This is long. Get a cup of cocoa. You have been warned.
I watched the CNN Libertarian Town Hall last night, since I'm seriously considering voting libertarian for the first time in my life. This is an idea used to make me laugh, laugh, laugh. Because seriously? Flat Tax? Legalize Pot, Guns for everyone and no drivers licenses? Ugh.
My impressions:
They are both good men. They come across as honest and humble and just tired of the hateful rhetoric.
They made the point that what makes America great is our immigrants, and they thought America should be more arms-wide-open. I'm not sure how that translates to actual policy, but I think the point was more that they sure as hell aren't scared of immigrants and won't run Trump style policies based on fear.
2)Fiscal Conservatism:
One of them (I think Weld) said they simply wanted "gov't out of our pocket book and out of our bedrooms." They are both definitely fiscal conservatives, but were at least willing to address their desire to make 20% cuts more or less across the board, saying the DoD (will have to check this) was actually okay with closing 20% of their bases, but couldn't because of local politics. I believe that having dealt with BRACC previously (look it up). Lots of bases slated to close, very few did because Senator so and so lives on the appropriations committee... I'd still want to see the DoD numbers, but the premise is at least somewhat accurate. Being neither R nor D, they could probably actually get more of this accomplished since they wouldn't be beholden to anyone on either side.
3)On Terrorism and Foreign Affairs:
Johnson said straight up they may not be able to prevent a domestic terror attack, like the one in Nice. Which again, quite stunning compared to the "I'll stop these domestic terra'ists!" rhetoric we're used to. He made the point that people gather in groups a thousand times a day in the US, and some lunatic with a tractor trailer... he didn't just mouth platitudes, he was honest about it and the real challenge faced. Weld has a very interesting idea of forming a 1000 person FBI task force focused solely on domestic terrorism in order to try and find the lone wolves and keep surveillance on them, similar to what they did years ago to break down the top three echelons of the mafia.
They both made the point (Johnson led I think) that we need to get out of Afghanistan or commit to being there forever. No more pussyfooting around with bring some home, sending some back. We stay or we go. Because the Taliban isn't ever going to leave Afghanistan until the Afghanis tire of them, and we're wasting time, money and lives with our current policy. Having been there, I am starting to agree. We want to help them out of the stone age, but fundamentally, they don't want to leave it. Until they do we should just go. We got Bin-Laden, we toppled the Taliban, and we can make the point that if we have to come back and curb stomp them again, we will.
They made a point of saying that they were non-interventionist, not isolationist. They don't believe we can accomplish anything through regime change. I'm not sure I agree or not, but I can see their argument and it has some merit. Bill Weld was perfectly fine with drone strikes where necessary as preventative or to limit operations and training.
4)How it would work:
When asked how their presidency would work in Washington, Weld said they'd hire both Republicans and Democrats, and anyone who couldn't compromise and work with the other side (basically anyone too dogmatic or Tea-Partyish) would not be invited to play. Their idea was to carve out the middle and pull from both sides. I'm so on board with that idea it makes my teeth ache in longing. One interesting concept (I'd want to know more about before saying yea/nay) was that they'd sorta be Co-Presidenting. One staff for both of them as opposed to individual staffs for each. It's a unique idea, but it could work because they are good friends and are probably going to agree 96% of the time. More to the point, it indicates a willingness to work as a team on issues, and a really strong, very basic humility on the part of Johnson.
Johnson was very definitive he wouldn't try to take away semi-automatic weapons. Saying that even if we did ban the AK and M4 type weapons, of the 30 Million out there, we'd only get about 15M out of circulation, and in the process turn millions of law abiding citizens into criminals. He did also make the point that fully automatic weapons are already illegal to possess and he wouldn't be moving to change that. Basically, it seemed he was status quo on the issue. I'm not in agreement, though I think a ban on purchasing, or transferring the weapons to a non-relative might go a long way towards minimizing their presence, as well as say, a five shot magazine limitation. It'd take time, but like the Thompson machine gun, or Tec-9, it'd start to disappear out of circulation and thus be less used by criminals and lunatics. He didn't come across as a crazy person, and that was important to me.
Johnson is, of course for de-criminalizing marijuana. Or at least, removing it as a schedule 1 narcotic. He makes a case that there is valid medicinal use for the plant including treatment of some types of epileptic seizures. Weld didn't seem to have an opinion either way, he let Johnson handle the question since it seems to be something Johnson is more interested in. He did make a point that we way over incarcerate people at tremendous cost.
I'm not necessarily pro-decriminalizing MJ, primarily because (as the questioner pointed out) there are strands which are something like 300% stronger than they were in 1995, DECREASING the amount of the drug that can help with seizures by a factor of 80. In addition there are increased hospital visits for children exposed to marijuana (the number in CO went up by over 100% and poison control calls by over 500%) and for a variety of other reasons.
7)On Hillary Clinton and the FBI/Comey
Weld Convinced me that Comey made the right choice. He explained the standard that Federal prosecutors use which is not only the ability to convict, but the likely hood that a conviction would survive an appeal, and said the criminal intent simply wasn't there. It still doesn't absolve Clinton in my mind, because she abso-....ing-lutely knew better. None the less, I now get why Comey made the decision he did, knowing how it would make people crazy, and give him credit for not simply punting it over to DOJ for a decision.
Overall & Conclusion:
I have to say it was refreshing. I got strong questions and what I felt were honest answers with a relatively small amount of standard jibber-jabber and platitudes. It is clear these men are very good friends as well as running mates. It's also clear that Weld would be doing some of the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
If I could flip the ticket I would, because Bill Weld is *by far* the single most Presidential person in the race. If that dude were on the R or D ticket I'd have a little signpost in my front yard for him. Just clearly head and shoulders above everyone else, with the possible exception of Tim Kaine, who is my second most liked candidate at this point. I would fund raise for a Weld/Kaine ticket. I'd happily work the phones for that pair. I'd take out a personal loan... Alas, that's an impossible dream.
Johnson I'm still more iffy on, because of the duo he seems a bit lighter/fluffier than Weld and he is going for the top spot. Having said that, something happened that I need to mention. This was so stunning a moment Anderson Cooper had to stop the Town Hall and comment on it... Gary Johnson said something completely off the rails for a presidential candidate. He actually said during an answer, and I am quoting here:
BbbbbWhaaaat?
There's base honesty and humility there, and it's obvious. They also don't have that smarmy sense of entitlement I get from both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. That's.. refreshing. It's like a breath of fresh air.
Line of the Town Hall:
"Donald should consider a different line of work. Like *anything* other than President of the United States." -Bill Weld
(I'm still chuckling over his delivery)
Cites:
-Bouncer-
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