But let's not be confused. Johnson and Weld are not even really telling or selling you on any particular platform that they hope you are willing to buy into. They are feeding themselves from the weight and collective will of the Libertarian party that has progressively groomed themselves for this very day with political concepts pleasing to the palate of would be voters looking to consume something new and revolutionary. They are also feeding off of our disgust with the other options.
It's been a while since I've written about Libertarians because I started to feel like I was picking on a little kid who knows that they'll be big enough to let you have it one day, but can't figure out how to make it happen now. Their rise has been somewhat recent and extremely rapid as a "live and let live" offshoot of the Tea Party. Libertarians have had moment of sunshine ushered in by the steadfast dedication of the Paul family, Rand Paul and his famous Libertarian father Ron. Had Rand showed the courage to actually run as a Libertarian, perhaps he would be the Gary Johnson for the Libertarian's right now and more positioned to articulate policy plans like ending mass incarceration.
(Articles previously published January 2014)
Libertarian's Carrying Conservative Ideology Into Political Jungle
Rand was not courageous enough to take that leap. Neither were Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump, who both found themselves stuck in the midst of a political party that they really had no business being in the midst of to begin with. Trump was fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of too many years of GOP saber rattling and screaming in a crowded theater about the dangers of Barack Obama. When those dangers never quite materialized to the level of the hysteria, it gave rise to Obama's approval ratings and a plummeting effect on the people and the election process to follow him.
In hindsight, the Obama's might have given us the last hint of dignity as a nation that we'll see for a while in both the manner in which they campaigned, and the integrity by which they lead this nation. You may not like how much Barack golfs, but we thought Bush golfed too much too, and we know Trump is fully connected to the game and will spend plenty of time on the course.
In fact, two terms of Hillary might be the best hope we have for not complaining about our president golfing for a while.
I say that because Gary Johnson will be stuck in the weeds whether he is a golfer or not given his decision to stop smoking weed so that he could run for the presidency.If Johnson has been toking since the 70's, and managed to accomplish as much as he has, do we actually trust him without the weed, or trust that he'll not return to the vice the moment Putin starts acting up?
Will giving up weed force Gary Johnson into more dangerous or embarrassing vices than he otherwise would have pursued as president?
I am now more inclined to find out about his stance on pot, because possessing it caused lots of people to be locked up unnecessarily. Our first admitted pot smoking president may really be the key to fixing some of this unfair incarceration problem.
The bigger problem is trying to determine that possibility or any other potential policy by reading the Libertarian platform. Like I've said, the damn thing reads like a school book in which the chapters are broken into sections 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and so on. It feels like they originally only had 4 bullet points, but had to extrapolate that out to seem more thoughtful, so they went text book style in the format.
The whole thing includes a preamble and a statement of principles, followed by all of the bullet points which feel like nothing more than explanations to their statements of principles. In other words, the Libertarian party platform is the most fence straddling piece of nothingness that I have ever seen in presidential politics including bullet point 4.0, "Omissions", which I copied and pasted below for your enjoyment.
4.0 Omissions
Our silence about any other particular government law, regulation, ordinance, directive, edict, control, regulatory agency, activity, or machination should not be construed to imply approval.
The only thing close to real policy prescriptions is their idea to privatize healthcare, retirement (SSI) and education, but no real declaration of whether these departments would be eliminated or only kept for oversight of our new privatized entities who would undoubtedly cut corners for profit if given the unregulated freedom to do so.
With so little policy specifics in the Libertarian platform, it seems the party with the greatest opportunity to break the back of the two party monster, is mostly hoping that it will break on its own. The campaign approach for Johnson and Weld is basically, if you are looking for something other than Hillary and Trump, check us out.
Well I did check them out, and reading that platform felt like reading the Libertarian Manifesto and not some distinct plan for how a Libertarian president will actually preside over a fractured two-party congress reticent to put forth a Libertarian agenda when they can't even agree on their own convoluted ideas? Although consensus sounds like a fair approach to governing, consensus around more of the same failed policies of the party's you have replaced would be a waste of our FIRST third party president.
My appreciation for the possibility of Libertarians is strong, but mostly because my hate for two-party politics is stronger, and Libertarians pose the greatest threat that we've seen yet. If too many people are way too smart to be tricked by Hillary or Trump, what makes Libertarians think platitudes will suffice? I was originally of the mindset that it would take Libertarians quite a few years to have enough head count to risk an election by splintering off from their republican brethren, until I realized that they could do it now, but are not defining their mission enough to change minds. If Johnson and Weld can't put more meat behind the bones they call a platform, it will take something tangible in Hillary's emails, along with more of the same from Donald, to actually make the, "choose me instead" Libertarian ticket viable.
So maybe that's the reason for the platitude platform from the Libertarian ticket. No sense in divulging to much specificity until you have a real chance of needing to use it.
No comments:
Post a Comment