Gary Johnson’s Campaign: What’s Gone Wrong

Gary Johnson still has the best record of any presidential nominee, and he is closest in issues to me; he still has my vote. That doesn’t prevent me from recognizing the nearly catastrophic mistake his campaign has made, and advising a change in course to ensure something resembling a foundation for the future can be built in the next 11 days and beyond.

For those of us who prefer government to be limited, and markets to be better on balance, the Johnson-Weld ticket was a unique opportunity to find a new home after the Trumpenproletariat made the GOP uninhabitable. With two former Republican governors, both having a record involving support of education choice (Johnson), opposition to rent control (Weld), and a preference for tax reduction to higher spending (both), the Libertarians could have won over wide swaths of economic conservatives from the GOP.

That all changed when Hillary Clinton reached the winning line in delegates. Suddenly, angry Bernie Sanders supporters began flailing for alternatives…and the LP, Johnson in particular, gave in to the temptation. The tried-and-failed attempt to build a third way movement was given a false dawn. The attempt to make this campaign the first step in building a center-right alternative and then replacement for the GOP was forgotten.

The LP is dealing with the consequences today: sliding poll numbers, left-wing voters now slamming Johnson for his record and for his views on the economy, and a candidate complaining to the Guardian about…Evan McMullin.

I found that last bit telling, because it actually gives us an imperfect view of the alternative scenario in which the LP actually tried the center-right-build strategy.

For all of McMullin’s problems (only on the ballot in 11 states, no record in elected office, a view that the GOP just needs a new paint job, etc.), he has made no secret of his campaign being a home for anti-Trump conservatives and right-leaning moderates. So, while his support had long been much less than Johnson’s, it hasn’t experienced an October slough. Indeed, it will likely be McMullin who becomes the first non-major-party candidate in almost 50 years to carry a state, ensuring both a place in the history books and potential foundation for a future non-GOP center-right party – except that McMullen seems uninterested in the last bit.

There are Libertarians who still understand the potential for a new center-right major party. Bill Weld is still trying his hardest to peel off as many Republicans as he can. Moreover, there are still 11 days left in the campaign, at least some time for Johnson and for the rest of the LP to take note of the long view.

That means shifting gears from blasting the two-party system to proposing a new two-party mix (Democrats and Libertarians). It means focusing on economic issues and reminding right-leaning voters of Trump’s lifelong protectionism, pre-2016 infatuation with higher taxes, and current love of expanding Medicaid while refusing to address entitlement reform in general.

In short, it means giving economic conservatives a new home, and letting us build out from there.

Eleven days isn’t a lot of time, but it’s more than zero. We’ll see if the LP takes advantage of them.