By Matthew Dziak
By Matthew Dziak
To prevent a loss in votes, the Republican Party has engaged in a legal battle to prevent Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson from being the third name on the ballot.
With the 2012 presidential election just six weeks away, the Libertarian party has been gaining popularity among voters.
The Libertarian movement was popularized by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who has participated in the Republican primary race of 2008 as well as 1988 Presidential race as a Libertarian.
Former governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson is on the ballot as the 2012 Libertarian presidential candidate in place of Paul, who chose not to run but rather support Johnson’s bid.
Although unknown to the masses, Libertarians derive their views taking the best of what the two larger parties have to offer.
They believe in a laissez-faire fiscally conservative economic model, a common view of Republicans, while socially they believe in granting all civil liberties to citizens, allowing one the freedom of choice.
They believe that our economy should be a free market that does not involve government intervention in the form of bailouts, and eliminate the federal taxation of income, interest on savings or earnings.
But Libertarians do find themselves alienated for certain bold views they hold that others find to be irrational, especially Republicans.
For one, Libertarians believe in civil liberties that would allow the legalization of narcotics and also the release of prisoners who were convicted of non-violent drug possession charges only.
Conservative voters take issue with those beliefs and are partly the reason why Paul was unsuccessful in gaining the Republican nomination as a candidate.
However, the belief in liberty is a belief in choice, that American citizens should have the choice to engage in the use of drugs such as marijuana.
This has been a hot topic for many Californians that has been voted on as a proposition in prior elections.
The Libertarian parties believe these drugs should be enforced, regulated, distributed and have laws similar to that of alcohol.
They also advocate for major cuts from the outlandish spending of the federal government. According to usdebtclock.org the national deficit now stands at $56,999,398,079,433 trillion.
Another drastic view is the elimination of the Federal Reserve, commonly referred to as the Fed, as an economic governing body.
Libertarians believe it is the Fed’s strategic blunders for economic booms and bubbles such as banks selling default mortgage backed securities.
This contributed to the economic recession of 2008 that America is still trying to recover from.
The Fed possesses the power to print money, which decreases the value of the American dollar when printed too much, control of interest rates charged to lend banks money, as well as its purchasing power of bonds.
Johnson owned and operated a successful construction business prior to his eight year tenure as New Mexico’s Governor where he left a $1 billion dollar state surplus behind.
After a recent USA Today poll of registered voters, nearly five percent said they would cast their vote for Johnson.
With the race between President Barack Obama and former governor Mitt Romney tightening, the number of voters supporting the Libertarians could be the difference in the election.
The frivolous claim by the Republicans that those who will vote Libertarian are not actual Libertarian Party voters has been thrown out in every state including Ohio, Iowa, and Illionis, all of which happen to be swing states as well.
There has been a slogan introduced by social media outlets to label the 2012 presidential election as “voting for the lesser of two evils.”
The Libertarian party does not have enough funding or campaign contributors to compete with the millions in advertisement spent in the two larger parties.
Yet, gaining enough voter support to simply concern the two larger parties that voters have a third option on the ballot could be the key for the party to assist in bringing about the change that America has yearned for and was promised four years ago.
For voters afraid to put their hopes and trust in the two candidates from the major parties this is a breath of fresh air.
A new party going into a new direction, now that is a real change. We’ll just have to wait and see how this all pans out.