Vote for Gary Johnson for President
This year I have heard many people announce they will not vote for either Mr. Trump or Secretary Clinton. Of course, they have many very good reasons for their position, reasons I won’t rehash. I also intend to vote for neither of them. However, I think it is important to simply not vote for president. The pundits will just say “low voter turnout.”
I think it is better to vote for an actual person, either Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party or Jill Stein of the Green Party. You can find out what they are all about by visiting their web sites. Gary Johnson received 1% of the popular vote in 2012. It would not surprise me in the least if he were to receive about 15% of the vote this year. I’m pretty sure such a result would not be interpreted as a sign that Americans suddenly are becoming Libertarians. No, it will be interpreted as a protest vote against the unpalatability of the major party candidates.
It may safely be assumed that neither Johnson nor Stein will get enough electoral college votes (if even any at all) to win the presidency. In other words, a big vote for them should properly be interpreted as a protest vote, a sort of “none of the above” idea.
Finally, Trump supporters tell their anti-Trump Republican friends “if you don’t vote it’s a vote for Hillary”; conversely, Clinton supporters tell their anti-Clinton Democrat friends “if you don’t vote it’s a vote for Donald.” But if you vote for as I suggest, you may reply “no, my vote went to Gary (or Jill).”
Herm Faubl
Sun City resident
