Oh, they're fiscally conservative, yes, but they're socially liberal. To a lot of people that's what "Libertarian" means. So why should I support a Libertarian candidate for President who promotes drugs, gay marriage, and on-demand abortions when I do not?
Because "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" isn't what "Libertarian" actually means. "Libertarian" means that I'm not bent on controlling people over things that are none of my business. It just coincidentally happens that this means being for small, unobtrusive government in both fiscal and social matters. LIBERTY is in the name. A Libertarian generally believes that you should be able to do as you want, so long as you don't hurt others in so doing.
It's as simple as that.
"How can you vote for THAT?"
When it comes to marriage and abortion and drugs, I disagree with many Libertarians, Gary Johnson included. But here's the important part: When Johnson says he's for any of these things, it's very different from the same statement uttered by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders. It means he, personally, is in favor of it. It does not mean that the Federal Government should be taking a role in legislating it.
Personally, I don't care what you believe so long as it doesn't cause you to infringe human rights. With a Libertarian, there's little chance of that. With a Republican or Democrat, the chance is 100%. There is an absolute certainty that a Republican or Democrat will seek to infringe your rights. The Libertarian will seek to keep the Federal government out of those things that should be locally determined. A conservative Libertarian and a liberal Libertarian can agree that most of the things on which they disagree are outside the scope of government.
There is a very big reason why strong centralized government is the stupidest human invention ever devised, the atomic bomb not excepted. It's because when the government is decentralized and local, people are free to vote with their feet. If their community has intolerable laws, they can pick up and move to some place populated by like-minded individuals. If you don't like living in a dry country, move to one without prohibition, and so on. By allowing people freedom of travel and the freedom to form their own local governments, a nation was born that allowed people of widely different opinions to live in relative peace. And if people are draining away from your locale and you're losing your tax base and your quality of life, that's probably because you're being governed by dickheads. You can either change your ways or recognize with honest self-satisfaction that you're one of them and that this is the price you pay for making your locale a sorry place to live. Market pressures work on populations and laws when there is freedom to govern locally.
However, when people are not allowed the freedom to self-govern and there is no recourse for them to move, they consistently grow more dissatisfied. You can see it yourself in the news. The more you want the central government to do, the bigger the political divisions, the bigger the more violent the discord, the more strident the voices. This includes the violent, hateful Democrats who storm Trump rallies and who hypocritically claim that in throwing the first punches against those who have thrown none, they're actually combating the hatred of others. That's hypocritical bullshit. The rhetoric may be Trump's, but you bring your own hatred with you, and it doesn't know your Party.
The price of your own freedom is to allow others to have theirs. That's what being a Libertarian is about. It's about living as if you actually believe in the Constitution you claim to support. It's about throwing aside your hypocrisy.
So yeah, I can vote for Gary. We may have differing opinions, but you know what...? This is the United States of America. We're supposed to have differing opinions. We're supposed to be a Mulligan Stew. The only thing we must agree on if we're to remain Americans is that Liberty and Justice is for ALL, not just the ones who believe as you do.
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