I am going to attend the LP convention and will be at the presidential debate. I am an unbound delegate and will be listening closely to Johnson and McAfee (as well as the others). You should tune into CSPAN and make your own decision after hearing them on the issues.

Also, your $$ would help.

That point has already been reached. The RNC is a completely partisan organization, i.e. they would support Lucifer himself if he was a Republican. Priebus has already tweeted that Trump will be the presumptive nominee. The Republican convention will be a taxpayer funded Trump lovefest (albeit with a lot of well known Republicans absent).

Definitely. We need to know how it might be done. Most people have no idea how to rebuild Venezuela, and its crashing big time.

We get so much misinformation from the media, which is totally behind Hillary and her bought and paid for machine, thats its difficult to estimate in advance who might win. I think that Trump has settled on upset with the current system, and that is resonating with a lot of people on both repub and dem sides. Trump has my vote

In order for Gary to win, he has to poll at 15% or better to get on the national debate stage.
WE, have to start sending donations to the Libertarian Party so they can get ballot access, right now, we're on 34 state ballots - we need 14 more.
WE also have to start funding Gary.

If you're not willing to do at least that, we will get the government we deserve fur sure.

Start practicing saying, "First Dude, Bill Clinton".

The way the Presidential elections have been for at least the past 16 years is that the Republican has to have a solid base to win. The simple fact is that the Republican candidate starts the race in a major hole (Electoral College). This year, the Republicans were given ideal circumstances to win back the Presidency: a faltering economy and a scandal-ridden opponent. But just yesterday's poll has Donald Trump starting in a double-digit hole. That's not good at all.

We'll see if any of the old Blue Dog Democrats will cross over to vote for Trump, but my suspicion is that they won't and that conservatives are simply going to stay home. Thought I wish otherwise, I am preparing right now for the dark days ahead of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Thanks!! It's good to be old!!!

When I went to Texas A&M, we hated the University of Texas sports teams, but when they were the representatives of the Southwest Conference, we were definitely pulling for them to win. The same thing happens in politics, with a few exceptions.

Trump, being a pragmatist, won't make die hard conservatives happy, so a few will sit it out, aiding Hillary. Clinton, being an opportunist and pathological liar, won't make the Sanders crowd happy, so a few will sit it out, aiding Trump. However, Trump is already doing something Hillary can't do: he's pointing out some of the issues he and Sanders agree on, which opens the door to potential "Trumpocrats." No way in hades can Hillary claim a single thing she would agree with any of Trump's GOP opponents, so there's no path for Republican crossovers.

Happy Birthday and hopes for many more!

Agreed. One of the things AS didn't address was the rebuilding part. IMHO, that would have made for a great sequel.

Trump and Sanders are anti-establishment people. That really struck a chord in the electorate. I wouldnt be surprised if this is the beginning of the end of republican and democratic party, and the start of serious voting for people, not parties.

RE: "The question now is has Trump burned so many bridges that those who voted for Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, etc. now just stay home?" It will be interesting to see if the #NeverTrump crowd sticks together after repeated exposure to Hillary political ads and sound bites.

A terrible thing to say, given that it means the end to a great experiment in liberty. That said, there is a real question whether it CAN be salvaged at this point. It may have just gone past the point of no return. All we can do is try and slow the process down a little.

I don't think the GOP hierarchy, which was already queasy over a horrible backlash if Trump wasn't given the nomination even if he didn't hit the magic number, would be insane enough to throw out the unquestionable winner of the primary process to put up an establishment toad. That's an absolute RIP for the GOP.

The entire lot were pathetic to let the media drag them into the morass of TV spectacle. And you may be right, that if they don't coalesce to some degree between now and November, the "party" will be destroyed as well as the "movement" trying to save the country. However, I don't see a "new political party" of any kind having any useful influence on the direction of the country in the time I've got left (I just turned 73, yesterday, happy B-day to me)

The attention given to rational values would be GOOD. But I think that can be obtained by supporting Johnson, but not actually voting for him in NOvember. We really DONT want Hillary or Sanders to win the presidental election

I sincerely hope that we do not follow in the footsteps of the AS novel. It would be such a waste to let the statists just take over. Maybe I am being selfish, but I want to slow down the process as much as I can until at least I am dead. I look at Venezuela and see that happening in the USA. 1 out of 7 are getting food stamps that the other 6 have to work to fund. And the money is being printed here just like in Venezuela. Its very scary, and makes me want to move to some remote place in another country.

As far as some of the candidates who dropped out early, that might be the case, but I don't think Cruz or Rubio supporters (or Kasich's either) are going to be as forgiving as you would paint them. If Donald had taken the high road instead of descending into the mud with respect to Cruz' wife or the whole "Lyin' Ted" mantra, maybe, but I think he's burned those bridges and scorched the earth in between. And I noted that Cruz didn't offer his support to Trump in his suspension speech last night.

The other thing to consider is the polarization in the Republican Party itself this go-around. While Rush has done a pretty good job being non-partisan, Glenn Beck openly campaigned for Cruz while Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter went all in on the Trump campaign. #NeverTrump is pretty powerful in the GOP right now. I don't see a divided party winning an election, and if the GOP doesn't win, I see a good chance of the current fractures becoming permanent and possibly introducing a new political party - probably based on the TEA Party.

Gary Johnson got 1% in 2012 against an Obama-Romney matchup. This year there are a large number of voters who will refuse to vote for either Hillary or Trump. If the Libertarian candidate starts polling at 3 or 4 percent (or more) because of these voters, it will focus quite a bit of media attention on the LP and its principles without affecting the ultimate outcome of the race.

We are in complete agreement that our current political system is merely a descent into socialism and away from proper governing values. The question that will soon be answered is if anything is going to change in the near future or if the days foreseen in Atlas Shrugged become reality.

Agree, the game is still rigged unless the GOP Cartel reaches the point of: "Trump is not what we want but we don't want Hillary more."

I think the vitriol during the campaign (which was disgusting) will have little consequence in the rest of the process. As I explained to my wife, it's like two linemen in a football game, beating the shit out of each other but when the game is over, they hug each other.,,, At least, I hope that's the way it goes.