The Detroit News came out with their endorsement for president this morning and, for the first time in the newspaper’s history, the did NOT endorse a Republican. They also didn’t endorse a Democrat. They endorsed a candidate who doesn’t even have double-digit support in most national polls, Libertarian Gary Johnson.
Johnson’s position on issues that impact everyday Michiganders shows just how out of touch he is.
- He was against the loans given to Chrysler and GM during the Bush Recession to keep them from going under.
- He opposes a federal law compelling women to be paid the same as men for the same job.
- He opposes affirmative action.
- He supports a corporate tax rate of ZERO percent.
- He believes hate crime laws legislate against “thought-crime”.
- He believes the “war on drugs” is the “root cause” of police officers shooting black people in inordinate numbers.
- He believes in school vouchers (which are illegal in Michigan) and that competition is what is needed to make our schools better.
- He wants to eliminate the Department of Education entirely.
- He believes, and I’m not making this up, that school loans are the cause of the rising costs of higher education.
- He believes there’s no role for the federal government in combatting global climate change.
- He believes there should be no limit on campaign donations.
- He believes the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.
- He thinks we should raise the retirement age to 75 and supports the privatization of Social Security.v
- He would eliminate the income tax, create a 28% sales tax, and abolish the IRS. He opposes minimum wage laws.
- He opposes paid medical and family leave. He doesn’t believe there should be ANY restrictions on firearms.
But, it’s really more than all of this that makes the News’ endorsement of Johnson the most insane. The man appears to know virtually nothing about foreign affairs at all. Yesterday, less than 24 hours before the News’ endorsement was published, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews asked him, “Who’s your favorite foreign leader?… Anywhere in the continents. Any country. Name one foreign leader that you look up to.”
Johnson couldn’t do it. He literally could not do it:
Gary Johnson is an embarrassment. The Detroit News endorsement is equally an embarrassment. Well done, Nolan Finley. You’ve managed to surprise even me.
[Peace Monument photo credit: Anne Savage, special to Eclectablog]
