On November 8th, millions of Americans will vote for the candidate they feel is best aligned with their views and beliefs.
Or will they?
Are people going to vote for the candidate that aligns with their beliefs or just vote for someone because they don’t want the other? That’s what it seems like a lot of people are going to do, and it is something that I almost did myself. I consider myself an independent who leans right most of the time, and my candidate in the primaries was Marco Rubio before he eventually dropped out due to low poll numbers. After Rubio dropped out, I was on standby to see who won the Republican primaries. While I was waiting, I saw more and more things about Gary Johnson on Facebook and other media outlets. Some bad, but mostly good things. When I would express my appreciation for Johnson, many of my friends and family would say they like him but it’s a wasted vote.
I believed that until recently.
I did believe that voting for Johnson would be a wasted vote, but I have come to the reality that voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton would not only be a wasted vote, but a threat to our country. Both candidates are horrible options for President of the United States. Both are riddled with lies, scandals, horrible ideas, and none are for the people of America. They only care about winning office and forgetting about you until 2020 comes around. I can’t vote for either Trump or Clinton because I don’t want the other one to win. That’s a horrible excuse to vote for a person and the direct reason why this country is in such bad shape right now.
I cannot vote for a man who believes in groping women; I was raised better than that. I cannot vote for a woman who has left people hung out to dry in foreign countries and have tons and tons of emails reveal she is the exact opposite of what she claims to be. Neither candidates care about YOU. Johnson has not had his brightest moments with some foreign policy questions, but at least he admitted to his mistakes and vows to become a better person for his followers. It is sickening that the media bashed Johnson over and over about a brain fart over a foreign country when we have other candidates embroiled in email and sexual assault scandals, and people still run around like their candidate is superior to Johnson.
Now, as I mentioned before, I consider myself a right-leaning independent, so Trump’s policies do not exactly align with mine either. This is another reason why Johnson is my candidate. He lines up with many of my Republican views, but also lines up with some of my views that are not Republican. One major one that makes him superior to Trump is civil liberties. This includes gay marriage, religious freedoms and other Amendment rights. I believe people should marry who they want. Who am I to say you can’t love whoever you like. Whether they are black, white, gay, straight, anything. Something else that I strongly agree with in Johnson is religious freedoms. Johnson wants to protect everyone’s religious freedom. While Clinton and Trump want to restrict it to their own preferences.
That’s not how it should be. Everyone should be treated equally. I grew up in church, and at home and in church I was always taught that everyone should be accepted for who they are, such as the color of their skin, and the religion they believe in. That is something I pride myself on and I am proud that I support a candidate that believes this. There are too many times I see a Christian discriminate against a gay person or a gay person discriminate against a Christian.
This must stop.
Something else that has been very big in the media is Trump and his wall. Johnson has a very simple and great plan to deal with the border. As the former the governor of New Mexico, Johnson is much more experienced than Clinton or Trump on immigration policy. Building walls will only divide relations with Mexico. But at the same time, we can’t just let whoever we want to flood the country. We must do decisive background checks, provide work visas, as well as create incentives for non-citizens to pay their taxes.
Term limits is also something that Johnson believes in, and I support. Setting term limits would make politicians work for the people that voted them in. Politicians won’t focus on getting re-elected if they have term limits. They would be forced to work on helping the people that voted them into that position.
Last and certainly not the last reason I am voting for Johnson is taxes and jobs. I have always believed that the economy works well when we have an actual middle class, and taxes are cut for middle class families to help them make more money. Middle class families are what help stimulate the economy. Johnson’s plan basically is to simplify the tax code and close loopholes. Give tax breaks to businesses to help hire more people and stimulate the economy. This ties into jobs. Both Johnson and Weld have the best record out of any candidates on creating jobs in their respected states while they were governors in that state. This is something that Johnson and Weld believe they can bring into the White House and help create jobs nationwide.
While Johnson is not expected to win on November 8th, that still does not mean my vote will be wasted. My vote will go towards the start of change. This two-party system in America MUST stop and soon before it’s too late. This election is very, very important for the third-party. If Johnson gets just 5% of the vote, he would get some major federal funding for next election. Johnson has certainly gotten the attention of undecided voters or voters who are tired of the two-party system and nobody caring about them in Washington. Johnson gives us hope he will work for us in Washington. If you are reading this and are an undecided voter, I hope you really do take a look at Johnson before election day. Even if you are set on Trump or Clinton and are not really confident about your candidate, I urge you to re-evaluate the options in the voting booth. Vote for change, not for who you don’t want.
* Sean Reece has been writing sports articles for three years. This is his first political article.
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