I find it extremely frustrating that no one cares about third-party candidates. I hear people everywhere talking about how they hate Obama or Romney or both. As far as I can tell, no one is exceptionally excited about the prospect of either one getting elected.

If Obama gets elected, he will continue to pursue liberal policies, and Congress will continue to act like a bunch of petulant children to block these policies. As far as I can tell, he will continue to spend the federal government into oblivion and generally get nothing done. He’s a good face for America and gives eloquent speeches, and the way he deals with other countries is so far superior to the way Bush did, it’s almost not even a fair comparison. But the “change” has not gone far enough. Money still controls the government. Congress still continues to dig in its heels to block any progress at all. The national and global economies are in a crisis right now, and, while the policies Obama has pursued to fix the recession have been mildly successful (jobs are being created, and the stimulus has breathed new life into the manufacturing and auto industries), he hasn’t really instilled confidence that these policies will continue to work in the long run, and that they were worth what we spent on them. Also, Obama has allowed some bills to become law that threaten privacy and Constitutional rights, and I’m worrited that these extremely important rights will continue to be violated. In short, I feel, as I suspect many people do, that if Obama gets reelected, not much will change, except possibly the implosion of the economy, a further concentration of money into the hands of the wealthy, and the continued tightening of governmental fingers around the throat of personal freedom.

Romney, on the other hand, is just a huge question mark to me. If the thought of Obama makes me feel worried about the next four years, the thought of Romney in the White House makes me absolutely nauseated. As far as I can tell, Romney has not taken an actual stance on any issue, or given any sort of plan for what he will do to fix things. It seems that he just says whatever he’s paid to say, and I think if he becomes President, there’s no reason he won’t simply extend that policy and just do whatever he’s paid to do. I can’t imagine how putting Romney in the White House will fix things, but I can certainly imagine how they will become much, much worse. Romney embodies all that is wrong with America: irrational religious beliefs being imposed on everyone, money being further and further concentrated in the hands of the wealthy, money rather than rationality dominating politics, waging war for profit, and spineless politicians unwilling to stand up for what they believe is right. No thank you, I’d rather have Obama for another four years than Romney for even one.

So, these are the choices we have. Or are they?

Enter Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate for the 2012 election. I had no idea this guy even existed until about two weeks ago. Why? Because he’s not in the news. At all. Anywhere. Frustrated as I was with my two choices for President this fall, I became curious about his platform, though I at first thought all Libertarians were crazy anarchists. I went to his website and read about his views on what’s wrong with America and what we can do to fix it. And as I read, I felt myself gaining confidence in this man. Wow, I thought, this guy actually has a plan, he’s willing to just say what he thinks is right, and isn’t being pressured to say this or that by some random rich guys. Above all, his policies just make sense.

Johnson believes, as I do, that immigration largely built this country into what it is today, and limiting that resource will be our undoing. I myself come from people who were once immigrants, as does practically everyone, unless they are pure Native American. We should not punish enterprising, hardworking people willing to come to America and make a new life for themselves and their families. Yes, they take all the low-paying jobs, but in the end this is great for the economy. Capitalism works, at least when the playing field is fair.

He belives that the War on Drugs is doing much more harm than good. It encarcerates and ruins the lives of otherwise harmless people (with an unfair emphasis on minorities), and concentrates money and power in the hands of outlaws.

He wants to immediately eliminate (not just reduce) the budget deficit and start paying down our public debt. He wants to do this by cutting or reforming federal programs that are using government money in a wasteful or unnecessary way, such as the military, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He believes, as I do, that the states are laboratories of democracy, and sometimes the best way to come up with a solution to a problem is let each state solve that problem in its own way, and see what works.

And yeah, I think that if the federal government suddenly pulls its spending from a bunch of different things, the economy may get much worse before it gets better. But I think that freedom is a much better long-term solution to our problems because it encourages growth. It enables people to come up with their own solutions to things rather than relying on the government for everything. If you just suddenly dump a bunch of money into the economy, things will be better for a little while, you didn’t actually fix the underlying problem, just the symptoms.

I could go on. But the website is out there; you can read it for yourself. My point is, this guy is at least as promising as Obama or Romney (and probably a whole lot more). So why has no one heard of him? People are astonishingly uninterested in discussing third-party candidates, even if they like their ideas. A coworker told me that, even if he agreed with Johnson on 100% of the issues, he still wouldn’t vote for Johnson because he doesn’t want to “waste his vote“…

What?! How is this considered democracy? It’s like brand recognition – this brand is cheaper and twice as effective, but I’m gonna go with this other brand that I recognize… just because. Why are people so unwilling to branch out and try something new? Why can’t we at least have this guy in the news, or maybe (God forbid) have him in on a real debate with the other candidates? Maybe he shouldn’t be President (and maybe he’s not even the best third-party candidate out there), but I can’t see why we shouldn’t at least talk about some of these perfectly reasonable ideas regarding the issues surrounding us today.

I think that Gary Johnson effectively takes the issues that people are angry about from all parts of the political spectrum (including the Tea Party and Occupy movements) and integrates them into a responsible, practical plan of action. He is politically the best of both worlds, and if enough people heard about him, I believe he would win the election. And even if he doesn’t, we can at least force an intelligent, adult conversation about these issues in a public setting, where everyone can see and judge for themselves.

So Internet, this is where you come in. We’ve proven time and again that we can effect real change by refusing to stop the discussion. The wonderful thing about the Internet is that, unlike politics, it is not controlled by a small group of political machine bosses making deals in back rooms (though they would have it that way if they could). It is controlled equally by each and every one of us, if we just have the courage and determination to speak out and let the world know what we think.

Perhaps this is idealistic, but I think that this is America, and elections and debates should be won on merit, not money. Don’t let the Democratic and Republican parties pigeonhole you into just two choices. Don’t let your voice be drowned out by those with money and power! Demand that third parties be allowed in on the 2012 Presidential debates!