An Anti-War Candidate Announces for President
by:
Robert Naiman, Truthout | Op-Ed
Last week, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson announced his candidacy for president of the United States.
This was a historic event, because 1) Johnson wants to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 2) Johnson is a Republican. He also wants to slash the military budget.
Johnson is also opposed to the "war on drugs," which he has called "an expensive bust." Indeed, as The Hill noted:
Last year, he teamed up with singer Melissa Etheridge and actor Danny Glover for a Hollywood rally in favor of Proposition 19 - an initiative that would have legalized marijuana in California.
This suggests that Johnson can play well with others around issues of common concern.
It is tremendously important that there be at least one Republican candidate for president who is against the war in Afghanistan.
Polls show that Republican voters have turned against the war. But the majority of Republican voters who want US troops out of Afghanistan are, so far, almost totally unrepresented by Republican officials in Washington. Johnson's campaign could break through the national Republican wall, because as a candidate for president, Johnson will be able to get into the media and the national Republican Party leadership - "the party's ruling class," as The Hill put it - won't be able to silence him. Even if he doesn't get a dime from Lockheed or Raytheon, they won't be able to keep him off the stage in the early Republican debates, and that will change the discussion.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll in March found that 56 percent of Republicans think the United States should "withdraw a substantial number of U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan this summer." That is, the majority of Republican voters are ahead of the Obama administration, which hasn't yet committed to a substantial withdrawal this summer.
But the high-water mark in the House so far for Republican support on any initiative against the indefinite continuation of the Afghanistan war is nine votes. That's about 5 percent of the Republicans in the House. Five percent versus 56 percent - that's a pretty big gap. The enforcement of the will of the Republican Party's "ruling class" against the will of the majority of Republican voters is a key pillar sustaining the war.
This pillar of the war must be attacked. The candidacy of Johnson is a weapon for doing so.
Of course, Johnson's candidacy faces obstacles. He is not a billionaire. He is not backed by the party establishment - no candidate against the war will be. He will not be backed by the establishment media.
On the other hand, Johnson's candidacy has a potential X weapon: Americans who typically don't vote in Republican primaries and caucuses who want to end the war.
After all, we all want to support democracy in Cairo and Madison. Why not support democracy in the Republican Party on the question of the war?
Now, some may be thinking, what does this have to do with me? I am not a "Republican."
But whether you are a "Republican" or not, you have to live with the consequences of the fact that the national Republican Party is not representing the majority of Republican voters who want to see US troops come out of Afghanistan, because this is a key buttress of the continuation of the war.
Corporations back Republicans and Democrats, as it suits their perceived interests. So do labor unions, environmentalists, women's groups and gay rights groups. Why should peace advocates be any different? What one does in November in one thing; what one does in the primary season is another. If there is no Democratic primary for president, if there is no anti-war primary for Congress where you live, why waste your anti-war vote in an uncontested primary?
Many states have open primaries: any voter can vote in any primary. In other states, you have to register with a given party in order to participate in that party's primary. New Hampshire - a critical, early state, where the Eugene McCarthy campaign showed the Lyndon Johnson administration the depth of anti-war sentiment - is in between: if you register as an "undeclared" voter, you can vote in any primary.
But even if you live in a state with a "closed primary" - check with local authorities for rules and deadlines - political parties in America are squishy things. Who's to say you're not a "Republican"? You are if you say you are. In the future, you can say something else.
Of course, many people will consider the temporary assumption of a "Republican" identity, even for a day, as a bridge too far.
But consider: if you could stop the killing in Afghanistan by temporarily assuming a "Republican" identity, would that not be morally justified?
In Jewish law, the protection of human life takes precedence over all. Therefore, voting in a Republican primary to end the war is a mitzvah.
And what would Jesus do in this situation? Wouldn't Jesus vote in a Republican primary to end the war? As the Bible says:
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
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W H
Sat, 2011-04-30 17:18
So, lets get a chance to hear him out. Let his positions help the populace determine what it really wants. Maybe he can help the Luddites who are mostly on the right get it through their heads how damaging, useless and false these military expenses, wars on drugs and other contrivances of the Power Elite really are. If he's phony, we'll see soon enough. And his presence can help point up the phoniness or veracity of other candidates.
gloria compton
Fri, 2011-04-29 20:04
sounds good except for the republican part.
fatemeh jozani
Thu, 2011-04-28 16:51
I would vote for anyone who is against wars. However, I would like to know this guy's position on taxing the big corporations, and people who make over 300,000. I also like to know his position on health care before I vote for him. I don't want to vote for some republican who cares only to protect the rich and ignore the needy. I would like health care for all who work and pay taxes. I would like us to pay a little more tax, but have a better public transportation system, and better education. Is he going to do all this? Just ending the war is not good enough.
Virginia Downs
Thu, 2011-04-28 05:33
I voted in the R primary in Texas a few years ago, and it got me on the most unbelievable mailing lists. It took years to get off them. I just might do it again this time, but it's a real irritation.
My brother lives in Albuquerque, and he says Johnson is an interesting candidate, far from perfect of course, but if he'll raise issues in the primary it would be worth the trouble.
Linda Rock
Wed, 2011-04-27 08:37
Listen to Sue Keller she has first hand knowledge of what this guy is all about because she lives in New Mexico.
Don't be fooled by this guy and the Ron Pauls in politics. All they want is their foot in the door so they can further these right wing crazies agenda of privitizing everything .
W H
Sat, 2011-04-30 17:12
You are not listening to them, Linda. Your simplistic responses are no better than those of the corporate whores and sell outs of the "republoicrats". If you insist on discounting the positive and valid in the platforms of people like Paul and Johnson (Dump the War on Drugs, Dump the military adventurism. Dump the corporate personhood and corporate "free speech") out of hand, then your ad hominem attacks are no better than real "right wing crazies". One of Ron Pauls' closest friends and closest collaborators is Dennis Kucinich. His co-sponsor to audit the Fed (Now there is a real agent of the Power Elite) was Alan Grayson. Both real staunch left leaning Democrats.
Regards
j b
Wed, 2011-04-27 07:17
missing point
he would never get into office
its about getting any anti war candidate into the primary debates
Wayne Cayford
Tue, 2011-04-26 19:53
I would not be too quick to judge him as a liberal republican. Just remember his core values.
Wayne Cayford
Tue, 2011-04-26 19:51
I wouldn't be too quick to judge him as a liberal republican. Look to his core.
T iddas
Tue, 2011-04-26 18:41
Ending the war machine will take a lot more than a Repulican in the White House.
Still, it's the most important thing Americans could want right now.
1. get us out of the monopoly on the oil economy and we'll have to develop alternate energy
2. the war machine is the most polluting of any entity on earth. Not just greenhouse gases but toxic wastes galore -- both here and abroad.
If this guy is so free market that he collapses US corporations, then we'll really be in better shape. Would he end taxpayer subsidies to BP, GE, Goldman-Sachs? the big telecomm corps?
Norman Allen
Tue, 2011-04-26 18:17
Wasn't B.O. saying the same things? These guys are masters of bait and switch and the corporate world is too massive for any candidate to stick with the words after election. They all will do anything to get the vote (which we all know does not count because the electoral college elects). I am too old to buy this stuff any more. There is no way out except total implosion which seems to be staring at us at the end
Garrett Connelly
Tue, 2011-04-26 16:04
I believe we should turn out in record numbers and write in Nunuv Theabove. We need to practice evolutionary democracy and be helping the Egyptians figure out a modern democracy that focuses the giant intellect of humanity and doesn't stop at the work place door. A modern democracy that includes liberty and justice for all, justice for the future, and justice with nature. Write in Nunuv Theabove for president in 2012.
Big Boppa
Tue, 2011-04-26 12:47
The guy is a Libertarian/Ron Paul Lite. I bet he keeps a well worn, drool stained copy of Atlas Shrugged on his nightstand.
By all means, throw your hat into the ring. And please, run as an independent when you fail to get the rethug nomination. The more the merrier.
Sue Keller
Tue, 2011-04-26 14:25
I live in New Mexico, Johnson wants to privatize everything, he aint cool.
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Karolyn Hoover
Fri, 2011-04-29 19:23
You're right, he ain't cool. I like that he is anti-war & pro-marijuana, but he is also anti-union. I lived in NM when he was gov, & he refused to recognize the collective bargaining agreement with the state employees union. We just went about our business & waited our chance to elect a Democrat.
Donna Marsh O'Connor
Tue, 2011-04-26 12:32
It is in my best interests to hope that he makes it as the Republican nominee. If I could vote in the Rep primary, he would be my choice. Once I made the mistake of hoping the awful guy got the slot because "he would never be elected by the populace." He did and he was. I learn my lessons.
Sue Keller
Tue, 2011-04-26 14:26
He wants to privatize everything, he aint cool! I'm telling you, I know, I live in New Mexico.
David Newell
Tue, 2011-04-26 06:34
As Obama has repeatedly proved, just because a politician says something does not mean that they believe it.
gene fritsch
Tue, 2011-04-26 06:48
Well put David!
Rene Epicurus
Tue, 2011-04-26 05:21
I think I saw this gentleman on the Cenk Uyger show on MSNBC a while back.
He's a thoughtful man and I do agree with some of his positions; but he's still an advocate of unfettered "free-market" ideology which historically was ground zero for the very abuses that gave us the progressive movement and economic ideas with which he would disagree.
He's an unelectable heterodox because he'd threaten the Military-Security-Industrial-Complex-sweetheart-deal status quo, and there's BIG money in that.
There would need to be a massive groundswell of a true grassroots movement, along with strikes and other sorts of socio-economic disruption (similar to the Vietnam era) in order to dismantle that well-entrenched machinery. In other words, the citizenry would have to make the cost of doing "war business" so high as to compel the Pentagon, Congress, and their corporate benefactors to realize the game's up. We are no where near that point.