The Alternative

June 3, 2016

This is a fine mess. Half the Republicans don’t want to vote for Donald Trump, and nearly that many Democrats are chillier than lukewarm toward Hillary Clinton.

There is an alternative for the anybody-but- Trump and not-another-Clinton crowds, however. That perfect political philosophy for which we search, the one in which some candidate agrees with us 100 percent, will remain elusive, but there is an eclectic alternative. The Libertarian Party just held their convention. Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico and a Republican-cum- Libertarian, is once again its presidential nominee, as he was in 2012. William Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts and another Republican-cum-Libertarian, is its vice presidential nominee.

Both men have track records as at least reasonably successful governors, Weld as a Republican in a bright blue state. They are not quite as obscure as typical Libertarian candidates.

We usually pay little or no attention to third party candidacies — Johnson garnered all of 1 percent of the vote in 2012 — but voter dissatisfaction with the likely nominees seems to be peaking this year. The grumblers and absolutists keep searching for alternatives that do not exist in their own parties. Perhaps this year they head elsewhere.

The Libertarians have a little something for everyone. Their basic philosophy, greatly simplified, is that individuals should be responsible for their own successes and failures and should accept the benefits or consequences of either without government interference. They are constitutional literalists; unless the Constitution specifically allows it, the government should never interfere in our lives.

They should have some appeal to the lessgovernment, lower-taxes crowd since they favor eliminating both income tax and the IRS. They aren’t real fond of other government institutions either.

They believe in absolutely free trade, a stock market unfettered by regulation other than to protect consumers from fraud and other shenanigans, and commerce without much regulation. And no foreign aid.

They believe education is the responsibility of parents, not the state, so they see no purpose in the Department of Education. Nor most of the other federal bureaucracies except those that protect citizens.

They do believe in protecting the environment but would let the marketplace be the main driver. They would also do away with most social programs, believing private individuals, churches and charities should take care of their own. They would eventually phase out Social Security and replace it with individual retirement accounts controlled by those individuals. Medicare would have to go, too, along with any other mandated or taxpayer funded healthcare; they believe that is the responsibility of the individual.

They would also do away with many restrictions regarding gun ownership and the types of weapons sold, since the Second Amendment does not include exceptions.

It sounds like a conservative paradise but, alas, Libertarians veer left when it comes to social issues. They have plenty to offer liberals too.

They believe individuals should be able to ingest whatever they want as long as they’re willing to accept the consequences, so they would legalize drugs. Prostitution, too, since that involves individual commerce and personal choices.

They believe abortion should be a choice between a woman, her doctor and anyone else she chooses to involve, but the state or feds have no business in the process.

They would open the borders, save some screening to keep out various miscreants. Their military involvement would be restricted only to direct threats to our borders or sovereignty, ending our involvement in the Middle East and bringing troops home from our far-flung outposts around the world.

They would halt nearly all internal surveillance programs since they can find no constitutional justification for them, and believe such programs insult individual liberty. They would also like to end civil forfeitures by law enforcement.

They oppose discrimination of any sort, directed at almost anyone. They believe people should be able to worship however they choose and should be left alone to do so. However, they oppose the recent spate of laws figuring out a way to allow businesses to discriminate against the LGBT community because, among other things, it impedes the free flow of commerce.

Both traditional conservatives and liberals can fill about half their wish lists with the Libertarians. Maybe they can just ignore the other half.

Who benefits and who loses if the Libertarians pick up even 10 percent of the vote or win a state or two? Democrats believe conservatives are most likely to defect, the economic issues overriding the social issues.

Republicans don’t yet know what to think. They have a presumptive nominee many don’t trust and can barely abide. Is that enough to drive them, at least temporarily, into the political arms of another?

The Libertarian alternative is out there for the disgruntled. We’ll soon discover if those appalled by the Trump or Clinton choice will put their votes where their mouths are.