On Friday, the Cornell Republicans announced their endorsement of the Libertarian party’s nominee, Gary Johnson, for President. The announcement came in a lengthy facebook post, which included describing Johnson as a “true conservative.” In response, the New York Federation of College Republicans decided to revoke recognition of the Cornell chapter.
Contrary to claims made by the Cornell Republicans, Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld are not conservative or even libertarian. The most clear example of this is Johnson’s openness to enacting a carbon tax. This would entail businesses and individuals being taxed by the amount of carbon dioxide emitting energy they consume.
Government manipulating the economy like this is not only anti-libertarian, but also ineffective. Australia enacted a carbon tax in 2012 by charging $21.50 per ton of carbon emitted by power plants. Within a year, the cost of household electricity rose by 15 percent and unemployment rose by 10 percent.
Johnson holds numerous other policy positions that should concern conservatives and libertarians alike. He supports mandatory vaccines, government funding of Planned Parenthood, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and expressed sympathy for the Black Lives Matter movement. He even said during one of the Libertarian Party debates that Jewish bakers should be forced to bake Nazi cakes.
For conservatives, Johnson’s support for open borders and mass immigration should be most appalling. Johnson supports unlimited immigration and amnesty for all illegal aliens currently in the United States. This position puts him to the left of Hillary Clinton and most of the Democratic party on this issue.
In an interview with Townhall, Johnson was triggered by the term “illegal immigrant.” He echoed the tactics of a social justice warrior by claiming that the term is incendiary towards the Hispanic community in America.
Since Johnson opposes removing most free public benefits such as healthcare and education, this position is completely unsustainable. Illegal immigration as well as legal immigration already takes a huge toll to our welfare system. Immigrant-headed households receive 41% more welfare on average than non-immigrant households.
It would cost an astronomical amount of money to allow unlimited amounts of people to come to our country and take advantage of our welfare system. This proposal is at odds with Johnson’s claim to be a fiscal conservative.
The two major party nominees in 2016 have very high unfavorable ratings. This should be the year for the Libertarian Party to perform strongly. Unfortunately, Johnson has decided that higher poll numbers are more important than libertarian principles.
It is crucial for there to be a third voice in the American political debate. However, Johnson is not providing a strong alternative for right-leaning individuals who don’t like Donald Trump. He is becoming what American voters are sick of. That is an unprincipled establishment politician.
Since most of what we call conservative these days isn’t conservative in an American sense, this shouldn’t really be an issue. In an American sense Johnson is mostly conservative, individual liberty is the most important American concept and it’s something both parties work to take away on a regular basis. In this cycle any American that pulls the lever for anyone with and (R) or (D) by their names in any race has given up and accepted the failure we have become. The Johnson/Weld ticket and platform has several things that make me nervous but Trump AND Clinton just make me scared.