The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill

Why not Gary Johnson?

by Andrew Christison - 09/27/16 5:32 PM ET

Nothing remains more clear than the fact that the majority of the population of the United States is repulsed by the possibility of either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becoming president. According to RealClearPolitics, Trump has a 58.3 percent unfavorable rating and Clinton has a 55.1 percent unfavorable rating, not to mention the countless scandals and mudslinging between them. So what’s the alternative?

Consider presidential and vice presidential candidates Gary Johnson and William Weld, both two-term Republican governors of Democratic states.

Already sounds like a breath of fresh air, right?

Polling with 8 percent in the latest Quinnipiac polls, Johnson is the only presidential candidate on the ballot in all 50 states who has any political executive experience, period. If Johnson and Weld were permitted in the presidential debates, which they should be, they could provide the most honest and transparent leadership the U.S. has seen in the White House in a lifetime.

Quick facts to consider:

• From Gerald Ford to Barack Obama, every president has supported free trade, but there’s only one presidential candidate in the 2016 election that does, and that’s Johnson.

• Johnson and Weld intend to stop the war on drugs, imprisoning so many of our citizens.

• Johnson and Weld have committed to balancing the budget in their first 100 days in office to make the U.S. fiscally responsible again.

• Johnson and Weld are committed to smart immigration policies that continue the tradition of America as the melting pot as we know it.

• Johnson and Weld are anti-interventionist in regards to foreign policy, likely the reason that a recent informal survey showed active-duty military members supporting Johnson for president over both Trump and Clinton.

If voters considered their own values in deciding which candidate for the most important office in the country aligns best, most would choose Gary Johnson for the 45th president of the United States of America. Let’s make America sane again.

From Andrew Christison, Fresno, Calif.

President Obama has been a failure on fixing race relations

President Obama’s background as a “community organizer,” aka “Chicago street agitator,” has come back to haunt him and a nation.

With respect to the spate of shooting deaths of African-Americans in the U.S., Obama reverted to his South Chicago street tactics and polarized the nation with such deeds as using the N-word in a radio interview. He remained mute after the officer involved in the Ferguson, Mo., controversy was cleared of any wrongdoing by both state and federal grand juries. He polluted the atmosphere of public sentiment by refusing to remain neutral in the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman tragedy, even though the latter was acquitted in a court of law and cleared by a federal grand jury.

In 2009, there was so much hope when Obama, then an Illinois senator, assumed the office of the presidency. There was widespread rejoicing that the nation had finally realized that an individual, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., would be judged by the content of his character rather than the color of his skin. Unfortunately, Obama has failed to fulfill that hope, due not to the failure of others but due to a failure of character.

In the end, he does not have to answer to this observer or any other allies or critics. President Obama has to answer to history, and to himself.

From Mike McAdoo, San Francisco

Tags Barack Obama Donald Trump Gary Johnson Hillary Clinton