Post by AVO
This week, The Washington Post reported on the fragility the two party system is experiencing this election cycle. Every once in a while we see a third party candidate taking serious votershare from the Big Two, most notably Ross Perot in 1992. These parties are mathematically doomed to fail but they do serve an important role by forcing the Big Two to engage those who are otherwise swayed by these parties. What's interesting this year is the sheer number of young voters (guys like me) who are flocking to these parties; the Post reports that in a 4-way race the Libertarian and Green parties share about 44% of the vote among young voters nationwide.
I was shocked when I saw this chart mostly because Mr. Johnson has not shown himself to be an outstanding candidate. We are all too familiar with his “What is Aleppo?” moment and his YouTube ad blitz is less-than-flattering. The truth is that the 18-34 demographic may be swayed by many factors such as blind idealism and not always by important factors - like ‘reality’ - so he may have a working strategy. With a new flock of idealistic voters augmenting the ‘Paulites’ and die-hard libertarians, Mr. Johnson is hoping these voters will carry the election for him. Interestingly enough, Mrs. Clinton stands to lose the most in this equation.
More seriously than that, Mr. Johnson is now also getting support from more entrenched and established players. There are now three major newspapers publicly endorsing Mr. Johnson with the New Hampshire Union Leader making headlines this week by breaking a 100 year old tradition of endorsing every Republican nominee since its creation in 1913 to endorse the entire Libertarian ticket. The publisher of the Union Leader, Joseph W. McQuaid, penned an editorial in which he made it stunningly clear he is a never-Trumper. In this short piece he neglects making any real point on any policy and instead uses his platform to call Mr. Trump “a liar, a bully, a buffoon.” While I may not have many substantive political disagreements with Mr. Johnson, I wouldn’t take him more seriously than Mr. Trump and here’s why: the only way for a third party to win is if they are so ideologically unique that it would be impossible for the other two to compete on their turf. The only factor powering the smaller parties this year is the widespread disdain of Mr. Trump as an individual and Mrs. Clinton as an individual.
The Republican Party has successfully coopted many of the more appealing points of the Libertarians. And while I still retain reservations about going all-in with Mr. Trump, I am very happy with how the GOP is starting to shape up. Obviously Mr. Trump is no libertarian but he is just moderate enough on social issues which should satisfy both libertarians and the religious right. Somehow I don't think this should be a divisive issue while Mrs. Clinton is pushing a hard ‘regressive left’ agenda on all fronts. Another factor for all of us who want to see Israel survive to the next presidential election we should note the rules ratified at the GOP convention. This is by far the most pro Israel GOP we have ever seen. If you consider yourself conservative, libertarian or pro Israel why would you not vote for this Republican party? It has nothing to do with Mr. Trump at this point; the rules are the rules and they govern the entire party’s stance on domestic and international issues. So while guys like me may have supported a Libertarian run from Ron Paul, our vote does not necessarily carry over to Mr. Johnson by default. In reality, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein have no hope of getting elected this year. If Ross Perot and his billions couldn't do it, these two really have no chance.
As someone who not only was not only around during Perot's run for the White House, but supported it, I'll fill you in first hand. Inline today, he acd a serious chance of winning. I believe that once that happened he self deed because he didn't really expect that. He just wanted to influence others. His late craziness put Bill Clinton into the Presidency
ReplyDeleteBUT, Bill Clinton was And remains an unprincipled person with absolutely no ideology except wanting to be liked. his wife on the other hand is much more ideological and they are both pathological Liars. The importance of the upcoming election end of voting for the right person cannot be overstated. if you read the interview of Justice Ginsberg by the New York Times, she did a great deal more then discuss her dislike for Donald Trump. the reports were all about that. what she said that is way more dangerous is her intention was Justice Scalia replaced by a liberal, to virtually rewrite the Constitution to match her leftist beliefs. she specifically said that she looked forward to revisiting the question of whether the Second Amendment actually gives the right to bear arms. the next president will have the opportunity to not just replace Justice Scalia but probably two or three other of the elderly judges currently on the court. this is not a 4-year election it is not an 8-year election it is generational. the damage that can be done may very well be irreparable. the choice unfortunately is between someone who has said some bad things versus someone who has done many many bad things while in public office. never trumper's are thinking with their hearts and not with their brains. Either Hillary Clinton Or Donald Trump will be the next president. voting for anyone else will Do little to make any specific point. It may get Hillary Clinton elected.
At some point in time there may be a viable third party candidate but this is not the time for a protest vote.
Thank you Mr. Rosenberg, I always respect your opinion. You raise a key point I keep failing to mention about the upcoming Supreme Court justice nominations. If there was no other reason except the promise of conservative justice nominations, dayenu, that would be good enough of a reason to vote Republican. The Second Amendment needs our support more than ever.
DeleteI would like to also add that for those who are set on not voting Republican because of Mr. Trump and instead vote Libertarian should bear in mind that Gary Johnson wants to bring in more Syrians than our current president. And part of being a free country is having a citizenry who will always uphold and fight for Freedom and sadly the Syrians have a very different sense of what makes a good country and there is very little hope they will assimilate in.
Sorry about the typos, some of which you probably didn't understand because they make no sense. I was writing on my phone and thought that I edited out the errors, but I see that there were more.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was not only around during Perot's run for the White House, but supported it, I'll fill you in first hand. Unlike today, he actually had a serious chance of winning. I believe that once that happened he self destructed because he didn't really expect to, or want to win. He just wanted to influence others. His late craziness (said that his daughter was kidnapped by aliens) put Bill Clinton into the Presidency.
BUT, Bill Clinton was And remains an unprincipled person with absolutely no ideology except wanting to be liked. his wife on the other hand is much more ideological and they are both pathological Liars. The importance of the upcoming election and of voting for the right person cannot be overstated. If you read the interview of Justice Ginsberg by the New York Times, she did a great deal more then discuss her dislike for Donald Trump; the reports were all about that. what she said that is way more dangerous is state her intentions when Justice Scalia is replaced by a liberal, to virtually rewrite the Constitution to match her leftist beliefs. She specifically said that she looked forward to revisiting the question of whether the Second Amendment actually gives the right to bear arms. The next President will have the opportunity to not just replace Justice Scalia but probably two or three other of the elderly judges currently on the Court, not top mention lower court appointments. This is not a 4-year election. It is not an 8-year election it is generational. The damage that can be done may very well be irreparable. The choice, unfortunately, is between someone who has said some bad things versus someone who has done many many bad things while in public office. Never Trumpers are thinking with their hearts and not with their brains. Either Hillary Clinton Or Donald Trump WILL be the next President. Voting for anyone else will do little to make any specific point. It may get Hillary Clinton elected.
At some point in time there may be a viable third party candidate but this is not the time for a protest vote.
Finally, the worst thing that could happen would be Hilary dropping out for health or prison (where she belongs), as another leftist would damage the court in exactly the same way, even if his name is not Hilary. Even honest leftists do what feels good; rarely what is good.