Third Party Candidates Derail

Hopefully, the last couple of days will finally put to rest any idea that Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Jill Stein of the Green Party are a real alternative if you can’t stand Trump or Clinton. Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, have an arrest warrant out for them both in North Dakota for criminal trespass and criminal mischief. The warrant arose out of the protest against the Dakota Access pipeline that is opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe because it violates sacred Indian ground. To be clear, I absolutely support the Sioux in their legal fight against the pipeline and they have every right to protest. And I’m glad Jill Stein is there supporting them. But spraying graffiti on privately owned construction equipment is hardly the best way to do that.

Yes, the North Dakota authorities are reacting with overkill with their arrest warrant (and they’ve just called out the National Guard in a clear escalation of tension with the protesters), and, yes, this is hardly a serious criminal act. But the lack of judgement showed by Stein and her running mate is pretty clear. If you are running for President, then fight the pipeline in the courts, in the legislature, and in the public. Stand with the protesters and stay with them until the end. Don’t just fly in and spray some graffiti and then leave.

While Stein only is polling around 2% in the polls, Gary Johnson and the Libertarian party are polling at near 10% and actually had a chance to reach the threshold to get into the debates. That was until Johnson went on Morning Joe and showed his complete lack of knowledge of, or apparent interest in, foreign policy. When asked what he would do about the continuing crisis in the war-torn city of Aleppo, Johnson answered, “What’s Aleppo?”.

The level of ignorance here is astounding. If you have been following the dreadful and disgusting news out of Syria even in just a cursory way over the last four over five years, you had to have heard of Aleppo. The city has been the scene of a destructive four year battle between Syrian government forces and the opposition that has left the city virtually in ruins. The civilian casualties have been immense and most of the recent cease-fire initiatives have been concerned with somehow getting humanitarian aid into the city. How anyone running for President could not be aware of the city is mind-blowing.

Hopefully, after these disasters, we will not hear too much from these candidates again and the people who are considering voting for either of them will realize that neither of them is even worth a protest vote – better to just stay at home than support the lack of judgement and ignorance of these two.