Power to the Person

I had never heard of him before, but I just Googled him and found a bunch of information. It’s really interesting, and honestly really cool, that he’s pro-marijuana, pro-gay rights, pro-choice, and anti-internet censorship even though he was a Republican for most of his life. His reasonableness is super appealing as a political candidate. And it’s badass that he does Ironmans. I also like his idea of limiting government, just because I think that while the government is necessary, it seems to have caused as many problems as its solved.

The other side of the coin is that I also think politics isn’t the answer to our problems, and even if Gary Johnson got elected I’m not sure how much of an impact he as an individual could have. Maybe his unusual, aisle-spanning views could win him a lot of support. But it doesn’t help that I, an average American about to vote in the election, hadn’t heard of him.

(As an aside, my biggest problem with politics is that it largely consists of defining a person as a set of different labels, which are inherently limiting, like i just did - pro-choice, pro-gay rights, etc. And when you support such a person, people confer those labels onto you. Thus it becomes possible for a Democrat to make sweeping, inaccurate, and unproductive statements like “Republicans are dumb,” or the other way around. And this detracts from the debate, from the actual issues that are at stake. I think social change outside of government is the best way to go about it. I just don’t believe in our way of politics, it’s tiresome)

I think Republicans of old were the more fiscally responsible group, and given that he doesn’t seem to be like the douchey stubborn Republicans of today, he would probably help the economy. I also wonder where he stands on energy and the environment because that’s probably the number one issue for me. Anyway, he seems like a really unconventional politician, I like him. I wish more people were aware of his existence.

This is probably a more detailed answer than you were looking for… but there you have it