Presidential Debate 3

Finally a debate with a clear winner. Both President Obama and Governor Romney came out swinging about foreign policy. However, they weren’t swinging at each other. Apparently they were swinging at Gary Johnson, who unfortunately was not there to receive their punches. What I am saying is that Obama and Romney agreed with each other on essentially every question asked by the moderator. It was a sight to see. Two guys flailing away at a person not even present. So, you can see how easy it was to pick a winner. Just pick one, and you’ve picked the winner. Of course, you’ve also picked the loser.

Don’t get me wrong; there were a few minor differences like how quickly a policy should have been implemented or how long a policy should be in place, but at its core, Romney and Obama agree on foreign policy issues. They are so close that they were forced to occasionally sidestep to domestic policy just to find something to criticize the other about.

Basically, Obama and Romney both agree that we should continue to be involved in other nations in an attempt to bring about governmental changes that favor America. They also agree that sanctions and diplomacy should be the primary ways to deal with rogue nations, only using military actions as a last resort. This clearly distinguishes the Obama/Romney team from Gary Johnson. The libertarians typical support the idea of leaving other countries alone, but still trading with them. Johnson would bring our troops home immediately from Afghanistan and other nations of the world. Although I consider myself mostly libertarian, this is one area in which I have somewhat of a disagreement with the libertarian position.

While I mostly agree that we should let other countries defend themselves using their own military and money, I also recognize that there are some leaders of nations around the world that simply cannot be dealt with using reason. Sometimes we do indeed have to resort to sanctions and force when dealing with nations. It’s not ideal, but it’s occasionally necessary. I wish it were not.

So, if you were looking to make a decision between Obama and Romney based on their foreign policies, you can forget it. They’ll both do the same things. However, if you were trying to decide whether to vote for Johnson or one of the two mainstream candidates, then this debate was for you. If you want to know more about Johnson’s positions, be sure to tune into the debate between Johnson and three other third party candidates tonight at 8pm CT at http://freeandequal.org/live .