When the news broke that Gary Johnson would be invited to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America “Commander-In-Chief Forum” for presidential candidates, after not being originally invited, libertarians went berserk.
But not all is as it seems. The IAVA has recently clarified in a statement that Gary Johnson will not appear with Trump and Clinton, but participate in a separate, non-televised event. The news comes to us as a major let down, as we have had our voices suppressed on the basis of being a third party. They stated, “we have now reached out to Governor Johnson’s campaign to invite him to a separate Commander-in-Chief Forum event,” after asserting that “though Mr. Johnson still does not meet the historical standard for general election meetings between candidates set by the Presidential Debate Commission, IAVA took the extra step to develop our own, more inclusive threshold for our ‘Commander-in-Chief Forum.’”
This, while not the worst outcome possible, comes to the dismay and disappointment of libertarians, considering a poll showed that Johnson has the most support among veterans with 38.7% of the vote, versus 30.4% for Trump, and 14.1% for Clinton, not to the mention that Johnson is polling around 10% nationally. Libertarians see the invite as a half-hearted attempt at inclusiveness. Johnson’s appearance is separate from the top two candidates, and will not be televised. IAVA hasn’t yet set a date for the Johnson appearance, but it is likely that it will be some time after the event that Trump and Clinton will attend on September 7th.
* Nicholas Amato is a writer and contributor for Being Libertarian. He’s an undergraduate student at San Jose State University, majoring in political science and minoring in journalism.
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