Intelligent business managers know that success isn’t made in the current quarter or the previous one. It’s made over time, often from initiatives started years prior. It takes effort and perseverance to see the results. This is the case with Libertarians and our candidate, Gary Johnson.
The Libertarian Party has been around for decades, often drawing in the severely disenfranchised, the most liberty-minded, and the business-oriented among us. Today, it’s drawing in a new crowd – the average voter who truly cares about issues on both sides of the spectrum – but is finding no representation in a divided Congress. It can no longer be acceptable to delay solutions to issues that need to work now because of minor disagreements. Our country is severely divided. It seems only Libertarians are willing to walk into the fire and stand up for both sides, and to push progress forward.
I’ve followed Gary Johnson since I became of legal voting age in 2008. I was a Ron Paul supporter. I wrote my op-eds, and did my duty to support the best candidate for the job. We had a “Revolution.” The kind where the “EVOL” is turned around and made into “LOVE.”
Many of my friends and family talked fondly of both Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, but were afraid that they were “wasting their vote” if they voted for them. Even if they disagreed with the policies of the candidates I chose to support, not one had a bad word to say about either. The false concept of a “wasted vote” is an issue of all non-dominant parties.
After the 2008 election, many of them expressed regret for their voting choice.
I am proud to see the concept of “wasted vote” eroding and breaking away within my peers and family. This election, and likely the following elections to come, are providing the Libertarian Party
ample opportunity to break the fear cycle of the two-party system that our country has unfortunately found itself in. It’s no longer about voting against something or someone, it’s about voting for something. Taking a stand and voting for what you believe in.
I am seeing happen what I knew all along: that once the two-party system began to show fissures and people began to let go of the fear of party politics, progress could be made towards a better system that represented the people, not the career politicians and their interests.
Gary Johnson and the Libertarian Party have made me proud this year. This is the year that we truly broke into the mainstream and grabbed the nation’s attention. Gary Johnson has even got an article on The Onion, and even they can’t pick out what’s particularly bad about him!
The Libertarian Party has been here for decades. We’ve been supported by many who’ve called themselves Democrats, Republicans, Greens, and independents. We know many people who align
with these parties now, but only out of convenience. As media coverage grows and attention grows, so do our ranks. The average voter can find many issues they agree within the Libertarian platform, and that’s why many people who learn more about the Libertarian Party end up joining.
It’s true that this election cycle is volatile, but it wasn’t made this way in a year, or even two. Neither was the Libertarian Party or the Gary Johnson campaign. Thanks to social media and whistle-blowers, we are only seeing the effects now of a system that was built this way over decades and the party that resisted it all of these years. We are seeing a major shift in the way people view party politics.
Whether this sticks around after 2016 remains to be seen, but with the huge unpopularity of our current Congress, I think we will be seeing a lot more shifting and revelation to come. I think the Libertarian Party will continue to grow. It will unite tired, divided factions to push United States policy forward for all Americans.
* Lauren Lanz is a digital business development professional living in the Seattle area.
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