BRIAN PERRY/Libertarians hope

Some Mississippians are excited about their presidential nominee and they aren’t supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump. The Mississippi Libertarian Party’s eight delegates to the Libertarian National Convention supported former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson as their nominee (although two of the delegates supported other candidates on the first ballot: software entrepreneur John McAfee and The Libertarian Republic publisher Austin Petersen).

Aaron Barksdale, Chairman of the Mississippi Libertarian Party, told me, “Most Mississippians are libertarians but they don’t know it. They want to be left alone and not have the government forcing itself on their lives.” He said Republicans and Democrats are so afraid of the other side winning, voters are fearful of making a third choice. “If you vote your conscience you will not waste your vote, and that’s true even if your choice is not to vote. It’s like the band Rush says, ‘If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.’”

Libertarians see Johnson’s campaign as an effort at party building for the future, and to shake up the “status quo” of the two-party system.

Madison County Journal

7/13/16