I thought about voting for Johnson, but did not.
I didn't like either major party candidate, but with Romney, the main problem I had was that he offered to cut taxes 25% across the board and failed to say how he would address spending, entitlements, and the debt. Because, as you point out, neither side wants to tackle those.
The Republicans want to cut taxes and increase spending anyway, the Democrats want to increase taxes and spend even more. Either way, you get a burgeoning and unsustainable debt.
I am mildly optimistic that they can compromise somehow on the "fiscal cliff". Personally I hope they follow the Simpson-Bowles recommendations, and limit entitlement growth coupled with less deductions. That will make a huge dent in future debt if so.
But I suspect they will keep slinging mud at each other to avoid taking any responsibility for the mess we are in. I guess we'll find out.
I will push back on the 47% comment a bit though. First, it's not that 47% don't pay taxes, it's just the percentage that don't pay INCOME taxes. Everyone employed pays payroll - social security and medicare/caid - taxes. And that's a much larger percent of the population than 53%. This website states that only 17% pay "no taxes at all".
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3505Second, of the percent that pay no taxes at all, many are retirees who should not be taxed, many of whom have no actual retirement and mostly depend on social security.
So the 47% was way overstated, and IMO reflects a widely held misconception that there are more "slackers" in thie country than there are.
"Joe the Plummer" was turned into an icon by McCain, who ended up featuring him at rallies in 2008, for asking Obama why he was going to raise his taxes. Laughably, it turned out that Joe the Plummer was one of the 47%. He only made 38K a year and paid no income taxes. This perfect example illustrates exactly what I am talking about. The perception of slackers feeding at the trough is way overblown.
Having taken a shot at Joe the Plummer, let me make it clear that I totally respect him as a person who works (or did I think he might be living off his celebrity now) for a living. So I would say that, using him as an example, there are many people that have a family and make less than 50K who work and pay no income taxes and I don't look down at them for that.