fartwiffle

Edit: my comment currently has more points than Mr. Sarwark's, so here's his linked.

I'm not certain of the LP's exact stance on education, but Gary Johnson has advocated for cutting the US Department of Education because it is ineffective, costly, and creates mandates that hurt students and learning.

“The Department of Education gives every state about 11 cents out of every school dollar that every state spends, but it comes with 15 cents’ worth of strings attached. So it’s really a negative to take federal money. You know, you’ve got to accomplish A, B, C and D to receive your 11 cents, but it costs you 15 cents to do it.” - Gary Johnson, May 31, 2016 MSNBC interview

The Dept of Ed has only been around since 1979. Before that all public education was handled and paid for by the states. Since then, the cost of education has skyrocketed, and the outcomes haven't improved at all. The US used to have one of the best public education systems in the world, but even though we spend more money per pupil than almost anyone else other countries have been able to educate their kids better while we stay the same.

If we give the Dept of Ed a pink slip we'd end up with 50 states that could experiment and figure out the best way to educate. Maybe one state could replicate Finland's system, other states could see how great the outcomes are, and it would go nationwide? That'd be fucking fantastic if you ask me!

The downside to that is we'd probably have, well I'm going to pick on Alabama, teaching creationism and good ol' christian values in their state public education system. I'm personally against that, but I respect their right to choose. I also respect their right to accept the consequences of that choice and the economic failure it would bring to their state.

But this is also a reason why folks like Gary Johnson and I support school choice and voucher programs. It doesn't matter if the school district I live in is a cesspool of right-wing conservative christian bullshit or an inner city school with teachers that gave up decades ago I should have a choice to send my kids to an option that works for me.

The other thing that matters when letting states handle things is that it's much easier for a passionate group of advocates to effect change at the local or state level than it is at the federal level. If your school district is pulling bullshit, run for school council and fix it. If your federal government is pulling bullshit, good luck.

Here's the May 17, 2016 Joe Rogan Experience with Gov. Gary Johnson.

If nothing else I'd hope a President Johnson would sign the Hearing Protection Act if it came across his desk.

I'd follow this up by saying that libertarians and JohnsonWeld supporters need to have conversations with their family, friends, and community. It's amazing how many people haven't heard of Gary Johnson, yet once they find out a bit about him they start to realize that Gary is the 3rd party. Word of mouth is huge!

Stand Your Ground has gone way too far.

Wealthy individuals living in gated communities have private security forces and great police coverage to keep them safe and secure. Powerful politicians have armed security and police keeping them safe and secure wherever they go. Maybe ya'll are better off or more powerful than an average Joe like me, but I can't afford a private security force. And the police don't drop everything to get to my neighborhood if there's a problem. Stand Your Ground laws afford every day people the same right to self defense as the rich and powerful, even if they have to protect themselves instead of having a guy in a blacked out Tahoe do it for them.

Florida gun laws are too lax and not well enforced.

You're absolutely right about enforcement. People who are not legally allowed to possess firearms, under current law, often get their firearms possession charges plead down to nothing. People engaging in straw purchase of firearms almost never get prosecuted, or even questioned by police. And our criminal justice system is derived from the concept of punishment instead of rehabilitation so we just end up creating more hardened criminals when we send folks off to prison instead of rehabilitating and helping them become better versions of themselves that would be productive members of society.

Perhaps we should go back to the wording of the 2nd Amendment and say that citizens who want to fire certain types of highly lethal firearms must join a local militia, screened by their local peers, and can fire those weapons only at the militia's local armory and shooting range.

The 2nd Amendment contains multiple clauses, as do many other Amendments to the Constitution (ie 1A protects free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association). The 2nd Amendment protects the right of both 1) The militia and 2) The People to keep and bear arms. The 2nd Amendment was partially based upon the right to keep and bear arms in English common law, influenced by Blackstone's description of this being an auxiliary right supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression, and civic duty to act in concert in the defense of state. All of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights protect the individual rights of all People from overstep by Government. And even if you don't believe any of that, The Militia is codified into law as being all able bodied people, with no other requirement. The fundamental right of The People to self defense and resistance to oppression does not exist at an armory or shooting range. It exists wherever free people might be: In their homes, in their cars, in their places business.

We also need publicly financed elections, which would undermine the power of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which seems far more tied to the guy makers and gun lobby than to the preferences of their own rank-and-file members.

Hey, I absolutely agree with you that we need to get money out of politics and elections. Citizens United was a steaming pile of horseshit, and that's just the tip of the iceberg into how corporations and rich people are influencing the political process, mostly in a negative way.

That said, in many states across the Nation the NRA is being readily outspent by Michael Bloomberg and groups that Bloomberg supports. He's tossing anywhere from $5-50M at the midterm elections with the sole purpose of getting anti-2A candidates elected. I'm not an NRA member, but I fully support their goal of protecting the 2nd Amendment from further erosion by politicians such as yourself, just as I also support Planned Parenthood and NARAL's mission of preventing other politicians from incrementally eroding abortion rights away from women.