Following the past two day’s consideration of President Obama’s candidacy,  and that of Gov. Romney, today I will consider the reasonable case for voting Gary Johnson.  As only the most stoned of Gov. Johnson’s supporters thinks that he will win, I will give serious consideration as to why a reasonable person might vote for this loser.

#1 Gary Johnson advocates better ideas

Friends who have nice things to say about Gary Johnson assert that he has better ideas.  I haven’t heard it from him; in fact, I have mocked Johnson for whining about being excluded from the presidential debates when he was failing to actually engage in real policy debates that were active in Congress at the time.  When I pressed my friends for specific better ideas, they tended to be issues for the legislature and not the executive; yet, Johnson chose not to run for the open Senate seat in New Mexico.  Frankly, his big idea seems to be that he does not want to actually be part of the solution to our problems by asserting leadership in Washington…not really a better idea.

#2 Gary Johnson is a protest vote

As the offering of the Republicans and Democrats are so odious, Johnson is an opportunity for lodging a protest vote.  Since 1972, the Libertarian Party has been such an effective vehicle to assert a protest vote and shift public policy in a better direction…oops, it actually has not been and demonstrates no capacity to do so this year, after 40 years of failure.  What is the chance that the day after the election anyone in politics will be wondering what were those Johnson supporters thinking?  Compared to the Tea Party demonstrations, will the votes for Johnson even register politically to positively affect future public policy?

#3 Build Libertarian Party for the future

The Libertarian Party has been diminishing, and the youthful Echo Boom generation provides an opportunity for it to protect its ballot access positions.  The goal is not to win or to impact policy, but just to get enough votes to be on the ballot next time.  Personally, I think that American politics would be better without the freak show that is the Libertarian Party, but a very few others disagree with me.

In summary, while Gary Johnson could have run a historically significant campaign, he has utterly failed to do so.  Personally, I cannot understand a vote for Johnson as I view him as the worst of the three candidates.

If you disagree with me, because you think that Johnson is the best individual in the entire country to be President and you think that a strong America needs a strong Libertarian Party, then enjoy casting your ballot for him and please add a comment about why others should do the same.