WASHINGTON, D.C. Oct. 5 (DPI) – The Libertarian presidential ticket of Gary Johnson and William Weld threw in the towel in recent days, the former declaring it’s “just not his time” to be president while Weld says it’s time to support Hillary Clinton to ensure a Trump defeat.

According to polls this week the Libertarian ticket was garnering about 7% of voters, well behind Clinton and Trump.

Johnson, the former New Mexico governor whose many gaffes made even supporters cringe in recent weeks, turned out to be a poor choice to lead a political movement that offered so many of the solutions to Washington’s paralysis.  And Weld, despite a background as a competent governor of Massachusetts, was unable to muster any kind of credible or compelling message of political reform beyond the party’s small base.

The two candidates came across as outliers in recent months, dismissed early and often by the mainstream media, which pays allegiance to the two political parties that control not only the campaign and the debate – but hundreds of million in campaign advertising dollars as well.

The Libertarian party’s failure in this election leaves power to the Democratic-Republican duopoly – both of course are keen on retaining power and are not inclined to reform a political culture largely defined by their moneyed interests, notably corporations and public-sector unions.  Moreover, neither party has shown much of an interest in recent years in exercising financial discipline or management, leaving government – and society – on a course for economic collapse.

Libertarian ideology, long bogged down by Ayn Rand-ian baggage, by many accounts has offered simplification to a range of problems, from taxation to health care. Policy simplification would too create at least the potential for new common ground in a divided electorate. That the Libertarian Solution never got traction is a function of the political dominance of the current duopoly, and the amateurish nature of the Libertarian campaign, observers say.  Johnson disclosed that he is a regular marijuana smoker, and on the campaign trail he was unaware of basic facts of geopolitics.