Gary Johnson the 2012 Spoiler...

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty
-vs- Tyranny


Gary Johnson, a man with integrity, new ideas, and a proven track record both in business and as a two term Governor of New Mexico will be iced out of the presidential debates because of our rigged political duopoly. So the man who should be front and center with Frik and Frak on the debate stage will most likely, and by design, be relegated to playing spoiler. Not a bad spot to be in really if Johnson has his eyes on the 2016 presidential race, something this individual and likely millions more hope he does.

The following article is both interesting and informative. It certainly highlights reasons for liberty minded people to vote for Gary Johnson.

FOX BUSINESS - The fact that you may have not heard of Johnson does not make you uninformed. According to a recent report by the Pew Center for People & the Press, only a quarter of voters have – and only 5% have heard a lot about him. However, that doesn't mean you wouldn't agree with him. The website Isidewith.com, which features a political quiz that well over 3 million people have filled it out, suggests that if the Presidential race was based on people’s beliefs, it would be between Obama and Johnson. (Emphasis Mine)

Johnson's hard-line policies are ambitious—and in many instances, radical. If elected, he said he'd abolish the IRS and enact a "fair tax," reduce federal involvement in the economy by eliminating government support for mortgage giants Fannie and Freddie Mac, reject bailouts, cut spending by revising terms for entitlement programs like Medicare and eliminate what he calls "ineffective military interventions."

"People are usually voting for the lesser of two evils," explained Debbie Dean, an Ohio-based farmer and owner of Dean's Greenhouse. "But Gary Johnson is not being included in polls, and I think the American public is being prohibited [from having] a real choice."

Johnson, who calls himself more socially liberal than Obama and more fiscally conservative than Romney, recognizes that the recognition problem is a huge one -- and he said as much in an interview with Fox Business Network's John Stossel on September 13.

"Well, the issue for me is just being in the polls to begin with," he said. "If I were just recognized for where I was right now nationally, you know what the overwhelming reaction would be…. 'Who the hell is Gary Johnson?' and that would be a good thing."

Where Johnson is nationally is hard to track accurately since in most major Presidential surveys, third-party candidates are not mentioned by name. And while Johnson is now on the ballot in 47 states, he still is in the process of making his case in court for the remaining three states (Pennsylvania, Michigan and Oklahoma).

Despite the uphill battle, Johnson still might make a difference in this election. According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, 3% of likely voters would vote for Johnson and 4% of registered voters said they will vote for him.

But whether more people will vote – or know to vote for him -- is up for debate. On Friday, Johnson filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the National Commission on Presidential Debates challenging his exclusion from the upcoming presidential debates.

In a statement, senior Johnson advisor Ron Nielson said: "There is nothing remotely surprising in the fact that a private organization created by and run by the Republican and Democratic Parties have only invited the Republican and Democratic candidates to their debates. It is a bit more disturbing that the national news media has chosen to play the two-party game, when a full one-third of the American people do not necessarily identify with either of those two parties." (The only debate in which Johnson has been included was the GOP debate sponsored by Fox News on Sept 22, 2011, where he drew applause when he said: "My next-door neighbors' two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration.")

Not having Johnson at the upcoming debates seems to be positive for both of the big-party candidates. In the recent CNN poll, Obama leads Romney 52% to 46% when Romney and Obama are the only candidates. However, Romney's support goes down three percentage points with the inclusion of third-party candidates. Obama's support goes down 1% point.
Twenty-eight-year-old Marine Corp. veteran Josh Rawdon, a registered voter in Ohio, is voting for Johnson, regardless of whether or not he is at the debates. But Rawdon believes if Johnson was there, he'd make a big impact.

"If he was there to challenge Obama and Romney, he could be a challenger for the presidency because he is actually answering the questions," said Rawdon.

Rawdon may be emblematic of young voters who came out for President Obama four years ago and now see Johnson as an attractive alternative. The YouTube parody of the hit song by Goyte -- “The Obama that I Used to Know” -- which has garnered over a million views, seems to hit home with disenchanted former Obama voters. And Johnson clearly recognizes the importance of tapping into the young and passionate cohort that heavily supported Texas Rep. Ron Paul before he ended his attempt for GOP presidential nomination earlier this year.

On Sept. 17, Johnson told Fox Business's Neil Cavuto: "My voice right now is representative of the fastest-growing segment of American politics today. It's young people who realize that they are screwed. That they aren’t going to have any retirement. That they aren’t going to have any healthcare. Young people are graduating from college today with [the equivalent of a] home mortgage without a home and I’m talking now about student loans and what's the cause for high tuition in this country? It’s the government guaranteeing student loans." (Emphasis Mine)


Debbie Dean agrees.

"Young people are disillusioned. They don’t have jobs, they have school debt," said Dean, who is volunteering for Johnson's campaign in Ohio. "It’s easy for kids to get loans, but when they get out of school they can’t get a job and can't pay the loan."

Dean also said small business owners are disillusioned. She said she is worried that her family-owned farm, Dean's Greenhouse, which has been in existence since 1924, may not make it through after President Obama's healthcare initiative is enacted. She believes it could raise the current cost of healthcare for her employees.

"We’ve always offered healthcare, and I am personally on the plan," she said. "But if things get rough and I had to choose between providing healthcare and letting my business die, I'd have to choose my business."

Johnson knows a little something about small business. He started as a handyman in Albuquerque in 1974 and by 1999, he had a 1,000-person construction company called Big J Enterprises, which he sold for $10 million.

Johnson believes the Fair Tax, which would eliminate all federal taxes on business income and investments, would provide an immediate boost to small business.

"If, as others are advocating, reducing business taxes, such as the corporate income tax, would be helpful, eliminating them altogether in favor of a consumption tax would be a huge step in terms of freeing up capital, increasing competitiveness, and creating jobs," said Joe Hunter, Johnson’s communication director in an email to Fox Business.

Hunter also pointed out that ending "federal manipulation of the free market" and getting government out of the way would ultimately be the best initiative to help small business.

However, while Johnson's passionate and steadfast positions on everything from small business to abolishing the IRS to legalizing marijuana have appeal for a wide range of voters, the likelihood of his candidacy having any impact on this election is slim if he isn't able to take part in the Presidential debates, which start October 3. And Johnson knows that best.

"Someone has to stand up and call this what it is: A rigged system designed entirely to protect and perpetuate the two-party duopoly," (emphasis mine) said Johnson advisor Ron Nielson. "That someone will be the Johnson campaign."{Read More}

I don' know about anyone else but I'm definitely supporting the spoiler in this one.

Via: FOX BUSINESS

Comments

  1. just vote for Obama. it will give him a better mandate to continue the destruction. Supporting the "Spoiler" is a feel good vote with zero effect. A better idea would be to just vote for Obama since Gary and he are on the same page in several areas... Don't give me the 'Principled bull. It's an anti-Repub vote that's it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To crib Ronald Reagan... I didn't leave the Republican Party, the rEpublican pArty left me. Yeah Bushwack, IT IS about principle. That and preparing for the future.

      In the very deep blue state of Mass I have the luxury of doing precisely what I please without impact this year. If that makes ya feel better.

      Then again, being a man of principle I'd vote Johnson even if I lived in a battleground state. Conscience just won't allow me to vote for either Frik or Frak...

      Change must start from somewhere and neither Frik nor Frak will provide even a modicum of the change that is needed.

      Delete
    2. Politics is not about principles and convictions, it's about power. Republicans know that. They prove it every time they use the filibusterer and are now (facts and statistics) the worst do nothing House in History.

      Delete
    3. Of course democrats aren't guilty of this, right? The worst power hungry hypocrites the American system has ever known. Hands down.

      Delete
  2. He should be included in polling, but I fear some followers will be disappointed to see many of the Ron Paul supporters return to the Democrat party or simply fade back into the medical marijuana woodwork.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He should be included in the debates as well Silver. The only reason the hurdle is set where it is is because the duopoly is hell bent on nixing any viable competition BEFORE said competition can do harm to the oligarchs who control duopoly.

      Delete
  3. Vote your conscience. To do anything else is wasting your vote. If Romney were to show that he was tangibly divergent from the big government, anti-liberty platform that he and Obama share, he might have had a chance to pick up my vote.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Romney = a gaffe prone Obama light. Guaranteed by the oligarchs to yield a diluted outcome of Obama heavy.

      Delete
  4. John Stossel is supporting him and he has a weekly show on Fox Business (which sometimes gets rebroadcast on the weekends on the regular Fox News). Maybe that'll help.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He needs the debates, head to head with Frik and Frak. But as I said above the duopoly will not allow it.

      Delete
  5. To be a spoiler, you have to make a stink. I see no evidence of Johnson doing that. Sure, I read a lot about him here, and on "Contra O'Reilly"... but no where else.

    Thinking of the yard signs I see around, I see about as many for Run Paul as I do for Romney and Obama. Really. The far and away largest signs are Ron Paul ones.

    But I was thinking about this the past week... and wondered, why???

    Isn't Johnson supposed to be the Libertarian candidate? If so, why are the Libertarians still clinging bitterly to Dr. Paul? You'd think that Libertarian-type Ron Paul voters would be the easiest for GJ to win over... but I am not seeing it happening. What is wrong here?

    If the libertarians don't give a damn about Johnson, there's no need to worry about what Republicans and Democrats think of him, as they are going to give less of a damn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of my biggest disappointments is that Ron Paul choose not to declare as a Libertarian. I suspect it is because he KNEW he would have zero chance of getting the exposure level as he would as a republican candidate. That and perhaps he was thinking about Rand's political future.

      In my never humble opinion Ron should be advocating for and campaigning for Gary Johnson. Ron Paul is not really a republican, hasn't been for sometime. As I said, disappointing...

      Delete
  6. It's probably a given that these big Paul supporters will go vote for Johnson. But by keeping the massive Paul signs up, they are acting as if they think that all they need to do is vote for GJ themselves, and it's not worth even mentioning his name to others.

    That's their choice, but if all other libertarians think this way, that locks in the low single-digit election results, for sure.

    ReplyDelete

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