Mainstream media has long ignored candidates who run outside of the left/right paradigm, thereby perpetuating the belief that there are only 2 choices. When people become angry with Republicans, they vote for Democrats the next time (and vice-versa), failing to realize that both parties work toward the same end goals. For example, both Romney and Obama support corrupt banking, illegal wars, drones and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provision for the indefinite detention of American citizens without a trial.
War, Drones, Pot & Other Forbidden Topics: The 3rd Party Debate
October 25, 2012
Government, John Boering drones, Gary Johnson, global warming hoax, Jill Stein, John Boering, NDAA, Rocky Anderson, third party candidates, Virgil Goode 14 Comments
War, Drones, Pot & Other Forbidden Topics: The 3rd Party Debate
Op-ED
_____________________________________________________________________
Free and Equal Elections sponsored a debate between 4 third-party candidates: Libertarian Gary Johnson, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party and Jill Stein of the Green Party.
We are pleased to report that all of the candidates supported ending the wars and/or cutting the military budget to levels that discourage aggression and nation-building.
Watch the full debate here:
Note that the 2 winners from this debate will face off again on October 30th.
Here’s our liberty grade for each candidate:
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party: B+
Johnson advocated cutting military spending by 43% (he says that 43 cents from each dollar spent is debt). He said that he would bring our troops home and that he is against drones.
Johnson is against the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provision to indefinitely detain American citizens and would have vetoed the law.
Johnson supports legalizing marijuana.
He is opposed to federal grants and guaranteed student loans for education and contends that government intervention is the reason that college tuition is so high. He suggested state lottery grants to help students with the cost of school.
Gary Johnson presented a flawed plan to end income tax and corporate tax, replacing them with a consumption tax. The problem with this plan is that it is simply an alternative way to collect money instead of addressing the real problem of government size and spending. Additionally, this alternative tax form does not address the fiat money printing problem. Johnson said that his hero is Ron Paul; he would be wise to study Ron Paul’s balanced budget plan to cut taxes and Paul’s legislation to repeal the legal tender law and introduce competing currencies.
Virgil Goode, the Constitution Party: B
Virgil Goode stood by his convictions and was not trying to win a popularity contest (unfortunately this is the essence of American elections). Mr. Goode’s primary concern was to balance the budget. While he supports a strong defensive military, the DOD’s $1 trillion budget is too expensive and he would close international bases and bring troops home. He does not approve of the US being the overseer of the world and would insist on a Constitutional declaration of war from Congress before engagement.
Goode is against the NDAA and would have vetoed it.
Goode seemed to be more influenced by his conservative values than the Constitution regarding federal drug laws. He is against legalizing marijuana, but would cut the federal ‘War on Drugs’ budget because all areas of government need to be cut. Goode mentioned defunding Planned Parenthood and his intent to halt immigration until unemployment drops.
Goode was adamant about term limits so politicians can concentrate on their work instead of re-election campaigns.
Jill Stein, The Green Party: D+
Dr. Jill Stein is passionate, intelligent and likable. Unfortunately, she believes in the man-made global warming fairy tale which stained everything else she said because this farce is her primary issue.
Note to Jill: the seat of climate research at East Anglia University (the home of Climategate) came out with the news last week that global warming stopped about 16 years ago. Carbon taxes are an unnecessary burden and green jobs have been a miserable failure.
The global warming hoax is the tool that globalists use to implement totalitarian control through the United Nations Agenda 21 scheme. Stein actually supports international treaties to ban drones, fix climate change and implement human rights (I wonder if she’s ever heard of the US Bill of Rights).
Jill Stein advocated free college education for students and bailing them instead of banks. Stein failed to mention how taxpayers would shoulder the burden of paying for $1 trillion in student debt.
Despite Stein’s globalist and Keynesian leanings, she did really shine in her response against the NDAA, saying that it gives Obama dictatorial rights and said that it should be repealed along with the 2001 Military Use Act that Obama is using to assassinate Americans. She is also against the Patriot Act and FISA (unwarranted wiretapping).
Rocky Anderson, the Justice Party: D
Mr. Anderson is also a true believer in man-made global warming and seemed to agree with with much of Jill Stein’s rhetoric with regard to waging a war on climate change and providing free education to students. He also advocates health care for all but neglected to explain how taxpayers would fund this expense.
Mr. Anderson says that the Justice Party supports social justice, which is when certain groups are favored over other groups, instead of equal justice as advocated in the US Constitution.
On the plus side, Anderson is better than Obama and Romney because he realizes that the US wars of aggression are destructive. He explained that the military industrial complex and Congress’ complicity in the illegal wars result in economic benefit.
Additionally, Mr. Anderson made a good case for legalizing hemp.
We look forward to the next debate on Tuesday, October 30th.
______________________________________________________________
Advertisements
Oct 29, 2012 @ 19:40:54
I belive it’s the same Rocky Anderson who was mayor of Salt Lake City, and I wouldn’t vote for the man if he was the only one running. He’s a far left idiot, inmho.
LikeLike
Oct 29, 2012 @ 14:55:43
These “candidates” have no clue. They want free college for everyone, and subscribe to the global warming hoax. I didn’t hear anyone speak about restoring our freedom, starting with abolishing the Fed.
LikeLike
Oct 28, 2012 @ 16:08:34
As a result of the 2008 election, the Green Party was stripped of its minor party status in New Mexico because it didn’t receive one-half of 1 percent of the vote for presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. That’s just a standard-issue New Mexico roadblock for third-party candidates at work. It’s great to see the Greens back on the ballot in 2012. Jill Stein is a doctor and environmental health advocate. For decades, she’s fought to have the environment considered a human health issue. She helped clean up the five dirtiest coal plants in Massachusetts and changed regulation of the fish industries in that state to protect people from mercury contamination.The party’s platform includes a “Green New Deal,” which would see the government employing 25 million people to work in sustainable energy, mass transit, organic agriculture, and other social service jobs. Stein emphasizes that this would be federally funded but locally controlled.Workers should be able to unionize without fear of reprisal, she writes.The military budget has to be reduced. The budget can also be balanced by eliminating corporate subsidies, and rewriting the tax code so that the rich pay more and working families pay less. She promises to tax bonuses for bankers who were bailed out by the government at 90 percent. Banks that are “too big to fail” must be broken up, Stein says. Education should be tuition-free from K through college, according to Stein. Existing student debt should be completely forgiven.Medicare should be extended to every American, she says. Environmentalism is at the heart of the Green Party platform. As such, Stein offers an end to: mountaintop removal, nuclear power, fracking, coal power plants, subsidies for “clean coal” and drilling that threatens water resources. She also advocates an international treaty to reduce carbon dioxide levels and halt global warming.
LikeLike
Oct 28, 2012 @ 14:25:43
Strange these people who say “I don’t like Romney or Obama,so I’m not going to vote.” Duhhh. Maybe if these people want change in government they need to go down to the polls and check out that there are a number of people running in the elections, which the machine disacknowledges.
LikeLike
Oct 27, 2012 @ 15:07:40
I too will write in Ron Paul. A wasted vote is one cast for the despicable pair we are offered as “choice”.
LikeLike
Saturday 27.10.12 – Unfiltered News Compiled by G. Edward Griffin | The Inner Circle Group
Oct 27, 2012 @ 09:17:49
Oct 27, 2012 @ 03:47:38
Well, most states you can, also, write-in a candidates name.
I’m writing in Ron Paul. I know, I know.
But I don’t believe it’s a “wasted” vote; it’s a protest vote.
NOT voting is a wasted vote, imho.
LikeLike
Oct 27, 2012 @ 01:50:56
I’ve never heard of any of these people and I must assume neither has the rest of this country. They have NO chance of even getting near being elected to anything including dog catcher, at least not in this country. Which is unfortunate as hell for Americans who still remember and want the Constitution to be followed.
LikeLike
Oct 26, 2012 @ 21:35:34
All of these candidates are better than Demoreublicans but two old parties are the ones with money to burn on ads so they will win and not the better candidates.
LikeLike
Oct 26, 2012 @ 14:03:30
ya, but this debate will not be televised on prime time, what early mornig weekend hour will it be shown online. some choice.
LikeLike
Oct 26, 2012 @ 12:00:43
Virgil Goode is my man, after Dr. Paul was reailroaded by the RNC. Dr. Paul was my 1st choice. “Gay” marriage and marijuana are not “deal breakers” for me, but the prolife issue is….one cannot claim to be libertarian and deny liberty and the right to life to our most defenseless citizens. I hope that Vrigil Goode has “seen the light” about the evils of the Patriot Act; I was once an ignorant Republican neo-con myself until I started reading Dr. Paul’s books. Goode said he’d veto NDAA, which gives me reason to believe that he’s not a war-mongerer, or at the very least, would not allow the UN to drag us into war, but only use Constitutional, congressional approval to hold our officials accountable to the citizenry.
LikeLike
Oct 26, 2012 @ 11:49:59
Watching these debates was like watching twilight zonish parallel universe, in which we suddenly realize that we live in the one that makes no logical or practical sense! Why the majority continue to vote for one of two candidates, whom are obvious puppets, Is beyond me. VOTE YOUR MIND PEOPLE!
LikeLike
Oct 25, 2012 @ 19:18:25
Gary Johnson supports the jewish owned federal reserve. I don’t know about the others. With a name like Jill STEIN, she most likely supports the jewish control of this country’s currency. We’ll NEVER get anywhere until we get rid of the parasite moneychangers. If one reads real history, they will discover that Hitler kicked out the Rothschild (jew) bankers and brought Germany a strong economy and an interest (usury) free currency based on production. For the record, the jews declared war on Germany in 1933.
LikeLike
Oct 25, 2012 @ 19:10:40
Any candidate not putting forth a fair and reasonable (oxymoron alert!) plan to rid the USofA of central bankers (aka Federal Reserve “System”), without the people assuming the debt they created on our behalf, gets a failing grade in my estimation. In modern education, by the way, to keep passing on the dumb kids, a “D” WAS and IS a failing grade. All the candidates, from sock puppets Obama (so called) and Romney (nice hair!) to these losers, deserve failing grades. One will get an A+ and so what?
LikeLike