CNN Grants Johnson and Weld Another Opportunity to Shine

by Josh Guckert

On June 22, CNN granted to the Libertarian Party ticket of Gary Johnson and William Weld seemingly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to appear on national television in a town hall segment with Chris Cuomo. The network just announced that it will replicate the one-hour segment on Wednesday night in New York City. It will be hosted this time by Anderson Cooper.

As the election nears closer, Americans are likely to begin paying more acute attention to the developments in the presidential race. The three largest parties’ conventions have concluded, and the next-largest, the Green Party, will have its convention in Houston this week. It is expected that Jill Stein, who earned an overwhelming majority of her party’s primary delegates, will be nominated. Her running mate has not yet been announced.

While many libertarians were critical of the former governors’ first appearance on CNN, the public at-large seemed fairly receptive to what the two men were saying. While Johnson seemed somewhat out of his element in the format, Weld showed his worth and thrived, earning high marks from commentators for his performance. The ticket stayed mostly positive throughout, with a rare barb coming when Weld referred to Donald Trump as a “huckster.”

At this point, it is not necessary for the Libertarians to fully convince voters of their ideology. It is only important to bring attention the ticket and make it clear that competency is a strong suit. Many voters are not comfortable voting for a third-party. However, if they can be convinced that such a vote is not “throwing a vote away,” but rather a prudent and reasonable choice, they just may do it. In an era where a majority of the population (or close to it) does not care for one major candidate or the other, Americans need only be enlightened that they do have another real option.

Arguably, ideological battles are best left for off-years. Once the dust has settled and the party has found its standard bearers for that cycle, the initiative must shift to recruiting voters and persuading individuals to cast their ballots for the Libertarian Party. Of course, the party must retain principles and not sacrifice these for votes. However, the messaging must be tailored to the audience, because the opposite is not possible.

This precarious situation lends itself to the conflict of the Overton Window. This philosophical concept discusses the range of ideas which the general public will accept, and the others which are deemed too “radical” or out of the ordinary. When priming issue discussions, libertarians must take this into account. When pursuing libertarian policy, no legitimate reason exists to be extreme in explaining these ideas. More often than not, they will be interpreted as too far outside the mainstream and will thus simply alienate voters, all the while having no serious chances of becoming law.

What must first happen is incremental change, or a slow shifting of the Overton Window. As the purview changes, more libertarian concepts will become more comfortable. In contemporary politics, libertarians only need view the evolution of opinions on gay rights, drug laws and gun rights. All three were at very different (and less libertarian) points several decades ago, but consistent efforts to gradually change resulted in positive change.

With this in mind, it is desirable for Johnson and Weld to continue to take a pragmatic approach in explaining their ideas. Hopefully, they are able to catch enough ears and eyes Wednesday that their poll numbers continue to grow and the Libertarian Party continues to have a presence in national politics throughout the rest of the 2016 election.