Stossel Libertarian presidential forum, 2016

The first nationally televised Libertarian Party presidential debate was hosted by Fox Business Network on John Stossel’s show “Stossel”. The two-hour debate was divided into two one-hour segments which were televised on April 1 and 8 at 9:00 Eastern Time. The debate featured the three highest-polling candidates, as measured by the Libertarian Party’s own online poll. The candidates featured in the debate were former Republican Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson, ‘The Libertarian Republic’ founder Austin Petersen and anti-virus software developer John McAfee; John Stossel moderated the debate which featured questions from himself, Fox media personalities (second part) and people who submitted their questions on social media. All three candidates were afforded about the same amount of time to speak at the debate.

Part one - April 1st

In the first hour of the debate, the main focus was on religious liberty and discrimination. Johnson said: "I think that if you discriminate on the basis of religion, I think that is a black hole. I think you should be able to discriminate for stink or you’re not wearing shoes or whatever. If we discriminate on the basis of religion, to me, that’s doing harm to a big class of people." Petersen then asked whether a Jewish baker should be required to bake a Nazi-themed wedding cake, to which Johnson replied: "That would be my contention, yes." However, McAfee said: "If you’re the only baker in town, it may be a problem. But no one is forcing you to buy anything or to choose one person over another. So why should I be forced to do anything if I am not harming you? It’s my choice to sell, your choice to buy."[1] Petersen’s responded to Johnson’s statement in saying: "This portrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the free market. You have to allow the marketplace to work. The government cannot stamp out bigotry. The government is not supposed to make us into better people—that’s not what the United States was founded on."[2]

Another topic was foreign policy, specifically the United States’ role in military intervention. Johnson said we should go to war only "when attacked;" Petersen said we should cut "every penny" of foreign aid, and McAfee questioned why we need to go to war and told Stossel that he is running for president "because our bodies and our minds belong to ourselves."[3][4] On the issue of marijuana, Johnson advocated for the legalization of marijuana, saying that it "will lead to less overall substance abuse." Furthermore, he noted that he is the highest official to advocate for the legalization of marijuana. On the contrary, Petersen said that "the federal government should have absolutely no role [in determining the legality of drugs]" and that it should be left to the states. On the issue of social security, Petersen said that "the government stole our money in the first place and they should give it back" and even proposed an option to "let young people opt out of social security."

Other topics discussed during the first hour were abortion, Social Security, gender-pay equality and the national debt. While there was some disagreement over abortion, Social Security, and gender-pay equality, all of the candidates on the stage agreed on the need to balance the federal budget in order to reduce the national debt. Towards the end of the debate, Stossel grilled the candidates on their past. For Johnson, Stossel noted that he is the CEO of a marijuana company and that in 2012 he only got 1% of the vote as the Libertarian Party nominee. Johnson responded by citing that marijuana is soon going to be legalized nationwide and that he received the most votes of any Libertarian Party candidate in the history of their party (1.2 million). For McAfee, Stossel made him clarify what happened when his property was raided in Belize. McAfee explained that the government wanted him to pay the extra money and that they were the ones that raided his home. McAfee also had to clarify that his DUI was self-inflicted and that he took all responsibility for his actions. Petersen was asked how he is only 35 years old and would be the youngest president ever elected. Petersen responded by noting the ages of the Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention and how they were all in their twenties or thirties.[5]

All of the candidates then expressed their strengths. Petersen said: "I believe I am the only candidate who can build a coalition of disaffected conservatives, reasonable Democrats, and independents because I am the only pro-life and pro-constitutional LP candidate running. I may be the youngest candidate in the race, but younger men than I founded this country, and it will be young people’s responsibility to save it;" Johnson — who has enjoyed rising poll numbers and mainstream media appearances — said: I intend to offer Americans the alternative they seek. Liberty and the freedom to succeed are the real American values, and I’m running for president to restore those values, make America genuinely safe, and put an end to a tired status quo;" McAfee said: "One of the few constitutionally sanctioned duties of the federal government are to provide for the national defense, and our government, in addition to being corrupt to the core, is woefully unprepared to defend our nation from the very real threat of cyber war. And yet, at the same time, this criminal enterprise masquerading as a government encroaches on our personal freedoms at every turn, and that’s why I’m running for president as a Libertarian." [6]

On Twitter, Stossel polled users on who they thought had won the debate and what the candidates best lines were. Out of the 1,704 votes Petersen won with 49% saying that he performed the best, he was followed by Johnson at 29% and McAfee at 22%.[7] A similar poll was conducted by the Libertarian Party on their website showing similar results.[8] Johnson received high marks when he said: "I advocated for legalizing marijuana, I'm the highest official to do that." Petersen’s best line was that "all humans deserve the same right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." McAfee’s stand out line came when talking about cyber security "we are 20 years behind the Chinese in potato security...we'll be speaking Chinese in 5 years." A notable moment was when Johnson kissed McAfee on the cheek, in stark contrast from the infighting from the two major parties.[9]

Part two- April 8th

Part two of the Libertarian Party presidential debate was broadcast on April 8 at 21:00 Eastern Time on the Fox Business Network. Social media responses were similar in the hours after the debate.[10][11][12] During the second hour of the debate, candidates took questions about immigration, free trade, jobs, using phones to prevent non-state terrorism (specifically the Apple case in San Bernardino, California), environmental issues by the government, Keystone XL pipeline, eminent domain, drug legalization, drug addiction, prostitution, protecting the Constitution, where they agreed almost identically. The main point of contention came during a discussion about gun rights where Johnson raised the question about taking guns away from the mentally ill. Petersen quickly blasted the Governor stating the second amendment rights, and McAfee took Petersen's side. McAfee questioned how you can determine who is "mentally ill". Petersen questioned Governor Johnson on his stance on background checks. Johnson replied by talking about his record as Governor of New Mexico where he passed concealed carry laws. However, he failed to come up with a way to address how someone is "mentally ill".[13][14][15][16][17]

Ratings

It was estimated that around 200,000 people watched the debate.[18]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/31/inside-the-beltway-gary-johnson-john-mcafee-austin/
  2. ↑ http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016/03/31/fbn-s-john-stossel-hosts-libertarian-presidential-forum-featuring-johnson-mcafee-petersen.html
  3. ↑ http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/31/are-you-ready-for-the-first-nationally-t
  4. ↑ http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/04/libertarian-presidential-candidate-thinks-pirates-are-the-solution-to-americas-foreign-policy-challenges/
  5. ↑ http://reason.com/archives/2016/03/30/a-better-choice-for-2016
  6. ↑ http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/08/stossel-previews-libertarian-forum-reveals-candidates-surprise-answer-and-who-he-finds-weird/
  7. ↑ https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Stosselforum
  8. ↑ http://www.lp.org/poll/who-won-the-libertarian-presidential-debate-on-stossel
  9. ↑ http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/19511-stossels-libertarian-debate-highlights-the-goodand-bad-of-the-third-party-option
  10. ↑ https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Stosselforum
  11. ↑ https://twitter.com/search?q=%23LibertyHangoutDebate
  12. ↑ https://twitter.com/search?q=%23LibertarianDebate
  13. ↑ https://twitter.com/hashtag/stosselforum?src=hash
  14. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58xP9PHekMU
  15. ↑ http://www.foxbusiness.com/shows/stossel.html
  16. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevemorgan/2016/04/08/dont-miss-tonights-presidential-debate-on-cyber-defense/#43365b9d43e1
  17. ↑ http://thefederalist.com/2016/04/04/the-libertarian-presidential-debate-was-a-little-noticed-breath-of-fresh-air/
  18. ↑ http://press.foxbusiness.com/2016/02/fox-business-network-scores-highest-rated-month-ever/
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