Say it ain’t so Gary…

Once upon a time I found myself taking part in the selection of a replacement for a management job I was leaving. Someone who wasn’t right for the position, for a multitude of reasons, applied and was interviewed as a courtesy. When that person wasn’t hired they reacted in a negative and callow way. Their view was that he wasn’t given proper consideration even though he was the most qualified. In reality he wasn’t qualified and there were better candidates. It was admirable that they were ambitious enough to try but that person, in their vanity and lust for authority, behaved in a way proving the selection group right.

We have reached a similar point with former Governor Gary Johnson. Mr. Johnson was a good governor for New Mexico. Certainly there are some who disagreed with certain policies but no one agrees with anyone on everything and he left the state in great shape financially. Leaving office almost ten years ago he has given speeches in support of libertarian causes but has not done much else related to politics. Having mulled the decision publically Mr. Johnson entered his name into the Republican primary for President. Unfortunately he never gained any traction and has been omitted from almost every primary debate so far because of national polling numbers less than the margin of error effectively reducing his campaign to a statistical flourish in terms of voter support.

Mr. Johnson meets all the required qualifications for President and he was an effective and conservative Governor; the only positions causing many voters concern included libertarian leanings towards drugs, foreign policy among others. Perhaps the combination of being Governor of a sparsely populated state, mostly out of politics for nearly ten years and having no discernable national political profile doomed his candidacy. Even with the base qualifications he just did not resonate with enough potential voters to matter in the primary which is the most important qualification of all.

Mr. Johnson has decided otherwise telling a local news program:

"From what I see and hear on the ground, I think a lot more people embrace this message than not, and the Republicans certainly aren't even letting me be heard,"

Mr. Johnson has decided to seek the office as the libertarian candidate blaming a conspiracy against him for his lack of support in the Republican primary. New Mexico is a swing state and while it does not have many electoral votes they will count in a close race. Mr. Johnson is willfully ignoring reality thinking that he would have any chance to do anything other than hurt the eventual Republican candidate towards earning New Mexico’s, and possibly other states, electoral votes. It is of the utmost importance next election year to select a sober and responsible candidate who can defeat the incumbent and sore losers running on distant third party tickets splitting the right-ish vote won’t help.

In an age where people who are unknown can become celebrities overnight through internet videos it is difficult to believe that Gary Johnson’s message is being withheld by dark forces. Because of vanity he won’t accept the reality that he is not a viable candidate for President for the reason that almost everyone prefers someone else. Mr. Johnson should reconsider this decision.