With deeply divisive lines drawn between Democrats and Republicans, it is easy to forget that a number of third parties exist outside of our two-party framework. Although third parties are typically seen as extra entities and often poll at low, single-digit percentages on the national level, 2016 Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson is making waves in the impending presidential election.

Johnson is a businessman and former governor of New Mexico. And while Libertarians have only exceeded 0.5 percent of the national votes twice in its 45-year history, a recent NBC poll had Johnson holding 10 percent of the vote.

The Libertarian party strives for the least amount of government necessary to allow people to do what they please, a mentality summarized in the party’s slogan “minimum government, maximum freedom.”

NYU alumnus and former NYU College Libertarian Vice President Ari Kaplan became interested in libertarianism when a few high school friends introduced him to it. Although he said he most closely identifies with utilitarianism, he discovered the club when he wanted to talk with people who shared the same overall beliefs that he held.


“Libertarianism is the political and moral belief of liberty,” Kaplan said. “It’s whatever allows people the most liberty. People can do whatever they want with their body and with anyone else’s as long as they don’t harm anyone else.”

Kaplan believes that Libertarianism is about people’s values, and he most strongly advocates for a society that provides the highest level of happiness for others.

CAS junior and Chairperson of NYU College Libertarians Weston Richey said Johnson’s popularity is a reaction to the intense bipartisanism of U.S. politics.

“When we’re presented with what are essentially two choices that are deeply unsatisfying, it serves as a kind of prod for us to explore the many, many alternatives,” Richey said. “When we aren’t satisfied with a binary choice, we often are simply forced to carve out a third, fourth or fifth option. I think that it’s exactly that process that has made so many people identify as Libertarian in recent years.”

They that voting Libertarian in this election makes a statement that votes are only worth anything if they are cast honestly and represent a sort of society people think is most beneficial for the overall electorate.

CAS junior Louis Bartholomew holds similar views with Richey, and said that the Democratic and Republican messages no longer fit his ideas of himself and of fellow voters, which creates access for libertarianism to gain more ground in mainstream politics.

“As of today, both major parties do not support free trade. They have little to nothing to say of substance on criminal justice reform,” Bartholomew said. “Neither of them seem to understand that on the current course of spending our generation will only have access to a fraction of social security and other social services that our parents and grandparents enjoyed, which is to say that future generations will have to pay for the excesses of former generations.”

This general distaste for the ideals of the country’s two main parties has mobilized the NYU College Libertarians in supporting Johnson, although the club has not officially endorsed him.

“Though no politician is perfect, I think Johnson represents the best chance for my views to be heard,” Bartholomew said. “And just as the answer to ‘What is Aleppo?’ seemed very obvious to many people, the question, ‘Who is the viable alternative to Trump and Clinton?’ is equally obvious: Johnson.”

Email Rachel Rivers at [email protected]