Libertarian candidate sees opening on presidential stage

Posted by Wayne G. Barber

Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico and libertarian candidate for president. Photo by Jasper Craven/VTDigger

BURLINGTON — Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld predicted Wednesday night that in a year of broken political rules, it only made sense that America would elect its first third-party president in more than 150 years.

That candidate, Weld told an audience at the Sheraton Hotel, is Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, who is campaigning on a platform of budget cuts, term limits and social reforms.
“The third way really represents the thinking of a majority of the American people,” Weld told roughly 200 supporters. “As Gary says, ‘There are an awful lot of people out there who are Libertarian, they just don’t know it … yet!”
Seconds later, Johnson ambled onto the stage to greet his running mate. He then looked out at the crowd, and smiled energetically, looked slightly shocked.
“Is this the craziest election of all time?” Johnson began.
“You know how crazy it is?” he continued.
“How crazy is it?” the crowd roared back.
“I am going to be the next president!” Johnson answered, to applause.
Besides Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, Johnson is the only other candidate on the ballot in all 50 states. (Following a petition of 5,000 followers, he was officially cleared for the last ballot — Ohio — early Wednesday.)
Johnson ran as a Libertarian candidate for president in 2012, but received just 1 percent of the vote. This year, Johnson is hitting 10 percent in the polls, sometimes even higher.
And with Clinton and Trump rating as the two most unpopular presidential candidates in the last 10 election cycles, Johnson and Weld say they see an opening.
“Things have really changed on the street in the last couple of weeks,” said Weld. “Gary is absolutely mobbed at every airport we go to. He didn’t even have that face recognition two or three weeks ago.”

Bill Weld, former governor of Massachusetts and libertarian candidate for vice president. Photo by Jasper Craven/VTDigger

Both are former Republican governors from traditionally blue states, Johnson from New Mexico and Weld from Massachusetts. Both are fiscally conservative and socially liberal.
Casually dressed in jeans, the two cracked jokes in front of the audience, took questions and explained their positions. Above all else, they both promised to be honest.
“If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything,” they each said.
Johnson said his administration’s top priority would be fiscal responsibility, and while he acknowledged the need to compromise with Congress, he promised he would cut the federal budget and never raise taxes.
He ticked off a number of areas where he thought he could find savings. Johnson would raise the retirement age for social security benefits and reform entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
States are better equipped to find the best solutions, Johnson said.
His administration would cut the federal bureaucracy, including the agencies of Homeland Security, Education and Housing and Urban Development.
Johnson even criticized Obama’s air and flight travel, promising to “bring an end to the imperial presidency.”
“Oh my gosh, the president wants to go to Walgreens and it costs taxpayers $10 million to see that happen?” he said. “I mean, really, come on let’s bring an end to this.”
He said he would track closely to President Barack Obama’s non-interventionist approach to foreign policy, but that’s the only area where he would emulate the current commander-in-chief.
Johnson said that, if elected president, he would work to legalize marijuana, end the death penalty, impose term limits on members of Congress and promote free trade.
A more complete breakdown of the Johnson-Weld platform can be viewed here.
Among the several hundred libertarians in the room were a handful of state legislators, including Reps. Tim Burditt, R-West Rutland, Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, Patti Komline, R-Dorset, and Paul Dame, R-Essex Junction.
“If you are waiting for a purist, you will be waiting forever,” said Burditt, who initially supported Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential bid.
Burditt then cited a famous quote by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch in his plea for Libertarian support in the November elections: “If you agree with me on nine out of 12 issues, vote for me. If you agree with me on 12 out of 12 issues, see a psychiatrist.”