No offense, but I don't get the Bernie supporters who are thinking of voting for Johnson. I guess I can understand Stein from an ideological standpoint, but not Johnson.
I cast a vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary because he was the only candidate on either side who gives a damn about civil liberties, and was the least likely to get us involved in yet another pointless war. We have a Democratic candidate who shouldn't be allowed near the White House under any desirable circumstances, a Republican Party now hell-bent to enact as much racism, hatred, and international conflict that they can possibly get away with in 2016, and then of course we have Green Party candidate Jill Stein: an anti-science nut with less qualification to be elected president than the average Atlas user. Gary Johnson is the only candidate running in this cycle that I could possibly cast a ballot for in all honesty.
Yeah, at this point I can't really do anything other than to point out that regardless of how I vote, I totally disavow Jill Stein. There are other reasons to support the Greens, whether it's for the sake of supporting the only left-of-center cause on your presidential ballot, or because you want to show support for your state Green Party affiliate (which is not necessarily as ridiculous and dangerous on the issue of vaccines as Stein has become), or because you want the Green Party to be eligible for FEC matching grants.
Johnson has his own scary moments, so I'm not willing to concede that he's a better option for Sanders supporters who are not willing to vote for Clinton. Then again, if you think that helping the Libertarians get to 5% of the national popular vote (becoming eligible for FEC grants, and just generally gaining credibility) is likely to move votes away from the Republican column in future elections, that's one reason to cast your vote for Johnson.
Yeah I mean I like Johnson, but I do have certain disagreements with him as well. (i.e. I'm sure he's not as enthusiastic about unions as I am as a rank and file member of the UFCW, and I'm certain I'm not quite as enthusiastic as he is about top rate tax cuts (though tbf I don't support any tax rate above 50% nowadays either.) I really don't have an issue with the Green Party as a whole, and in some cases would support a Green Party candidate: (most likely would have voted for Hawkins in the 2014 New York Gov race.)
While none of the candidates including the LP and the Greens are perfect, Johnson is definitely the most ardent defender of civil liberties and rights by a wide margin, has a good track record on the environment especially compared to the mainstream GOP, but without (most) of the crazy that Stein brings to the table.
Of course no one in this situation really quite fills the void perfectly, but I think most reasonable Americans who want an effective government that protects the people, without feeling the need to BUILD A WALL ON THE BORDER, can find a home in the Johnson campaign. Granted, I'm not sure I'd vote for most LP nominees given their tendencies to want to privatize everything including prisons and the military, but I happen to believe that Gary is probably about the most sane person you'll find in that particular party.
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