013. How? By vetoing any bill whose revenue does not exceed the cost. He wants to reform Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security so they will remain solvent for years to come, and veto any form of Internet censorship. He is the only candidate who will oppose the renewal of the PATRIOT Act, cut wasteful military spending, and focus on domestic issues before we start pushing an agenda abroad.

“I think a wasted vote is voting for somebody that you don’t believe in.” – Gary Johnson”

So why has no one heard of him? The media has generally ignored him, but not without good cause. Here the onus is on the individual. Third parties are taboo. The system we live in is so engrained in Republican vs. Democrat that we fail to recognize, or at the very least fail to act upon that recognition, that we have cordoned ourselves into two opposing camps with opposing viewpoints along a very wide spectrum of topics. Our founders considered the right to vote an almost sacred act, one that allows citizens to exercise a freedom of choice to best represent the people. This sacred act did not include political parties, entities that George Washington predicted in his Farewell Address would “become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.” But individuals today, when they hear about Gary Johnson, or Jill Stein (Green Party), or any other third-party candidate, usually respond with a comment that flies in the face of the very republican principles this nation was founded on. Voting for a third party is not a “wasted vote.” It is a vote for another choice, something that is decidedly lacking in American politics.

I am not unrealistic. I do not subscribe to some of the ultra-Libertarian views, like many Libertarians’ support of the dismantlement of the FDA and IRS and a full audit of the Fed. I realize that while Governor Johnson is not included in any scheduled debates – though his campaign is engaged in an anti-trust lawsuit against the Democrats and Republicans as the only other candidate on enough ballots to be a mathematical possibility for President – he would probably not win this year if he were included. I understand that my vote for Gary Johnson will not sway my home state of Connecticut. I know that riddling Facebook with posts espousing Libertarian philosophies and Gary Johnson links will probably not earn him any electoral votes. But I do it anyway, because I value my freedom of speech at a level that exceeds my pessimistic attitude towards my own political system. I am voting my conscience, and I sleep better at night for it.

Four years ago, I was swept up in Obama-Mania. I looked for Hope and Change. I saw it, too, but not in the way I was looking for. I give much credit to the President for attempting to follow through on a staggering number of campaign promises, though he compromised little and pushed through several pieces of legislation prematurely. I do believe President Obama wants what is best for the nation. I believe the same of Mitt Romney. But I cannot justify voting for any politician when there is another who better aligns with my stances on the Issues. I am a realist, and I recognize that in any First-Past-the-Post political system like ours, two parties tend to emerge. It is rare that a non-major party candidate wins any office. No Libertarians and two Independents occupy federal offices this year; Wisconsin once elected a Governor in the Progressive Party. These few examples are not so scarce because there are few third party options, they are due to the system which is organized to help dictate the voting habits of the American people, who make compromises and vote for a candidate that sort of supports their views, because it is a better choice than the other guy. Yet I would be willing to bet that if Americans cast blind votes for President, judging each candidate solely on their platform and not on their name or party, Gary Johnson would win the popular and the electoral vote.

So until the system itself changes (or I help to change it), I will do the best I can. I will fight for what I believe, speak my mind, vote for principle over party, and work for the betterment of this country I love. I invite you to do the same. No vote is a wasted vote. It is an affirmation of your beliefs, and it is a message to future candidates that, if they want to court your support, they must begin to adopt your viewpoints. So let us start voting with our consciences – and damn the consequences.