Two parties with the same bad ideas don’t represent the extent of electoral choices in 2012
Last fall, GQ ran a profile of former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, then a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, under the headline “Is This the Sanest Man Running for President?” The piece noted that in 2003, Johnson scaled Mount Everest with a broken leg, and in 2005, broke his back paragliding off the highest mountain in Maui. “Sanest”? Well, maybe not.
But Johnson, now running on the Libertarian Party ticket, is certainly the most interesting candidate in the 2012 field — and that’s not an attempt to damn with faint praise.
Yesterday morning, I sat down with “Gov. Gary” to talk about what he hopes to achieve in this race.
The American electoral process almost guarantees third-party failure, says “Duverger’s Law,” coined by the French political scientist who pointed out that “The plurality (1 winner) voting system tends to lead to a two-party system.”
CONTINUED at Reason. Written by Gene Healy.
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