Since Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic presidential primary a month ago, I have seen many push the idea that Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico and the 2016 Libertarian Party nominee for president, is a good alternative for Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton. I couldn’t disagree more. To start with, Sanders is a socialist and Johnson is a libertarian, two ideologies that are diametrically opposed to each other. Beyond that, their specific stances on some of the most prominent issues of this election season do not align at all.
Throughout his campaign Sanders pushed for an increased federal minimum wage in order to help people who are not earning a living wage. Meanwhile, Johnson believes that the government should eliminate federal wage standards altogether because the government should have no place interfering with private businesses. That means that an employer could pay you as little as possible and get away with it- the exact opposite of what Sanders had in mind.
Sanders also once said that climate change is the greatest threat to our national security and urges policies that reduce fossil fuel dependency and push for clean energy research. Meanwhile, Johnson does not even support a ‘cap and trade’ plan for carbon emissions, something many libertarians support and instead believes that the government has no part in addressing climate change.
Making college debt free was one of Bernie Sanders’ more popular proposals. Johnson’s response to rising student debt is not only to eliminate student loans but to eliminate the entire US Department of Education. The idea is that since there will not be loans for students to get than those who cannot afford it won't attend and force universities to lower their prices. The fact is that it will take years before universities start to notice a decline in attendance because in order to get a good job a college degree is often required. Eliminating student loans will affect only the poor and prevent many from attending college and limit class mobility.
Sanders passionately made the case, over the course of his campaign, to make the “wealthiest Americans and largest corporations pay their fair share in taxes”. Not only does Gary Johnson disagree with that, he’d prefer to completely abolish the corporate income tax.
I’ve left out a myriad of other issues, such as universal healthcare, where Bernie Sanders and Gary Johnson not only disagree, but are at opposite ends of the issue. If Gary Johnson is a savior for anybody it would be for the disillusioned members of the libertarian wing of the Republican Party such as followers of Rand Paul, whose own White House bid ended early despite something of a cult following. But Johnson is definitely not a substitute for Bernie. While he might share a few of the same opinions, when you actually take a look at what Bernie made his campaign about, it doesn’t come even close.
