Gary Johnson

If the US was ever going to bust out of a rigged two party system, it seems like this is the election. The two parties have basically served an opportunity up to the liberterians. Might be coming out of voting retirement for this one.

+1

I’ll most likely be voting for Gary Johnson in this election. I don’t necessarily agree with all of his views, but my thought process is that my vote is unlikely to matter since I live in NY, so I might as well vote for a third party in the slight chance that a large third party turnout will entice people like Bloomberg, et. al., to run on a third party platform in the future.

This. Also, I haven’t voted since 2004, telling people I refuse to vote on principle until someone heeds the unclaimed voter base and turns out a viable candidate. With Gary Johnson here and the opportunity that exists, I feel like if I don’t vote this time I can’t claim some sort of moral high ground and keep blaming a complacent system, instead I’ll have to be honest and just call it my own complacency and laziness.

A third party will never work until we get rid of the majority (winner) takes all in elections. It’s absolutely pointless to vote third party but it’s your right to cast a protest vote.

I’ve see a couple #feelthejohnson hashtags on my facebook…

I used to feel the same way about voting, but Sweep actually was instrumental in changing my mind. Let me see if I can find the thread and bump it.

^It was the “no vote, no voice” thread.

http://www.analystforum.com/forums/water-cooler/91329301

And here is the aforementioned post by Sweep:

Why not? Pretty much any election for head of state is winner takes all. This logic doesn’t make sense. Where two entities can compete, three can compete.

I weighed in against Sweep on that one and stand with my stance on that. My view was I don’t vote (and speak through my non-vote) until there is a real viable candidate. I have not changed my stance. But now, in my mind we have a real viable candidate.

^Gary Johnson was a candidate in 2012, too. Why is he more viable today than he was then?

95% of Americans have no idea who Gary Johnson is. Until Turd’s venture takes off and he can start a $1.5 billion super PAC to rival Hillary’s campaign funds, Gary is going to remain obscure.

Correct. The US system favors a 2 party system. If we had a parliamentary system like the UK or its colonies, it wouldn’t be a winner-take-all result.

Full Disclosure: I won’t vote. I’m happy with status quo.

the problem is that your individual vote doesn’t really matter but if everyone who thought like you voted, it would make a difference.

also, as a Brit, I would strongly discourage casting a protest vote. It can backfire

Externalities (ie competing candidates)

If enough of the anti-establishment social media hip Bern camp jumps on the wagon that could easily change.

Yeah, but I can only control my vote and on principle I can get behind GJ. Plus this isn’t a protest vote (non-voting was my protest non-vote). I’d be good with him winning. Psyched tbh.

Im between GJ and the Green party candidate. In NY so it doesnt matter who I vote for. Probbaly throw my vote to GJ to help make a compelling third party or to force the republican party to not put up butt wipes as candidates (see ted cruz & marco rubio)

What exactly is this non-voting message you’re sending? Roughly 129,000,000 people voted in 2012 and and 106,000,000 did not. By joining that 106 Million, what impact did you have on anyone?

Surely there was a man or woman out there that you would have preferred to have in office. How was not voting possibly a better message than writing in his/her name?