Nick Gillespie on The Libertarian Case for Gary Johnson

In the third of three pieces outlining the libertarian cases for Democrat Barack Obama, Republican Mitt Romey, and Libertarian Gary Johnson, Nick Gillespie makes the case that a strong showing by the former two-term governor of New Mexico will reshape electoral politics:

In a world in which voters are evacuating the traditional parties in record numbers, Americans are articulating a basically libertarian message of social tolerance and fiscal responsibility. That is precisely what Gary Johnson is selling as the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate. And he doesn't have to win in order to deliver the message to Democrats and Republicans that they can maintain or consolidate their standing by taking the choke collars off of us all and giving us more space and freedom to figure things out for ourselves….

That's the message that a vote for Gary Johnson will be sending if he pulls, say, 5 percent and the final spread between Obama and Romney is 2 percent. According to the Reason-Rupe Poll, support for Johnson pulls equally from Democrats and Republicans, so they would have no one to blame but themselves. And the candidates and their parties could start working to resolve the situation by changing what they stand for in time for the next election.