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What I posted on Facebook to a friend asking about Gary Johnson
Please note that my personal opinion of Clinton is MUCH higher than I'm indicating here. I'm trying to answer in the context that the question is being asked, by someone clearly not enthusiastic about Clinton.
The question was: "Anyone have an opinion of the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson? What are you hearing? There needs to be a better choice."
Besides the already-noted fact that Johnson has shown himself to be lacking in knowledge and experience, I don't personally care much for the Libertarian platform -- something that appeals only to people willing to take Ayn Rand seriously.
The choices are what the choices are, whether they "need" to be better or not. Either Clinton or Trump will be our next President, end of story. No magical moment where the country galvanizes behind Johnson or Stein or anyone else is going to happen in the next 40 days.
Please don't think of your vote as some sort of "reward" a candidate must "earn". Your vote is first and foremost about the end result your vote achieves. Consoling your conscience or "sending a message" (a "message" for which there is no mechanism whereby you can be assured the message you intend will be the one received) with a protest vote ignores the importance of voting as a public duty in favor of using voting as self-indulgent personal expression.
In my personal opinion, Clinton is the only reasonable choice in this election. Even if I generously grant half the terrible things said about Clinton by the frothing-at-the-mouth right wing media, she would at worst be a garden-variety corrupt politician, but one smart enough to act within the constraints of trying not to get caught, no worse than our Republic has endured many times before.
Trump, on the other hand, is a totally different beast: erratic, volatile, narcissistic in the extreme, ignorant and proud of it, incapable of ever admitting personal fault, showing extremely limited ability to take good advice or to learn from mistakes, playing to the worst of people's fears and prejudices -- someone who would be terrible even if ordinary checks and balances can contain him.
And given the contempt Trump has shown for ordinary checks and balances, I do not think it is at all an exaggeration to worry that he might not remain constrained. He shares far too many personality traits with dictators and other "strongmen" of history to dismiss the possibility he could become, if not a Hitler, an American Mussolini. Is even a 5% chance of that worth the risk?[div]
The choices are what the choices are, whether they "need" to be better or not. Either Clinton or Trump will be our next President, end of story. No magical moment where the country galvanizes behind Johnson or Stein or anyone else is going to happen in the next 40 days.
Please don't think of your vote as some sort of "reward" a candidate must "earn". Your vote is first and foremost about the end result your vote achieves. Consoling your conscience or "sending a message" (a "message" for which there is no mechanism whereby you can be assured the message you intend will be the one received) with a protest vote ignores the importance of voting as a public duty in favor of using voting as self-indulgent personal expression.
In my personal opinion, Clinton is the only reasonable choice in this election. Even if I generously grant half the terrible things said about Clinton by the frothing-at-the-mouth right wing media, she would at worst be a garden-variety corrupt politician, but one smart enough to act within the constraints of trying not to get caught, no worse than our Republic has endured many times before.
Trump, on the other hand, is a totally different beast: erratic, volatile, narcissistic in the extreme, ignorant and proud of it, incapable of ever admitting personal fault, showing extremely limited ability to take good advice or to learn from mistakes, playing to the worst of people's fears and prejudices -- someone who would be terrible even if ordinary checks and balances can contain him.
And given the contempt Trump has shown for ordinary checks and balances, I do not think it is at all an exaggeration to worry that he might not remain constrained. He shares far too many personality traits with dictators and other "strongmen" of history to dismiss the possibility he could become, if not a Hitler, an American Mussolini. Is even a 5% chance of that worth the risk?[div]
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