POLITICS: GARY JOHNSON

I am supporting Gary Johnson in this upcoming presidential election.

I do not support Johnson because I agree with him on everything or because I am a diehard Libertarian Party member.

I am voting for Johnson because he is the candidate which aligns most closely with my libertarian beliefs.

Libertarianism is a belief in individual rights and liberty.

The role of government is to prevent coercion and promote voluntary cooperation among individuals.

This places limits on the government both domestically and abroad.

Government will also promote voluntarism by defining the boundaries under which we cooperate with a uniform system of law and adjudication of disputes.

Libertarianism is moral because it does not sacrifice the rights of individuals to prioritize the group, unlike collectivist ideologies.

Johnson best represents the libertarian movement in this country.

Donald Trump represents a disturbing trend in the American conservatism which puts nationalism and populism over liberty, and Hillary Clinton epitomizes the statism the democrats have pursued for a hundred years.

A Trump or Clinton presidency would both be an affront to liberty.

I will outline some important issues to me and to the survival of freedom in this country.

In terms of character quality, I do not believe Johnson is morally bankrupt like Trump who has allegedly sexually assaulted people or Clinton who allegedly covers up sexual assault.

Giving depraved people power just amplifies their immorality, allowing it all to spill over into public policy.

Johnson is for peace and free markets. He would end the welfare, warfare state.

Government should abstain from interfering in the workings of the free market and the internal affairs of other countries.

This would mean reducing expenditures on the holy cows of entitlements and the military, which consume a vast majority of our budget.

The role of the U.S. government is not to redistribute wealth nor police the world.

Taxes and regulations would be slashed allowing markets to function property.

We should build an invisible military for the purpose of defense.

The result would be a wealthier, safer and freer America.

Trump and Clinton are both socialists and warmongers who are detrimental to these objectives.

In regards to the culture war, I believe Johnson falls short on the very important issue of abortion.

He has supported just about every restriction on the practice, but abortion is not a right.

Government should protect human life, and Johnson’s Supreme Court appointments will do that best by returning the issue to the states.

I do not believe Trump values human life when he calls for targeting families with drone strikes, and Clinton’s position on the issue is truly deplorable.

Johnson is the most pro-life candidate.

Fearmongering tactics have been employed by the two major parties to bully people to not vote their conscience.

The two party monopoly is not entitled to any of our votes, and voting the lesser of two evils is still voting evil.

A vote for Johnson will not likely result in him winning the presidency, but it will tell the establishment that if they want our vote, they have to support our policies.

Voting Trump or Clinton just encourages their reprehensible polices.

Tyler Weathers is a public policy major.