Friday, November 09, 2012
Johnson Sets Libertarian Record for Votes
In the aftermath of Tuesday's, well, depressing victory by President Obama, I noticed something rather interesting in the national results - Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson captured one million one hundred thousand votes, or the highest vote total for their party in history.
Where did this come from?
I knew there was an underbelly of libertarianism that had infected our nation's politics, but did we really just see the small, feeble Libertarian Party double their vote total when turnout was down almost ten million votes from last election... Apparently, that's a yes... But why?
Gary Johnson isn't a household name like Ron Paul is, he wasn't noticed in the GOP primaries - except for a joke involving Obama and dog crap - and his best state was his home New Mexico at 3.5%, or 27,000 votes. None of the aforementioned factoids point towards Johnson becoming the first Libertarian to best a million votes.
However, the answer might lie in the growing anti-Washington sentiment simmering in the western United States, as he took the Libertarians to over 1% in every Rocky Mountain and Pacific State, and in some cases 2%, and he did so with increasing vote totals when overall turnout was down.
And while some of Johnson's 1.1 million votes probably came from disaffected pro-marijuana legalization Democrats, I bet you most where potential Romney voters, or at the least former McCain supporters, and if so, is yet another demographic issue for the Republican Party to deal with as we look to 2016 and rebuilding.
What say you?
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I am a former Bush Republican who after his increasing the national debt, adding government agencies, and reducing American Liberties turned away. I vote Libertarian for the first time this year after a realization moment where it just made sense. I'm a fiscal conservative who can't stand the GOP or Democrats wasting another trillion dollars. Do you know the difference between the Obama budget and the House recommendation this year? $3.8 trillion and $3.5 trillion. Even worse, the deficit difference is even narrower at $1.1 trillion vs $1 trillion. Great conservatism there. On the social side of things, Libertarians support a lack of government intervention in people's lives and choices, including social contracts such as marriage and drug use. So as a Libertarian I am supposed to vote for someone who is going to keep spending our nation into oblivion and doesn't align with my social view of small government?
ReplyDeleteYAY!!!
ReplyDeletewhat bunch of dumb-asses,
dumber than Obama voters.