Tag Archives: Presidential Elections

Tulsa World Completely Ignores Gary Johnson In Its Refusal To Endorse A Presidential Candidate

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johnson-weldOn Sunday, the editors of the Tulsa World published an editorial in which they highlight why they cannot support either Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton or Republican nominee Donald Trump. It is a very detailed argument against both candidates and why the editors feel neither is qualified to be president.

Despite their unwillingness to support either of those candidates, the Tulsa World editors could not even summon enough courage to merely name Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. The closest thing they came to even acknowledging that there are other candidates is to say “Since 1940, the Tulsa World has consistently endorsed the Republican nominee for president, but we’re not willing to do that this time. Neither are we willing to endorse the Democratic candidate or any other candidate.”, emphasis mine.

They provide no reasons for not being willing to endorse the only alternative to the duopoly candidates in Oklahoma, nor do they even mention that he is an option for people who don’t want to vote for the duopoly. Why are they unwilling to even name Johnson? My best guess is that the Tulsa World simply lacks the creativity to imagine a world in which one or both of the major duopoly parties would fall out of favor.

The Tulsa World editorial staff has invested decades in the duopoly parties and as such they have conditioned themselves to be dependent on those parties to establish a political narrative in their minds and paper.

In reality though, their choice to not endorse either duopoly candidate is a tacit endorsement of Gary Johnson, even if they don’t want to specifically say so. By arguing that neither Clinton and Trump is qualified to be president, they are pointing people to look elsewhere. The only place for Oklahomans to look is toward Gary Johnson.

In a related note, the NewsOk editorial staff has already written off all 15 Libertarian candidates in Oklahoman. “In November, 15 Libertarian candidates will be on the ballot in legislative and congressional races. None is expected to win”. It is amazing to know that the duopoly parties are still managing to maintain so much control over these two papers. These editorials show that the duopoly parties are running scared. Even if the parties cannot secure endorsements from the papers, they have managed to ensure that the two largest media organizations in Oklahoma do not provide even an air of legitimacy to the Libertarian Party or any other alternative party. This means that the parties are worried about their continued survival.

Johnson/Weld Will Be Oklahoma’s Alternative Presidential Vote This Year

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johnson-weldAs of Sunday, Oklahoma voters will have the option to pick between three candidates for President and Vice President. The Libertarian Party held its national convention this past weekend and they elected Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson for President and Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld for Vice President. Both candidates took two ballots to elect, but both pulled a little over 49% of the vote on the first ballot.

This is great news for voters in Oklahoma and especially the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma. They spent a lot of time and money to get on the ballot this year and are excited for this news.

Congratulations to Governor Johnson and Governor Weld, the Libertarian Party’s candidates for President and Vice President of the United States!

You weren’t handed this victory on a silver platter, it wasn’t scripted or “made for TV”, and it definitely wasn’t easy, heck it wasn’t even pretty. Because of this the world got to see a legitimate and principled political process take place, and this is just one of the reasons why the Libertarian Party is the ONLY legitimate party on the ballot in 2016!

We are all looking forward to a presidential campaign that puts our party’s principles in the limelight and on the presidential debate stage. The momentum you will provide will cause the Libertarian message to be loud and clear in the main stream benefiting Libertarian races all over the country, and there’s no reason for us not to push it on into the White House from there!

According to recent news, Gary Johnson is already polling well against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In addition to that, the Co-Chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates has called for Gary Johnson’s inclusion in future polling.

We will keep you up to date on any future news.

John Kerry Needs To Direct His Anger At The United States

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At Least Oklahoma Is In Good CompanyIran is currently in the process of preparing for its Presidential Elections later this year. Part of that process is the declaration of candidacy of many people who want a shot at leading the country. Unfortunately for many of those potential candidates, Iran’s current regime is culling the rolls of any candidates that do not support the current regime. This includes at least one former President. So far hundreds of potential candidates have been disqualified. In response to this culling of the rolls, US Secretary of State John Kerry has lambasted Iran, saying the following:

“The Council narrowed a list of almost seven hundred potential candidates down to the sort of…officials of their choice, based solely on who represents the regime’s interests,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters during a visit to Israel.

“That is hardly an election by standards which most people in most countries judge free, fair, open, accessible, accountable elections.”

What is that saying about glass houses and throwing stones? I think Kerry needs to redirect some of that anger and frustration back at home. Everything that Kerry is accusing Iran’s regime of doing, the United States is just as guilty. Kerry complains of an unelected body deciding who is allowed to run in the Presidential elections based on their support of the current regime. The US also has one such body, the Commission on Presidential Debates. This body was founded by and is currently run by Republicans and Democrats and operates with the goal to only allow Republican and Democratic candidates on televised debates. Its rules for invitations to the debates are set up in such a way that no alternative candidates are allowed to participate. Continue reading →

Lessons Learned From FEC’s Presidential Election Results

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The Federal Election Commission recently released the official results from the 2012 Presidential Election (PDF). Just this information alone can teach us a lot about the political climate around the country. It also provides us with a few things that we can use to help in our efforts to bring ballot access reform to Oklahoma.

To start off, this report solidifies one fact that we have oft repeated here. Oklahoma is the only state to have limited its voters to two choices for President. This is the third Presidential election in a row that this has happened. The next fewest candidates on any ballot in the US was four candidates. Three states had that low ball, Hawaii, Missouri and South Dakota. That’s right, the next lowest number of candidates on a ballot doubled what was on the Oklahoma ballot.

Here are a few statistics from this report. The median number of candidates on any state ballot counting and not counting Oklahoma is eight. If you look at this on average, the average number of candidates on the ballot, including Oklahoma’s, is 7.92. Without counting Oklahoma, the average number of candidates on the ballot is eight. This means that Oklahoma has limited the number of candidates to a quarter that of the average in the US. The average voter outside of Oklahoma gets six more candidates than we do. That is rather depressing. Continue reading →