It’s official.
Americans are going to have three — count ’em, three — legitimate candidates for president and vice president of the United States to consider.
You may now count me as among the millions of Americans who are going to ponder the third path to the White House.
The Libertarian Party has nominated two accomplished former governors as its ticket to ride: Republicans Gary Johnson of New Mexico for president and William Weld of Massachusetts for vice president.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/libertarians-johnson-weld-trump-gary-william-223703
Here’s my dilemma.
I’ve told you already that I’ve voted exclusively for Democrats for president/VP since I started voting back in 1972. I’ve split my down-ballot ticket, though, over the years; I’ve voted for many Republicans for U.S. Senate and House, and for state and local offices in the two states where I’ve lived.
I do not yet know how I’m going to vote this year for president and vice president.
Under no circumstances would I vote for the likely GOP nominee Donald J. Trump and whoever he picks as his running mate. That’s a given.
The likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is presenting some potentially serious concerns for me. They center on that “trust” thing that’s dogging her. Am I ready to forsake her? No, but I am ready now to look carefully at what the third-party ticket of Johnson-Weld has to offer.
Both of these gentlemen were moderate Republicans when they governed their respective states. Today’s version of hard-core Republicanism would call them RINOs, RepublicansĀ In Name Only. Johnson is most well-known for advocating the legalization of marijuana. He also did a creditable job running New Mexico. I know a whole lot less about Weld.
Both are men of substantial financial means … although I don’t hear either of them brag about it the way Trump boasts of his y-u-u-u-g-e fortune.
Given that I understand that voting preference is a private matter, I’m not likely to reveal who will get my vote. That might become evident as I continue to comment on matters as the campaign progresses.
OK, you already know who won’t get it.
I suppose, then, that my choices now are just two — which is what they’ve always been in the past.
Whatever.
I now declare myself ready and willing to examine a ticket other than one from either of the two major political parties.
That’s a big step. AtĀ least it is for me.