So, something to watch for in the next several months: Jimmy recently tweeted a link to an article complaining about the fundamental unfairness of some RNC decision that excludes Gary Johnson from the RNC debate series for the 2012 presidential election, and I've seen other comments (e.g. James Hare on Facebook) suggesting that Jimmy has endorsed Johnson for the nomination. Given Jimmy's recent political activism, it seems reasonable that we watch to see if he wields direct or indirect influence over the articles of candidates in the upcoming election.

Just one more thing to keep an eye on. We all know that "NPOV" doesn't really exist; I'm curious to see how Wikipedia's largely leftist community will interact with Jimmy's personal right-wing political philosophy.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one wondering who the heck Gary Johnson is...

I had to look it up too.

I've met him twice, and I didn't even know he was running. He's not an asshole, so the media doesn't find him newsworthy. He's an energetic, focused guy, and if you bump into him while you're both at a conference about a particular issue, he will talk to you until he knows everything that you know about it.

Jimbo's Ayn Rand-inspired "Libertarian" politics are just a high-minded and pseudo-intellectual excuse for extreme selfishness, Social Darwinism, and being inconsiderate. Winner-takes-all economics, leaving people out to fend for themselves while large corporations aim to take advantage of them, and private property are all elements of this primitive philosophy. "Objectivism" isn't hedonism, but an idea that embraces rapacious greed and naturally leads to inequality rather than freedom. Markets aren't the solution, no matter how exploitative ("free") they are allowed to be.

In truth, I have never heard of Gary Johnson, either; I haven't formed an opinion about him, though if he strays from the lunatic party line of the GOP (Bible-bashing, gun-toting, red-baiting, and sexually-repressed homophobic Christers) then he's almost certainly better than the rest of the candidates. With the exception of Ron Paul, that is.

Have a couple of quotes about Gary Johnson--from New Mexico columnists.


Short answer: a lot of people in NM thought Johnson was a stoned flake.....and still do. Republicans AND Democrats. He must be a nut, Reason magazine ran this bizarre love letter about the man back in 2001. (Gee, that looks like a Jimmy Wales interview.)

He's similar to Wales in one basic way. Popular, but damned if anyone can figure out why.
(No, he hasn't got a hope in hell of getting the GOP nomination, or even finishing in the top five.)

And I'm guessing I'm not the only one giggling that you went to Wikipedia to find out the answer.


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In other words, a completely non-viable candidate for anything other than dog-catcher or governor of New Mexico.

He could be a good vice-presidential candidate. That would give you a non-trivial chance of getting him as Prez.

On the contrary, you probably are. But then you're probably so used to people giggling when you walk by that you just assume that people giggle and smirk at the drop of a hat, no?

Well, at least a dog catcher would know what to do with the rabid dogs, which at this point is better than I can say for our current CIC.

Frankly though (and almost seriously), I'd love to see another sane person in the GOP race, but an endorsement from Jimmy is a poison pill for me.