Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for President, had his second major gaffe recently. Johnson did not have an answer when asked to name a foreign leader he admires. Josh Barro wants to know, “who are these people who lost to Gary Johnson?”
Barro has a point. While Johnson has some great qualifications, including serving as Governor of New Mexico and successfully starting a construction company, he has not done a great job with the opportunities granted to him such as town hall specials on CNN. How was Johnson picked for this?
Johnson has been the clear choice for the Libertarian Party since he dropped out of the Republican Party for the Libertarians in the 2012 election. I wonder if this decision is similar to what happened to the Democratic Party, who have protected Hillary Clinton as the clear choice candidate for years leading up to this election. Even just 18 months ago, it would have been hard to predict the opportunity for a libertarian candidate to get so much attention thanks to the deep unpopularity of the Republican and Democratic nominees.
A mentor of mine likes to talk about keeping a strong bench. The analogy here is to a sports team. Even if you currently have a strong lineup, you want to make sure you have strong backups to call upon if something happens to your stars or if you need additional assets.
The Libertarian Party has a shallow bench. Well the Libertarian Party has lots of problems, including that our political system is designed to keep out third parties. But I think it’s clear there was little thought or time spent on growing the potential pool of people to make the most of the opportunity put before the Libertarian Party this cycle.
One of the most exciting aspects of my job at Students For Liberty is that we are growing that bench. I think it is only a matter of time before a nominee for President is a Students For Liberty alumni. But as someone deeply skeptical of politics and the potential for any one person, even the American President, to create lasting change for liberty, I am even more excited about how we are growing other benches. We at Students For Liberty are seeking to support new superstars and grow benches in academia, business, civil society, and many other arenas.
By the way, even with his embarrassing moments I think Johnson is clearly a superior choice to Clinton and Trump. I’m excited to vote for Johnson this November. But, I can’t help but wonder if there are other people out there who could have done a better job this cycle than Johnson…