I formally endorse Gary Johnson for the Office of President of the United States, and I encourage others to educate yourselves on him further. If he sounds better than the two terrible candidates that the Democrats and Republicans have nominated, please voice your support for him, especially if you are polled, because he only gets into the National Debates if he is polling at least 15%. Also, whether or not you support him, please sign this petition to get his voice heard in the debates (https://www.johnsonweld.com/debate?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=wall&utm_term=fans&utm_content=debate-01&utm_campaign=debate). If nothing else, his presence will bring some substance to what promises to be a series of ugly, mudslinging debates. Also, this quiz (http://www.isidewith.com/elections/2016-presidential-quiz) is worthwhile to take if you're interested in the issues too. Not only do I dislike Hillary and Trump, but I actually agree with Gary Johnson A LOT more than any of the other candidates. I am largely Libertarian. And you might be too. You see, Libertarian is a spectrum. Everyone is at least a little bit Libertarian. Does that mean you'll agree with everything Gary "Three-Run" Johnson has to say? No. Actually, I strongly disagree with him on abortion, but not much else. But that's me.
Johnson is in favor of marijuana legalization, gay marriage, environmental protection, criminal justice reform, and abortion. But he is also fiscally conservative, in favor of lowering taxes and creating jobs, supports the Second Amendment, and is against Common Core. He supports congressional term limits too, as should everyone. Just about the only thing with a lower approval rating than Congress lately is HIV, and with the success of another (Magic) Johnson, it's actually pretty close...
How did I get here? How can I be supporting a pro-choice candidate and a third-party candidate at the same time? Well, let me tell you, it's been quite the journey. The candidates that I liked the least for each major party got the nominations (It wasn't close with Hillary, but I couldn't decide whether Trump, Cruz, or Bush was worse for the bulk of the primaries). Once that happened, I naturally gravitated toward Trump, because I figured he could easily turn it around, stop saying ignorant shit, and become Presidential, and I have a lot of well-documented problems with Hillary (see a good portion of my previous posts, there's no need to re-hash the many reasons why she's unfit to be Commander-in-Chief). So I found myself in the same place as many Americans, trying to choose the lesser of two evils. With Hillary, there's the devil we know (even if she still lies about all her obvious wrongs), and with Trump, it's the devil we don't know, politically anyway. The main positive I was clinging to with Trump was that he would probably nominate solid Conservative SCOTUS justices who adhere to the Constitution. I knew he said a lot of terrible things, and I knew he changed his positions daily on some issues, but I also knew I could never vote for Hillary. And I still never will. But something changed when I listened to his acceptance speech (I still haven't bothered to listen to Hillary's by the way--I already know who she is). Donald Trump's speech scared me, and it wasn't because he was trying to scare everyone into thinking that we would all be killed by ISIS and immigrants if he wasn't elected, he alone who could fix America. It scared me because of the rhetoric he used and the fear he appealed to. But when you put it together with everything else he's said, it paints an even uglier picture. The devil we don't know may very well be a dangerously loose cannon.
An old friend of mine messaged me on Facebook when he suspected that I was close to officially endorsing Trump, and he presented some very good information that he was using to explain why he was voting for Hillary, even though he doesn't particularly like her (I'm putting that mildly to avoid using certain words here). And while I still can't bring myself to vote for Hillary, I will acknowledge that a Hillary presidency probably wouldn't look a whole lot different from an Obama presidency, but it would have costly long-term negative impacts on the country via the Supreme Court nominees, an assault on the second amendment, and having someone in the most powerful office who shouldn't even have a basic security clearance. I don't think Obama OR Bush were good presidents, but Hillary would be worse, and Trump is basically the embodiment of a parody accidentally set free in real life. While my friend did not convince me to vote for Hillary, and I probably didn't convince him not to (although we both agreed that Hillary should have stepped down after Benghazi, if only because she was Secretary of State and her Department screwed up big-time), he did help me accelerate the course I was already on, a desperate search for any hope of a third option, and I decided to become a firm Johnson supporter (I'm aware of how that sounds, yes).
The folks comparing Trump to Hitler need to shut up though. He's not Hitler. He's not going to try to exterminate any group of people, and certainly not the Jews (you people focusing on the alleged Jewish star he posted are all idiots, he's not anti-Semitic). The Muslims? Well, he's talked about attempting to keep new ones from entering the country temporarily, or at least stopping immigration from certain countries, but please don't compare him to Hitler, because that's an overreaction that will and should be written off. Hitler killed people who didn't look a certain way. Trump just wants to keep people who look a certain way from crossing the border. There's a big difference there. So if you're calling out Donald Trump, for the sake of an intelligent discussion, please at least call out the actual issues with Donald Trump, and there are many of them.
My friend calls him a Fascist. I call him a Democratic Fascist because it sounds funnier. Why? I mean, really, the shit that comes out of his mouth just doesn't stop, and it occurs on a daily basis. Ted Cruz AND Barack Obama were right on something. That's not something you can say every day (this is the only time I can think of that I've ever said that, in fact). Cruz refused to endorse Trump, as I have, because his conscience wouldn't let him. I respect that. And Obama said that Trump is unfit to be President, because at some point, enough is enough. I mean, really, how many times do Republicans have to distance themselves from things that Trump says? He is out of control. Him taking the bait and making questionable comments about the Muslim family whose son gave his life fighting for this country isn't even an issue compared to the other stuff he's said. The Russia hacking thing was a joke, so calm down on that. It's harmless. But the stuff about torture, things that make you wonder how he feels about the first amendment, things that worry me that he's more of a war-hawk than Killary, suggesting violating treaties, encouraging violence... It's a long list. Oh Long Johnson.
I'll watch the debates regardless. The SNL skits will write themselves. But I'm calling on all Internet users, all politicians, all celebrities, and all major publications to endorse and not ignore Gary Johnson if you think he is the best candidate. And if you don't think he's the best candidate, please ask yourself why. He's running against an untrustworthy, power-hungry, extremely careless criminal on the left side and an unpredictable, power-hungry, inciter of fear who keeps saying things that make us all wonder whether he understands the constitution on the right side. America is fractured because of the left nut and the right nut, so help JOHNSON-WELD America together again!
[Is that good? On the off chance that Gary Johnson somehow reads this post, whether or not he is partaking in weed at the time, I consent to him using that slogan if he would like to.]
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