I am constantly astounded by Bernie people who say they are now going to vote for Gary Johnson, the ex-Republican and now Libertarian candidate for President.

(Sorry I can’t credit the artist here; don’t know who it is)

Libertarians are good on certain social issues. They don’t think the government should be deciding things concerning abortion or gay marriage or whether you should be able to smoke marijuana. They don’t want Big Brother government watching us. They’re against using torture against our enemies. You can see why many Bernie supporters would like that.

The problem is that libertarians not only believe that government should be out of our social lives, they believe the government should be out of just about everything.

Bernie railed against income equality, Wall Street, and greed. He talked about how the little guy in America couldn’t get a fair share with corporations paying no taxes and fighting minimum wage. He railed against Citizen’s United and the deregulation of banks that caused the housing crisis and the economic recession.

And what kinds of policies caused these problems?

Libertarian policies.

Here are the things Gary Johnson wants:

• Elimination of all corporate taxes  (not your taxes, of course — just businesses)
• Health care only for those who can afford it (and elimination of medicare too, so your elderly parents can just suck it up and deal)
• Privatize social security
• Insurance companies can refuse you for a pre-existing condition and can kick you off their plans if you get sick
• Get rid of income tax but have a national sales tax of 23% on top of your state sales tax. (This means that the average person will pay more taxes overall, but the average rich person will be tremendously better off)
• Get rid of the minimum wage (Not “reduce it” — get rid of it completely)
• Schools allowed to teach creationism
• Abolish the Department of Education
• Vouchers so students can get tax breaks to go to religious schools (with your tax money)
• No government student loans (Can’t afford college?  Tough)
• Support of the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) so businesses can ship jobs overseas because freedom
• Allow corporations to give unlimited money to political candidates
• No gun laws
• For-profit jails (who then lobby for stronger drug laws so they can keep more people incarcerated because money)
• No cap-and-trade policy and no extra taxes on polluters (currently used to force them to go to cleaner energy)
• No federal funding for science or stem cell research
• No net neutrality — your internet server can decide to charge you more based on what sites you want to visit
• Cut all support to Israel

Come on, the man carries around Ayn Rand books and gives them out, saying that is the kind of government he wants.

Now, of course, some people think all this is a good idea — that if only government got out of the way, no powerful person would ever take advantage of anyone ever again and we’ll all live in peace and harmony happily ever after, even though that has never been the case in the entire history of humanity.

But Bernie supporters?  Really? If this is what you truly believe, then what the heck were you doing supporting Bernie, who has spent his entire career fighting people like Gary Johnson?

(Primary source:  http://www.ontheissues.org/Gary_Johnson.htm)