Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are terrifying. They’re unstable egomaniacs who have milked America for personal gain in the past and will do so again if given the opportunity.

The former is a racist narcissist who sells his own name out to shady businesses like Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Airlines ... the list goes on. A Trump presidency would be a public relations nightmare both domestically and abroad.

The latter? A liar who evaded indictment for obvious crimes. In short, neither of the main party candidates can be trusted with the fate of America the Beautiful.

We need a candidate who is honest about our tough economic situation but who also understands that individual freedoms should be upheld and recognizes the failure of the War on Drugs. Enter Gary Johnson.

Johnson is the former governor of New Mexico, and the Libertarian presidential candidate.

With the first presidential debates quickly approaching, Johnson will have to poll at 15 percent or higher to be allowed to participate. As I write this article, he’s polling around 9.2 percent.

His economic policy encourages individuals to work hard and be rewarded for the work they put in. In short, he knows the only way out of nearly $20 trillion in national debt is through hard work.

We can’t keep living as debt slaves to other countries. By shrinking our grossly oversized military and slashing wasteful federal programs, Johnson plans to balance our budget and improve education.

Despite what some of his economic views may seem to indicate, Johnson is a far cry from a conservative Republican. We all know that socially-conservative views are not the future of this country if we are to continue to progress and succeed.

Johnson is pro-choice, and he is completely in favor of national gay marriage. The separation of church and state is a battle that Americans struggled with in the 18th century, and the battle isn’t over today.

We can’t have a unified, diverse nation if we create laws based on one holy text or another. It halts progress.

In addition, Johnson acknowledges the failure of the War on Drugs and asked in 2016, “Why do we tell adults what they can put in their bodies?” He gets it.

Johnson is able to bring something to American politics that we’ve been lacking as the years have flown by — balance. The concept of political balance is usually swept under the rug in favor of a sexier us-against-them mentality that our two major candidates love so much.

To get Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld into their respective debates, we must get involved. Spread the word that we don’t have to choose between two idiots unfit for the role of President.

If Johnson is president, we will see a new era of individual freedoms and governmental responsibility. He succeeded in New Mexico and will succeed nationwide.

We can’t keep spending reckless amounts of borrowed money through federal expansion, and we can’t suppress the rights of individuals who may not be the same as we are.

See? Balance. That’s why Johnson is our only hope to move forward as a nation.

dylmoore@indiana.edu

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