The Raven Report sat down with Libertarian-leaning Sequoia seniors Eric Herrmann and Dominic Tanzillo, who will both be voting in this year’s November election, to get some insight into their unique political perspective.

RR: So, what would you say differentiates the Libertarians from the Republican Party?

Eric: Right now the Republican party is moving away from conservatism and becoming more corporate. It’s becoming more Trump, who isn’t really aligned with my values at all.

Dominic: The direction I see the Republicans moving in is very authoritarian, very big government. I’m very centrist, pretty much zero on the left/right scale, and I lean very much towards a smaller government, which puts me more in line with the Libertarians.

RR: What are some of the issues that Libertarians support that align with your beliefs?

Eric: I guess what also makes me more aligned with the Libertarians is the emphasis of the Republican party on religious values. I’m religious, but I don’t think that the government has that responsibility, I think it’s more the citizens’ right to pick their own religious path. Although, being Christian myself, I’d like to have people who have similar morals in office, mainly because I guess I feel like I can trust people more if I know exactly what they view as right and wrong.

Dominic: I also believe the government shouldn’t have been able to tell people how to act in the issue of marriage equality, where my stance is pro-gay marriage. The government should step out of more things and let people do what they want, like who cares what two people do with their own lives? Who cares if people use drugs like recreational cannabis, as long as they aren’t actively harming society as a whole?

Eric: I agree, we need the government to protect people, but we don’t need the government to be our moral compass.

RR: In the general 2016 election you both plan to support Libertarian Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico who came in third place and received more than a million votes during the 2012 presidential election. He believes in marriage equality, a woman’s right to choose, marijuana legalization, and hopes to be the alternative choice for conservatives in November. What draws you to Gary’s campaign?

Dominic: Personally I really like his message, he’s socially liberal but fiscally conservative, so he’s very different from a mainstream Republican. I also really love his track record in New Mexico, I’m impressed by how well he’s improved their economy.

RR: Gary is against both corporate and income taxes, is that something you support?

Dominic: Yes, I’m for a smaller tax policy, something that can be understood by the average person.

Eric: Yeah, you shouldn’t need to pay somebody to do your taxes for you just because you don’t understand the tax code.

RR: What would you say are the biggest issues in American society are right now?

Dominic: Personally I would say the debt is incredibly scary.

Eric: I definitely think something needs to be done about climate change. It doesn’t matter to me who’s causing it, because either way it’s causing a problem for our economy, and some initiative needs to be taken in the private sector. We’re putting our heads in the sand about this issue, and that’s also one of the reasons I have a problem with the Republican party right now. In the 2012 election four years ago, only one major Republican party member would admit that climate change exists, and we can’t have that.

RR: What would you say to other students about considering an alternative political party when they register to vote?

Dominic: Get informed, check out websites like Garyjohnson2016.com. Even if it doesn’t convince you, it’s still food for thought, and a reminder that we have more than two political parties in America.

Eric: It’s easy to either vote for Trump as a joke, or for Hillary just because she isn’t Trump, but I would stress that you should vote for the person that you actually believe in ideologically, even if that person isn’t a mainstream candidate.