In case you missed it, Tuesday night C-SPAN aired a debate between the four third-party Presidential candidates. And good ol’ Larry King was the moderator (as an aside, what’s with only ancient men moderating these debates?).

If you’e like most of America, you’re probably thinking, “Third-party candidates?” Yup…there are more choices than just a turd sandwich and a giant douche. And here they are:

Gary Johnson - Libertarian: “Gary Johnson has been an outspoken advocate for efficient government, balanced budgets, rational drug policy reform, protection of civil liberties, comprehensive tax reform, and personal freedom. As Governor of New Mexico, Johnson was known for his common sense business approach to governing. He eliminated New Mexico’s budget deficit, cut the rate of growth in state government in half, and privatized half of the state prisons.” (GaryJohnson2012.com)

Jill Stein - Green Party: “A Physician, Jill Stein was the Green party candidate for the Massachusetts gubernatorial election in 2002, but was not elected. In 2004, Stein ran for state representative for the Lexington District, but lost to incumbent Thomas Stanley. Stein represented the Green-Rainbow party in two additional races – one for state representative in 2004, and one for secretary of state in 2006. In 2006, she won the votes of more 350,000 Massachusetts citizens, which represented the greatest vote total ever for a Green-Rainbow candidate.” (DemocracyWise)

Rocky Anderson - Justice Party: “Anderson served two terms as the 33rd mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, between 2000 and 2008. He is the Executive Director of High Road for Human Rights. Prior to serving as Mayor, he practiced law for 21 years in Salt Lake City, during which time he was listed in Best Lawyers in America, was rated A-V (highest rating) by Martindale-Hubbell, served as Chair of the Utah State Bar Litigation Section and was Editor-in-Chief of, and a contributor to, Voir Dire legal journal. As mayor, Anderson rose to nationwide prominence as a champion of several national and international causes, including climate protection, immigration reform, restorative criminal justice, LGBT rights, and an end to the “war on drugs”. (Wikipedia)

Virgil Goode - Constitution Party: “An American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1997 to 2009. In 2000 he switched to the Republican Party. He represented the 5th congressional district of Virginia. He lost his seat in the 2008 election to Democrat Tom Perriello.” (Wikipedia)

So, there are other choices. And to be honest, I’d take any of them over Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. Why?

Well although I personally think Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson are proposing a couple unconstitutional social programs (forgiving all student loan debt, establishing a living wage, single-payer healthcare), they both want to end our nation building and militarism, as well as the war on drugs. So realistically, if our military was slashed and the war on drugs ended, there would be plenty of resources suddenly freed up to establish social programs to take care of those in need. We’d just be reallocating funds.

Again, I’m not saying I agree with unconstitutional social programs, but I am saying that given the choice between militarism/drug prohibition, and social programs at home, I’d take the social programs. 

Social programs don’t detain American citizens without any proof of guilt and kill them.

Virgil Goode was quite a character. Personally, I’d never heard of him before, but like Stein and Anderson, I’d take him over the two mainstream candidates. Goode wants to slash military spending and balance the budget immediately. Anything unconstitutional would be cut. My biggest hiccup with Goode, though, was that he wants to continue the war on drugs. So as far as I’m concerned, being that he was the only one who wants to continue to wage that war, he came in last place in this debate.

And then there’s Gary Johnson. Man, I really like what this guy has to say. He’s Ron Paul but almost twenty years younger. Johnson wants to end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, etc. immediately, and bring the troops home. Furthermore, he wants to close many of the massive, expensive bases the US has overseas in countries like Germany and Japan.

Why do we still have bases in Japan when we’re broke?

Johnson would also immediately legalize Marijuana, the drug responsible for the most destruction in terms of human lives. I’m not talking about deaths, I’m talking about the criminal justice system incarcerating hundreds of thousands of people for using and/or selling Marijuana (a harmless drug), and destroying their lives; I say “destroying” because once you’re out of jail, good luck getting a good job with a drug rap on your record.

The war on drugs is an immoral policy that must end before it destroys the social fabric of this nation. And I don’t think we’re terribly far from that rubicon.

Johnson also spoke with the most passion, which is what we need now. So I personally will be voting for Gary Johnson in 2012, though I respect immensely anyone who will be voting for third-party candidates this election. As I said, any and all of them would be better than Mitt Romney or Barack Obama (turd sandwich and giant douche, respectively). 

Here’s the debate in its entirety. Check it out: