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Gary Johnson
Editor’s note: This is in response to the Aug. 24 commentary by Ariel Bickel, “Johnson’s Senate run leaves voters out in the cold.”
COMMENTARY: In my opinion, this piece is simply an attempt to point the finger at Gary Johnson simply because he has the potential for an upset. At the end of the day we all know that politics is a bit of a dirty game — and when a candidate worries others, they tend to try and throw dirt at them.
I’ve seen a lot of talk against Gary for entering the race late, yet people forget to mention that the Republicans did the very same thing with their secretary of state candidate and I’m not seeing negative opinion pieces on that decision. Johanna Cox was a good secretary of state candidate. So is Gavin Clarkson.
The problem they have with Gary is he has potential for an upset. The reality is the Libertarian Party is smart to put Gary in this race. Let’s look at the facts.
Gary is a two-time Republican governor in this highly blue state. He has 94 percent name recognition, nationwide support giving him a large base, and a strong grassroots effort who can, and will, get behind him in this Senate race. He’s a very strong candidate for the middle and has the ability to out-raise every Libertarian candidate combined in this state in donations.
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Stephen Despin
The combination of these things gives him a strong chance of running a solid campaign against an entrenched incumbent who hasn’t done very much for the State of New Mexico.
I’ve opposed many things Martin Heinrich has done — very vocally so on his Facebook page and through email. Here are the two major differences I see between the two. Heinrich tends to constantly get on his soapbox and talk about being the “voice of the people” in New Mexico. Yet try to comment on any of his posts and see if he actually responds. He never does, to the good or the negative comments. He doesn’t respond to constituents through email; he sends an auto response letter or email simply telling you in a polite way that his way is better and you should just get behind it.
How can he be the voice of the people when he doesn’t bother to listen to the people he’s elected to represent?
Gary, on the other hand, is approachable. He cares what the citizens have to say, he wants to hear their concerns, and he wants to be a representative of the people. He displayed this as governor with his “open door at 4” policy, which according to his speech at the kick off event, held inside Hotel Albuquerque this past week, he plans to continue if elected for U.S. Senate. He’s a down-to-earth guy who genuinely cares about the people and desires to create positive change in this state and this country.
In my opinion, that’s the kind of guy we need in the U.S. Senate.
He’s not left or right. He’s, as the Elect Liberty PAC states, fiercely independent. In these divisive times of left-versus-right with nobody working in the middle, we need a guy like Gary in the middle. We need a guy who can work with both sides of the aisle to be a true swing vote who holds the people before politics.
We’ve watched this left-vs.-right conflict again and again during every election cycle and progressively escalate to the worse political divide in 2016 that I’ve seen in my lifetime. In many cases the divide has since resorted to violence, verbal attacks on people within the administration in restaurants, and it’s time for a change. They’re so worried about blue/red that they forget about the American people.
I’ve watched the country I love, the country I was raised to be proud of and defend with my life, be torn apart at the middle by the two major parties for nothing more than political agenda, power and control, and difference of opinion. This must stop.
Maybe one person in Congress who isn’t afraid to work with both sides from the middle is just what this country needs right now — and I believe that individual is Gary Johnson. We need to stop with the same old status-quo, business-as-usual politicians in Washington.
Maybe this is the most important time ever to stray from the norm and elect the first ever Libertarian to Congress. Maybe that candidate can be the voice of reason in the embattled trenches that Congress has become. Maybe this is what’s needed to mend the divide and bring unity amongst this nation.
Independents have become the largest voting block in this country and we must ask ourselves, why? Maybe it’s because the American people are tired of the left-vs.-right, blue-vs.-red, liberal-vs.-conservative conflict that has become American politics.
This is the perfect time, in my opinion, to try something new with a candidate who has a proven track record of doing what’s best for his constituents. As governor, Gary vetoed over 700 wasteful spending bills, not because they were Democrat or Republican bills but because they were bad bills that would’ve harmed our economy, ultimately hurting the citizens of New Mexico.
He gave the state new highways, new schools and new hospitals, all without raising taxes a penny, and still left the state with a billion-dollar surplus. This is exactly what Washington needs when we’re facing a $21 trillion national debt that will fall on the shoulders of our children and our children’s children.
As a parent, my job is to try and leave my child with a better place than I had, the opportunity for a better life, and the knowledge and skills to be successful. How can I say I’ve done that with leaving him, and his generation, a $21 trillion debt? How can any of us say we did that at this point?
It’s time for someone who can balance a budget without increasing the burden on the American people, someone who will put people over politics and mend the divide, someone who will work from the middle and create positive change toward freedom and liberty helping to put our country back on a path of success rather than failure. It’s time for someone like Gary Johnson, and that scares the two party system and those entrenched within it who don’t want to yield power back to the people but want to keep it firmly in the grip of big government.
It’s time we take a stand. It’s time we take the reigns. It’s time we let our voices be heard and send Washington a message that we’re not going to take it anymore. We can do exactly that by electing Gary Johnson as our next U.S. senator. Go Gary, you have my support.
Stephen Despin is an entrepreneur, political activist and grassroots mobilizer living in Albuquerque. He believes in working toward building the framework for a free and open society and the power of community-driven solutions. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.