Disaffected conservatives will listen to the Libertarian nominee — if he chooses to speak to them.
It is time to start taking Gary Johnson seriously. No, seriously. Almost despite himself, the Libertarian-party nominee finds himself on the verge of securing a spot in the presidential debates this fall, having hit 13 percent in a recent CNN poll, just two percentage points short of the threshold to qualify. At stake, of course, is national exposure, and relevance in the race if he capitalizes. Holding him back is the fact that Johnson’s highest-profile appearances have so far been lackluster, owing in part to his deficiencies as a candidate and in part to the impulse of American voters to gravitate toward candidates who make lofty promises. Nevertheless, Johnson is gaining a bit of steam as he meets with big-time editorial boards, earns the attention of outlets like The New Yorker and FiveThirtyEight, and flushes the cannabinoids out of his system (it’s been eight weeks!).
The Libertarian ticket — Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, and running mate William Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts — has no small amount of real-world political experience. So far the ticket has been content to focus attention mainly on moderates, an approach that did John Anderson little good in 1980. Johnson and Weld trumpet their divergence from Republican policy on social and foreign-policy issues, in what could be an effective tack to pick up young independents in the general election. But the Libertarian platform, with its emphasis on economic freedom and prudence in governing, has several key elements of conservatism. It offers refuge for the record-high number of people who voted against an eventual party nominee in the Republican primary, coextensive with the people who still believe in limited government. So far, though, Johnson-Weld is drawing support equally from Democrats and Republicans. So if the Libertarians want to bring their numbers up, they must demonstrate their comparative virtues to these disaffected conservatives. To maximize support, Gary Johnson needs to court the Right.
But therein lies a problem. American politics may be in a state of profound rot, but Johnson is inclined to point it out only on the right. The Republican party is indeed an embarrassment: Its historically unpopular nominee cribs policy from — and praises — Turkish autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdogan; his wife (or her speechwriter) plagiarized her speech at the convention. Trump supporters are epistemological relativists who attack the truth for being disloyal to their man. Meanwhile, the party’s thoughtful, decent voices have either yielded to the authoritarian wave or been declared traitors. About all this Johnson has been publicly vocal. He is among Donald Trump’s most outspoken and effective critics, and his critique of what has become Republican orthodoxy is generally scathing and at times incisive.
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Originally Posted by euphemia
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