Gary Johnson Wins 2012 Libertarian Nomination

As long as Johnson sucks votes away from R-Money, that's OK with me!

Who has made a name for himself as a drug reformer and legalizer.

Johnson is very good on drug reform, too. I can see this ticket possibly hurting Obama in Colorado, where pot legalization will also be on the ballot.

Or is "St Paul" going to go for another party?

bigger ties to the loonies at the Constitution Party (the Howard Phillips group.) I think that is where he threw his support last time.

I'd never even heard much about Johnson except blurbs during the early primaries. From what I've been researching in the last couple of hours, he's said to be more of a fiscal conservative than a social one. He opposes late term abortions, but not early ones. That certainly won't get him the religious nutcase vote. And the Paul followers, frankly, are more of a personality cult. There's no telling if they'll switch to Johnson. My guess is that many might. It's going to be an interesting election.

Is this one any higher-profile than any others over the years? Does he have any more chance than any other Libertarian candidate to get votes that would otherwise go to Obama?

I think the Libertarian candidate conceivably takes a few votes from the left, as well as a few votes from the right, but not enough to matter either way (unlike someone like Nader, Anderson, or Perot).

There's always a Libertarian on the ballot, isn't there? When I was in high school, the Libertarian candidate spoke to my government class. I got my picture in the paper talking with him afterward (naturally, I was asking about the legalization of drugs - LOL). I can't even remember his name...aren't they typically unmemorable?

I don't think Johnson had the profile that Paul did.

Or are afraid to call themselves conservatives.

I will say this, Johnson's bashing Romney more than Obama so far, so that's cool for me.

Not that easy to peg down. Incidentally this is why the Libertarians cannot become a true national party. Tent is so damn wide it is not even funny... and spans the full spectrum.

Hard to quantify. There are even left-leaning libertarians.

Honestly, as long as they cut the GOP in half, they have my blessings.

it is the third largest party... but the tent is THAT wide.

As to RP supporters, they are to a point delusional. They still believe RP wil be on the ballot in November.

but no, not going to happen in november. Romney is going to get enough delegates to lock the initial vote, so the 'flipped' unbound delegates thing isn't going to happen.

Johnson is both antiwar and for ending the war on drugs. Those are just about the greatest cruelties of all, don't you think? If they weren't so economically atavistic (and naive) and, um, had no chance to do anything but take a small piece of the vote...

Even right-leaning libertarians. You should see them get into it with the neocons over foreign policy. They seriously want the wars over, and an enormous number of foreign military bases recalled.

Should the United States forbid companies from hiring armed security (ie, mercenaries)?

That's what the FCPA does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act

but overall, you hit a good point. They wanted Congress to issue letters of marque for private entities to reel in Osama Bin Laden.

I'll ask what they think of that act tomorrow. Curious which side they fall on.

But if you got rid of the FCPA you'd have an opportunity to have mercenaries, ala the Regan-esque paramilitary junta's in the Latin America's through the 80s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_policy_of_the_Ronald_Reagan_administration#Latin_America

go to Wiki just to refresh my memory.

Maybe I should have said 15th-century anachonrisms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque

...and crony capitalism.

The end result of their policies are paramilitary groups, mercenary groups, and wholesale raping of a countries resources.

You are very confused on true libertarians. Someone can say they are anti choice and gay rights and say they are progressives but that does not make them so. I have no idea where you are getting this from.

Libertarians believe our military should not be involved in other nations business, period.

Armed to the teeth with 'Nuke their ass, take their gas' bumper stickers and zero tolerance for the existence of minorities.

Selfish assholes, for the most part.

Actually it's a mixture of both parties, abortion and gay rights alone keeps most republican's away though. Do you people think republicans will defect to support these?

http://www.lp.org/platform

1.3 Personal Relationships

Sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity should have no impact on the
government's treatment of individuals, such as in current marriage, child custody, adoption,
immigration or military service laws. Government does not have the authority to define, license or
restrict personal relationships. Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices
and personal relationships.

1.4 Abortion

Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration.

He could have taken a few points away from Romney. Johnson will be lucky if he breaks 1%.

And that problem stems from Johnson's endorsement of the legal marijuana and a call to end the war on drugs.

Most people are not one-issue voters - but some are - or some prioritize differently, based upon what they perceive as their self interest.

Younger voters are the largest part of the population that supports legal cannabis. They're also the group most likely to use cannabis, so, the issue is one of self interest for them. They are the group behind the massive numbers of voters who have petitioned Obama to address rescheduling, and they are the ones who have made the question of cannabis' status in American the number one issue, in terms of popularity, in his online Q&A's, etc.

I would assume that most of Johnson's support would come from conservatives who are disaffected by the choice of Romney. However, it's also likely Johnson will cost Obama some of the youth vote.

That will take some teeth out of Johnson's mouth. Not too late to de-fang him on the drug war either.

The Democratic Party is obviously taking a small risk by focusing heavily on informed voters.

Most informed voters will not consider a third-party candidate because they know that a vote for a weak third-party candidate, like not voting at all, is an automatic vote for the winner.

Ralph Nader voters from 2000 are sipping their mercury, breathing their hydrocarbons, and enjoying America's wetlands by sneaking onto golf courses at night exactly because voting for a third-party candidate took away votes from the real environmental candidate and handed the election to the worst possible candidate instead.

Therefore, I expect the vast majority of this 7% diversion of votes to instead be siphoned away from the pool of low-information voters who cannot be relied upon to make an informed choice no matter what.

So to hell with 'em. This time, they'll be making the better choice by turning in an effective non-vote for a third party rather than actively voting against their own best interests by backing Romney. I wish the dope-smokers could see that the path to legalization is through the party that will at least consider it and has a chance of controlling Congress... but they're high.

all post-election manual recounts by media organizations showed that Gore won, no matter what method of counting disputed ballots was used.

Please don't ask me for citations as I don't keep them handy and really don't want to dig them up

...He would have won by 9000 votes, and it would not have been close enough to steal.

decision made clear.

Johnson could siphon off many votes due to his charisma.

Short changed workers and was not very ethical

However after meeting him a number of years ago I must say that he is self-deprecating and charming.

Most successful sociopaths are.

than the Republicans.