I Hated Sanders; But Here’s Why His Supporters Should Vote For Johnson

August 23, 2016

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I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Bernie Sanders was my least favorite candidate for president. He was someone who I believed was a denier of reality and a man who never wanted to simply grow up. A $15 minimum wage, when most analysts showed clear evidence it’d cost the economy millions of jobs. A tax plan which the CBO projected would lead to a 10% cut in GDP within three years. A new set of aggressive regulations projected to cost the economy millions of jobs and drop the price of the DOW over a third. He was, on economics, the absolute worst candidate I’ve ever seen run for office in my lifetime; and he was so bad, I’d have paid to see Hillary win over him. As miserable as this sounds, I’d have voted for Trump if it was Bernie vs. Donny in the race for men who came from Brooklyn. With that being said, his supporters should still vote for Gary Johnson.

I’m going to get straight with the issues and also straight to the ones most Bernie supporters would have with Gary Johnson right off the bat: economics. I think it’s safe to say the Bernie lovers are on team Gary when it comes to social and foreign issues. He is the pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-Black Lives Matter, anti-war, pro-cutting defense spending, pro-immigrant and pro-pot governor who is on the ballot in all 50 states, ready to kick some social conservative neocon ass. But when it comes to economics, there is certainly a difference of opinion between Johnson and Sanders’ former supporters.

First off, would you rather have a capitalist economy or a Clinton cronyist economy? Think about this for a moment. Gary Johnson is the man saying end the minimum wage, abolish the corporate income tax, deregulate the economy and more stuff that comes from a copy-paste of Milton Friedman. However, is that really worse than what Hillary Clinton offers?

A country where banking is deregulated over regulated in favor of banks who donated money to Hillary and want to box competition out?

A country where we don’t have subsidies go to Big Oil or ethanol in the ways Hillary have advocated for with over the decades?

Also, can’t some liberals agree certain licenses and regulations are just stupid? Two years to get a license to cut hair? $50,000 in some states to serve mixed drinks at a bar? Laws in place making it illegal to drive around and pick up people in a cab? Literally hundreds of laws exist which I feel the most passionate of Bernie supporters can see how they hurt the poor and working class.

On this and many other issues, I’d make the first pitch for Gary Johnson being that Bernie Sanders should love his economic policies. They should want someone who is an incorruptible capitalist and will never game government with big companies, such as Clinton has. Allow banks to have competition and let them fail. Allow ordinary people to go out and form businesses or practice trades with consumers saying they’ll hire them over boatloads of regulation. Let people buy pharmaceutical products from any country in the world rather than those made in America with the FDA blocking out competition in favor of US economies. Have free trade rather than controlled big government trade. Make the market honest again.

This pitch for economics, I know, might be a little tougher for Bernie fans to swallow, but it’s the hardest pill to take down.

Going back into social issues and foreign policy issues, Gary Johnson and Bill Weld are the men to the Bernie Bros. They are the best guys on the planet for them. Bill Weld was the first governor to call for medical marijuana being legalized and also the first Republican governor to ever be for gay marriage. With Gary Johnson, he was always a pro-gay, pro-immigrant and pro-choice Republican who became the first governor ever to call for marijuana legalization. On foreign policy, Gary and Bill have a vision. Cut defense spending by a third. Eliminate the NSA. Eliminate the Patriot Act. Trade with all nations freely. End our current wars overseas. This is what they are about, and why people need to back them.

This begs the big question: Why not Jill Stein? Why not the person who Bernie Sanders supporters agree with on economics, social policy and foreign policy?

My answer is that Jill Stein and her virtually-unknown running mate are simply not serious candidates. Stein’s VP pick called Bernie Sanders a fake socialist Zionist, and any liberals backing him are in denial of their roots. He even has in the past called out people such as Beyoncé, claiming they are fake blacks who don’t recognize their roots. This being said after Beyoncé did a tribute to the Black Panthers movement.

For Jill Stein… She’s never held a single office in her life. She believes the best way to handle the national debt is inflation. She also seems to have very mixed thoughts on scientific realities such as GMOs and vaccines where she is pandering to her base in not supporting them.

Jill Stein won’t be on the ballot in all 50 states, she has gotten a fraction of the media Gary Johnson has, and she isn’t polling above 5%. This is my case against her. She’s not serious and the Bernie Sanders supporters will not find a good representative in her.

Next up, the stopping Donald Trump issue.

Now let me open up by saying if it came down to Hillary vs. Donald, I’d vote for Hillary Clinton. I think she’s the better of two evils in this case.

But why do I think she’s the better of two evils, you ask?

My answer is that she’s the more fiscally conservative candidate running.

Who has called to increase defense spending 50%, increase Medicare 25% and increase social security while investing $500 billion into infrastructure and unlimited tax credits for child care? Donald Trump.

In comparison, Hillary Clinton hasn’t seemed to call for any major spending hikes at all. Plus, any programs she’s calling for are likely just her pandering to Bernie people and will go into the shredder after her victory.

Who has called to basically destroy American free trade and put mass tariffs on Asian and Latin America? Donny Trump.

Hillary Clinton working with Bill brought about an era of free trade Democrats which I hope still exists.

Who has called for a $10 minimum wage? Don Trump.

Hillary seems to be at $9 and rarely gives tribute to the $15 effort, having it more of just something she says she’ll consider it, but we know never will.

Who has called for single-payer medicine? Likely Small D Trump.

Hillary has never formally called for single payer.

I find Clinton better than Trump due to her reminding me less of Bernie Sanders on economics and Trump making me get the vibe that he’s just a racist version of Sanders who is drunk on foreign policy.

With that, here are three terrible reasons the Bernie people have said they’ll vote for Clinton over Trump:

Reason 1. We Need To Defend The Courts

The simple fact is that Trump is probably going to try and make his heavily anti-gun and pro-choice judge sister, a Justice of the Supreme Court. Are we really going to put it past his ego to not put someone with his last name on the bench? His sister is a hardcore liberal and no one should be afraid of her on the left. Plus, the Senate will likely go Democrat anyway and the worst Trump will probably go for the left is picking the moderate Brian Sandoval.

Reason 2. Trump Is Insane

Oh, he’s bat-shit crazy. Luckily enough, Paul Ryan will be Speaker and Chuck Schumer will likely be Majority Leader, making it so they hold Donald’s hands and ensure he never gets a single thing done. His administration will be a flake, and likely just filled with flip-flops and empty bills most liberals will like.

Reason 3. I Don’t Trust Donald With The Bomb

And is Hillary Clinton much better on foreign policy? A woman who was in the top ten most military aggressive senators while in office and as Secretary of State set up the scene for ISIS and more? That’s who the Bernie people call their anti-war Plan B? Honestly, Trump is probably better on foreign policy over Hillary and less interventionist. It’s amazing, but sadly true. Donald Trump is the anti-war and pro-big government economics candidate.

In conclusion, here is one final note for the Bernie Sanders fans. I ask them to try again in 2020. Hillary Clinton wins and she will start a war, introduce some corporatist bills and be an unpopular president. She does this and in 2018, Mitch McConnell will be Speaker of the House again with Paul Ryan stronger than ever. She does this and in 2020 the Democrats won’t have a serious primary against her due to further rigging of the system and backdoor deals, but it’ll be the year of Ted Cruz. It will be Ted Cruz walking in as the most Christian and capitalist president ever who, unlike Trump, is smart enough to know what the hell he’s doing.

So I ask Bernie Sanders voters to make a real protest in backing Gary Johnson. There’s a small chance he can win and in the high probability that he will break 10% or 20%, he can influence whoever the winner is by showing politicians all over that America wants an anti-corruption capitalist who is anti-war and ready to offer social freedoms on the stage.

The era of Trump or Clinton is a scary one. Don’t be someone who can look back a decade later and call it a life regret voting for it.