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A Vote for Gary Johnson Definitely Not a Waste
by Tom Mahon
Kenneth Brown, an economist, attempts to make the case that Gary Johnson’s libertarian candidacy for president may peel votes away from Mitt Romney. While portraying this as a blow to limited government, he fails to explain exactly how Romney would bring limited government and economic freedom to the White House.
Instead, as seems to be the case with most Romney supporters, the only case they can make for “their guy” is that “the other guy” (Obama) is so bad that supporters of limited government should abandon their principles and support Romney. I strongly disagree. In fact, throughout this campaign, I have seen far more examples of agreement between Romney and Obama.
It is only Johnson who will, if elected, bring the ideas of limited government to Washington.
On the economy and health care in particular, there is virtually no daylight between Obama and Romney. “Obamacare,” as we all know, has many of the same characteristics as does “RomneyCare” in Massachusetts. Now, of course, Romney says he would “repeal and replace” Obamacare, but his record as governor shows that he believes that government bureaucrats, not patients and their doctors, should control health care. Johnson would repeal Obamacare and work to restore free market principles in American health care.
In terms of economic growth, the real problems with our economy today is not the tax burden, rather it is bipartisan, out-of-control spending growth in Washington. Unlike Romney, whose specific budget cuts are limited to Big Bird and a few other trivial items but who wants a massive increase in military spending, Johnson would submit a balanced budget immediately upon taking office and would put the major spending areas – the entitlements and the military – on sustainable footing while eliminating boondoggles like farm subsidies and the War on Drugs.
Continuation of the War on Drugs is yet another area of agreement between Romney and Obama with which Johnson disagrees. Federal spending on the drug war amounts to over $15 billion annually and that isn’t even the real problem with it. The real problem is that the War on Drugs costs all of us our civil liberties, destroys poor and inner-city families (predominantly minorities), and costs us far more in terms of prisons, joblessness and other social harms than what Americans know.
Speaking of privacy, Obama and Romney would do nothing to reform or eliminate the absurd Transportation Security Administration which makes regular headlines groping grandmas and generally making life miserable for travelers, all with little to no impact on our security. Johnson will eliminate TSA, saving taxpayers $40 billion annually. The private sector – airlines, airports, or private security companies – will do a much better job for far less money.
And then there is foreign policy. Nowhere is the difference between Obama / Romney and Johnson starker.
Obama and Romney have pledged to continue this needless war which has no clear objective, has seen American troops gunned down and killed by their supposed “allies,” and will waste another $120 billion this year alone. Johnson will bring the troops home immediately.
Also, while Romney and Obama seem determined to start a war with Iran, Johnson will work to resolve the conflict with Iran peacefully as Iran has never threatened the United States and does not present a military threat to this country.
The case is clear. The only vote you are “throwing away” is a vote for four more years of bipartisan spending, violations of personal liberty and tragic soldier deaths in Afghanistan.
Our former governor, Gary Johnson, is easily the best choice for president!
NOTES
- Personal blogs – WordPress
- LPUSA / LPNM – LPNM Blog / [LPNM-discuss] Yahoo! group
- The Weekly Sedition – WordPress / Yahoo!
- Duke City Fix / NMPolitics.org
This blog entry created with gedit and Notepad++.
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