Okay, I’ve now listened to the podcast.

For the most part, I agree with what you have said. My biggest point of disagreement is on the relative importance of balancing the budget, and the related issue of whether or not Gary Johnson is a significantly better candidate (or, indeed, a better candidate at all).

First of all, I don’t believe balancing the budget is a moral issue nor an issue of rights violation. If people want to voluntarily lend money to the government, their rights are not violated by the government borrowing that money. A proper government may choose to sometimes borrow money.

The real issue is taxation. That is the rights violation. And on this issue, Gary Johnson is absolutely horrible. I have neither the space nor the time to go into all the details as to the problems with the so-called “Fair Tax”, and I don’t expect you to just trust me on this one. I would advocate that anyone thinking about voting for Gary Johnson or who believes the so-called “Fair Tax” would be an improvement over the current income tax read the actual Fair Tax Act of 2011 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr25). And I’d be happy to answer questions asked here about that bill and/or the concept behind it.

The so-called “Fair Tax” is nothing like the state sales tax which you are familiar with. And the very name given to it shows the lack of principled support for rights that its advocates hold. A vote for Gary Johnson is, at best, a vote for the lesser of evils. Though in my opinion a vote for Gary Johnson would more likely be a vote for the worse of evils.