This is only partially due to America's blessings of bountiful natural resources. Basic and applied science were supported and flourished from the Civil War onward. Meanwhile, our political economy rewarded the creation of wealth far more than its transfers by government. Hence, America enjoyed an explosion of well-being and prosperity. This fostered increased liberty and higher environmental quality.

Alas, this virtuous circle of ever increasing liberty, prosperity and ecology has been interrupted. Both the Ds and Rs deploy lawmaking and regulation in a skirmish for power, transferring wealth and opportunity to favored constituencies. They bestow favors and buy votes.

Johnson challenges these conventional operations. That's why the major parties oppose including him in the debates. And that's exactly why he should be there. We – me, you, all of us – are duty bound to support not a political party, but an experiment in liberty that with only a few interruptions operated so well and so long.

I hope you will answer “Gary Johnson” if a pollster calls, even if only to add to the 15 percent polling threshold that gets him in the debates. I hope you will research his policies, examine the options, and be sufficiently sure and proud enough to put that candidate’s name on whatever you drive. The bumper sticker on my Jeep proclaims my support for the principles Gov. Gary Johnson has long maintained in his personal, business and political life.

John Baden is a PhD economist, president of the think tank Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment and a former professor. He and his wife, professor Ramona Marotz-Baden, live on a family ranch near Bozeman.

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