Voting for Gary Johnson for President. Here's Why

If you're like me and frustrated with both Clinton and Trump, this may resonate with you.

If the election were today, I'd be voting for the Johnson/Weld Libertarian Party ticket.

I fall into the "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" camp.

In general, I believe in free markets, not government as the driver of economic growth.  Government is enabler. (Perhaps this is why Estonia is so fascinating to me, but I digress.)

I also believe that government should stay out of our personal lives.

As for my logic, I'll try and break it down as follows:

• Qualification
• Policy Alignment
• Trust

Qualification
Head to head to head...in my mind, there's no doubt that the two ex-Governors are well-qualified.

This video does the job enough for me.

I'm biased towards executives with experience. Particularly those who have worked in a bi-partisan environment and been successful.

Policy Issues
Do I agree w/Johnson on everything? Not 100%, but pretty much. Certainly a greater percentage than those of either Clinton or Trump.

On social issues, Johnson and I see eye to eye.

On economic issues, definitely.

It's true that he doesn't support any foreign aid, but at least he's consistent in that and, to be honest, I am open to discussing that as something that might be a good idea (talking about Israel mostly here). I'm not 100% clear on his definition of "defense," but so far, I haven't found anything horrifically objectionable.

Trust
Let's get the easy one out of the way. Trump is not trustworthy at all. 100% horrific.

The thing is...for me, neither is Hillary Clinton.
It's a different type of mistrust.  There are just too many scandals and too many questions for me.

Johnson on the other hand...after I watched some of his interviews, I viewed him as trustworthy.

Final thoughts (for now)
As the father of two daughters, I love the idea of a woman President of the US. Yet, I'm not willing to overlook my perception of Clinton's character flaws of this particular person in order to have a symbol or make a point.

And...if you put a gun to my head and said "Trump or Clinton," I would say "Clinton."

However, I don't have to make that choice.

I prefer to vote for someone I think can do the job well...not for someone who is just less worse than the other guy.

Hence, Johnson-Weld.


But There's More....
In a "normal" election, that would be enough, but we're not in a "normal" election.

I expect to get (and have already gotten) statements like:

• "a vote for Johnson is a vote for Trump"
•  "you're throwing your vote away"
•  "you're naive for thinking you can make a difference," 
• and more....

I'll deal with those in a future post.

Stay tuned.