The height of an election season makes it hard to remember that the values that unite us as Americans are...
The height of an election season makes it hard to remember that the values that unite us as Americans are greater than that which divides us. In every election, the nation becomes separated by a gaping political chasm.
What’s different this year is the exceedingly large portion of the population — particularly among political independents and millennials — who are deeply dissatisfied with the Democratic and Republican party nominees.
As the Libertarian candidate for President, my message to voters is simple: You have another credible alternative, on the ballot in all 50 states. You can support fiscal responsibility and social inclusion. You don’t need to vote for a candidate you don’t like in order to stop one that you like even less.
We polled at 13% nationally and 62% of Americans told the pollster on Aug. 25 that they specifically wanted me included in the debates.In spite of all this, the Commission on Presidential Debates decided that only Clinton and Trump will be permitted to speak at Monday night’s debate.
This is everything that is wrong with American politics.
Voting for our ticket does not make it more likely that one of two disliked candidates will win. Instead, it makes it more likely that independents, fed up with both parties and their bipartisan bickering, will have a voice in Washington.
If you agree with Adrian here, you should reblog this. It’s not healthy for the system to have all candidates who are affiliated with one’s own group. That just reeks of corruption and something bad.
You have a third party candidate with an actual, genuine chance that isn’t a psycho, has a solid background, has built a business, have government experience, and has an actual idea of what he’s doing.
His name is Gary Johnson. He’s running as the Libertarian. You should check him out and consider voting for him.
OPINION | Voters don't have to settle for casting ballots against the "other guy."
I was the Republican governor of the heavily Democratic state of New Mexico. I focused on good government and I got it done. The people of New Mexico reelected me by a comfortable margin. Ditto for Weld. Think of it this way: I’m someone you would trust to run your household and to keep it safe while you went away on a trip or a vacation. I could even fix a few things around the house. After all, the construction company I founded began as a one-man handy-man operation. Can you say the same for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?
I’ve balanced budgets and cut taxes. I’ve also spoken my mind about where the country needed to go on personal freedoms and marriage equality. In 1999, I became the only sitting governor to publicly advocate the legalization of marijuana. Sen. Bernie Sanders came to that viewpoint — a position that most Americans support — 16 years later.
I’m also a strong believer in our Constitutional rights to civil liberties and privacy. Our government should not be spying on the electronic communications of American citizens. Nor should our iPhones or Android devices be subject to unreasonable searches and seizures.
And I understand that, as a nation and as a society, we have unfinished business to right the wrongs of injustice suffered by minorities. Blacks are 30 percent more likely that white to be apprehended by the police; they are three times more likely to be searched; they are arrested twice as often as whites; and they are 75 percent more likely to be charged with offenses carrying mandatory minimum sentences.
It is not surprising that there is tangible mistrust, tension and frustration between the police and African-Americans, particularly black males. We need to speak honestly about these issues in order to address them. Let’s be honest. We have healing to do.
One of the biggest concerns that many voters have with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, but particularly with Ms. Clinton, is the sense that she uses government power to advance her personal and political interests. She is the very status quo Americans want changed. She talks about progressivism, but lines her bank accounts with speaking fees from banks and special interests. That’s what crony capitalism is all about. Americans recognize pay-to-play when they see it, and they are really, really weary of it.
Having been governor of New Mexico, I know that legislation gets passed to benefit those who have money and influence. Then they buy more money and influence. As governor, I vetoed more than 750 bills and thousands of line items to keep crony capitalism away from government.
Another big difference between Hillary Clinton and myself is that I’m for our national tradition of peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations – while being extremely skeptical of committing ourselves and our armed forces to foreign conflicts.
As a Senator, she endorsed ill-advised foreign interventions. As Secretary of State, she was the architect of tragic and counter-productive policies in Libya, in Egypt and in Syria. These should not be America’s wars, and we ought not be prompting regime changes that serve only to replace bad actors with even worse actors and instability that makes us less safe.
Americans can find sanity and principle by voting Johnson/Weld in 2016.
If you've at any point said that you're voting outside the Republican or Democrat parties, then you've probably heard a very tired line. "You're wasting your vote!" is something that I've received ad nauseum since I made up my mind to leave the Republican party, and vote for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson. It's a phrase that many people believe they're logistically right for saying, | Read More »
If you've at any point said that you're voting outside the Republican or Democrat parties, then you've probably heard a very tired line.
"You're wasting your vote!" is something that I've received ad nauseum since I made up my mind to vote for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson. It's a phrase that many people believe they're logistically right for saying, since a vote that is not for their candidate is obviously a vote for the opposing candidate. It's not a very well thought out accusation. My vote is who it's for, and no one else.
Millenials tend not to fully identify with the current political binary of Republican or Democrat. While what we're seeing, in terms of party abandonment, is the result of widely unpopular candidates being chosen as their nominees, it only hastened something that was already happening.
Furthermore, many of those who have left the party have done so on principle. They can't get behind the proven liar, and expert manipulator, or the proven liar, and expert manipulator. And while many of us don't wholly agree with Johnson on every issue, he is honest about his intent and clear about his goals. That can't be said about Trump or Clinton, who will say what needs to be said at the time to get elected, and whose positions flip-flop with the wind.
Someone telling you that you're wasting your vote because you can't get on board with that kind of political fraudulence is absurd. Many of us are willing to bend our principles, but breaking them isn't what we signed on for with our particular parties.
But most of all, people who tell you that you're wasting your vote are telling you that your principles, and values, and beliefs aren't worth much. It's saying that selling out for a chance at winning something you don't really believe in is better than sticking to your guns and going down fighting for something better.
Gary Johnson is correct. For those of us who cringe at the mere mention of Trump or Clinton, a vote for them IS a wasted vote.
Vote your conscience.
This blog will be supporting Gary Johnson in the 2016 presidential election.
I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries....The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.
Young Americans are turning against Barack Obama and Obamacare, according to a new study of millennials, people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are vital to the fortunes of the president and his signature health care law.
According to the sudy, 57 percent of millennials disapprove of Obamacare, with 40 percent saying it will worsen their quality of care and a majority believing it will drive up costs. Only 18 percent say Obamacare will improve their care. Among 18-to-29-year-olds currently without health insurance, less than one-third say they're likely to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges
In addition to health care, domestic spying is an issue that puts Obama on the wrong side of the rising generation. While split on whether Edward Snowden is a "patriot" or a "traitor" for revealing Obama's surveillance programs, strong majorities of 18-to-29-year-olds oppose the government collecting information from social networks, Web-browsing histories, email, GPS locations, telephone calls, and text messages.
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy
On this Veteran's Day we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who proudly serve this great nation. The strength of these men, women, and families is inspiring. Today we remember and honor those individuals who have given everything for this country and thank those who are still fighting. God bless you all, and God bless America.
Millions of Americans are getting their health insurance canceled under the Affordable Care Act and the Obama administration has known for about three years that this would happen, NBC News is reporting.
About 50% to 75% of 14 million consumers who buy health insurance individually will receive a "cancellation" letter or its equivalent in the next year because their current policies don't meet the standards laid out by the new law, the news organization reports, citing four sources deeply involved in ACA.
Of those who will be forced to buy new insurance, many will face huge price increases, NBC reports.
Initially, the administration stipulated that policies in effect as of March 23, 2010, could be "grandfathered" or kept even if they don't meet the requirements of the new law. Later, the Department of Health and Human Services wrote regulations that narrowed that provision to dictate that if any part of those policies, such as co-pay or benefits, had substantially changed since then, they would not longer be grandfathered in.
NBC alleges the administration knew that up to 67% of customers on the individual market could have their policies canceled, but instead, President Obama said as recently as in 2012, "If (you) already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance."
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