Top 5 Things Missing from the Debate without Gary Johnson
by Aya Katz
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for president, has not been invited to the debate to be held tonight, even though he is on the ballot in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia. He will be conspicuous by his absence.
The Commission on Presidential Debates, which is run by a cartel of Washington insiders from the Republican and Democratic parties, wants to keep Johnson out. They say it is because he does not have 15% in the polls, but they have in some instances refrained from adequately polling the one demographic in which Johnson is doing better than the other candidates: 18-to-34-year-olds. Johnson is also polling very well with independents of all ages, but the Commission on Presidential debates is apparently not interested in the opinions of independents.
The debate is designed to make the American public believe that on Tuesday, November 8, they have one of two choices: Evil Number One or Evil Number Two; Pepsi or Coke.
Gary Johnson is the “uncola.” He is a completely different choice. And when he is missing from the debate, a number of important elements go missing, too.
5. Overhauling the Bureaucracy
Gary Johnson wants to completely overhaul the Federal bureaucracy. He would do away with the Department of Homeland Security, the IRS, the DEA and the Department of Education. Neither of the other two candidates are even considering anything like this. They want business as usual, with an expansion of the federal government for their own pet projects, whether it be a wall to keep people out or a stop and frisk policy to strip us of more civil liberties, or the grandiose plan of confiscating all our guns and nationalizing the medical profession, so that everyone can have “free” health care. Both major candidates want to continue to ruin our education system with government incentives and mandates. Neither wants to set us free to make our own choices.
Johnson is completely different. He does not want to pass more laws telling us what to do. Instead, he wants to do away with the choke-hold that government has on our lives. Johnson believes we should choose how to live, what to put in our bodies, how we can spend our own money, and what we want to teach our children. He believes that we as individuals have more competence to make the important decisions about our lives than any government official. But the people in Washington do not want us to hear about that.
4. Putting a Stop to the Endless Wars
Johnson would get us out of the business of war. He believes in a strong defense, and receives majority support from servicemen and women. But he does not want to continuously intervene in foreign lands to achieve dubious goals that have nothing to do with us and our security. Johnson understands that every time we intervene in a foreign conflict, we are creating enemies for ourselves without actually solving any problems for anyone else. The other two candidates are both warmongers: Clinton has a history of fomenting wars on foreign soil; Trump worships at the feet of Vladimir Putin and he has dreams of empire.
Johnson is the only peace-loving candidate. The people in Washington would rather you hear a contest between two warmongers than listen to someone who wants to put an end to foreign wars.
3. Repealing the income tax
Every year, a huge chunk of everyone’s income goes missing. This has a negative effect on our economy, and the taxes just keep going up. The other two candidates each have a plan to privilege some people’s incomes at the expense of other people. They have ideas about how to change things up by re-writing the rules a little here or there, the way the insiders do every few years. But Johnson’s idea is completely different: do away with the income tax. No more withholding, Social Security taxes that hurt the poorest of the poor, waiting for that refund, or burdens on employers and small businesses that make it hard to hire new workers.
This would mean a bigger paycheck for every single American. It would mean total and complete equality under the law, because tax brackets, and all the corruption that goes with them, would be eliminated. It would mean that if you earned it, you get to keep it. But Washington does not want you to hear about that!
2. Doing away with Obamacare — and not Replacing it with Something Worse
Obamacare is not working. Forcing people to buy insurance whether they want it or can afford it is not working. Both major parties recognize the problem, and each of the big party candidates has a plan to fix this. The plan they are both working toward is eventually having medicine that is entirely socialized. The only difference between the two is just how fast we go down that road. Trump wants to control medicine, and so does Hillary.
Johnson has a different plan. He would do away with Obamacare and not replace it with anything else. He would let you buy insurance if you want it or can afford it, and he would let you choose to pay cash for your health care if that is what works for you. As soon as health insurance is not mandatory, prices are bound to go down. As soon as doctors and hospitals no longer have deep pockets to reach into, medical services will also cost less. Things will get better, as soon as the government gets out of our business. Johnson knows that because he is a two-time governor of New Mexico, where he made things better by keeping the state out of people’s lives. But Washington does not want you to hear about that!
1. A Sane Alternative
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are so intent on destroying each other that they have brought our political discourse to the level of personal insult. It has become a shouting match. This doesn’t just demean the Democrats and the Republicans. It demeans all of us if this is the choice we are forced to make. The world is laughing at the American people. Our Republic and our freedom and our way of life have become so degraded that two demagogues are fighting over which of them gets to rule over us.
Johnson is different. He talks about ideas and ideals, and is calm, deliberate and reflective. He is not constantly focusing on what is wrong with someone else. Johnson does not care what peccadilloes the other candidates may have committed in their personal lives or how best to insult them. His focus is positive. When he makes mistakes, he admits them right away, instead of trying to draw attention to somebody else’s faults as a distraction. He’s honest. He’s healthy. And he is the only sane choice. But Washington doesn’t want you to hear about that.