The argument for liberty and a sane foreign policy has been a pillar of the Gary Johnson campaign for president leading up to the 2016 election. Reports of Johnson’s support among active military members topping that of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump shouldn’t be all that surprising given both major party candidates’ hawkish ambitions.

Now, the latest news of Johnson gaining traction among the brave men and women who serve in the United States military comes from a veterans group pressuring one of the nation’s largest advocacy groups to allow the Libertarian to participate in the nationally televised forum by NBC and CNBC focused on foreign policy.

The topics to be discussed that would benefit from Johnson’s point of view include national security, ongoing military affairs, and the current challenges facing the nation’s veterans.

As a firm believer that our interventionist policies have done more harm than good, Gary Johnson would drive home the message that America doesn’t need to police the world in order to be safer domestically. In fact, Johnson has argued that the philosophy of forcing regime change on other nations has actually made things more unsettled in the regions we occupy militarily.

[AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File]

And who better to corroborate those sentiments than the men and women who put their lives on the line in these military endeavors? Gary Johnson has a tidal wave of support among military folks, especially those who have served since 2001 when the U.S. foreign policy truly went off the rails. One such individual, Dylan Milroy, a Marine Corps veteran, is rallying the troops to have Johnson added to IAVA’s Commander-in-Chief Forum.

“I would understand,” Milroy told Military Times, “if Johnson was on just 30 or 40 state ballots and had no experience or chance of winning. But that is not the case.”

“[He] is the only candidate with a sane foreign and intervention policy. There is nothing American about these massive government policies and programs that the Clintons want to fund with trillions of more tax dollars. There is also nothing American or honorable about Trump wanting to carpet bomb anyone that throws a pebble at our boots.”

Back in July, a survey of 2,000 active-duty military service members found that 13 percent intended to vote for Johnson, with the bulk of those votes coming from experienced, career-oriented troops who are intimately familiar with the current policies. This tells quite a tale and says Gary Johnson has a message that resonates with those who are making these life-and-death decisions on a daily basis.

Division and dissatisfaction regarding the two-party stranglehold over America with Clinton and Trump have really benefited Gary Johnson as of late. The disenfranchised majority is looking for options, and a sane fiscal and foreign policy such as Johnson’s can carry a lot of weight when it’s the only voice of reason.

When a government becomes so bloated and has too many tentacles to even count, it’s no surprise that this coincides with a national debt that only climbs higher every day.

What Gary Johnson brings is appealing to military members who realize that neither of the two mainstream candidates offers anything to vary from the status quo. And all that the status quo has done from a military perspective is to increase unrest in the Middle East, spend America into oblivion at home, and make everyone less safe with radicalism growing faster and faster.

“The two options are so bad we are desperately pushing for a third,” said Salvador Perez-Palma, a Navy vet who served five years of active duty as a machinist repairman. He also noted that the voting public typically has to choose between “the lesser of two evils.”

[AP Photo/John Raoux]

These cries for a real option like Gary Johnson are coming from all corners of the nation, and Air Force veteran Louis Honeycutt said it best.

“America,” Honeycutt said, “needs to know his stance on national security, military affairs and veterans issues.”

And America deserves a better choice. Thank you to all of the military men and women who put their lives on the line for us every single day. Gary Johnson gives them hope for a better future.

[Photo by Jim Cole/ AP Images]