Gary Johnson (1953- ), former Republican governor of New Mexico (1995-2003), is running for US president in 2016 as a Libertarian.
Unlike Donald Trump, Johnson has held elected office. And also unlike Trump, he is a self-made millionaire (construction). Until last January, Johnson was the head of Cannabis Sativa, Inc, which sells marijuana products. He still owns stock in the company.
His vice president is William Weld, also a two-term Republican governor of a blue state, Massachusetts (1991-1997). Weld is more mainstream and a sharp debater.
Polls: As of August 2016, about 10% say they will vote for Johnson, putting him in third place, ahead of the Green Party’s Jill Stein (4%). His strongest support is among voters under 30 (19%). His weakest is among Blacks (4%) and those 65 or older (4%).
He needs 15% nationwide to appear in the debates.
Positions:
- For: abortion, marijuana, gay marriage, school vouchers, smaller government, lower taxes, a national sales tax instead of income tax.
- Against: War on Drugs (should be a public health issue), miltary adventures abroad (makes things worse), Trump’s wall (racist).
- Doubts about global warming being man-made.
He would cut Medicare, Medicaid and the military.
His main policy for Blacks is to end the War on Drugs, which he compares to the prohibition of alcohol in the early 1900s.
Libertarians: William Weld put the libertarian philosophy this way:
“We want the government out of your pocketbook and out of your bedroom. And I will tell you the polling shows a majority of Americans think that.”
That seems overstated. Only 22% support gay marriage yet at the same time oppose income redistribution.
Libertarians do best in western states like Utah, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The party ran Ron Paul as president in 1988, and David Koch of the Koch Brothers as vice president in 1980.
Johnson supporters are 22% Republican, 11% Democratic and 62%
independent. They are 81% White. When he ran for governor he had strong Native American support, mainly over the issue of gambling. It put him over the top.
Endorsements: Jesse Ventura, Raven-Symone, Glenn Beck, John Stossel, Marijuana Policy Project. So far no big-name Republicans, despite their supposed distaste of Donald Trump.
Path to victory: Johnson will have to win at least one state and stop both Trump and Clinton from winning an outright majority on election day (pictured above). If he can do that, the election gets thrown to the House of Representatives, one state, one vote. There he could win as a compromise between Trump and Clinton supporters.
No third-party candidate has won any states since George Wallace in 1968. In late summer Wallace was polling at 17%. Johnson so far is not expected to win any states, not even his home state.
Johnson also ran in 2012 where he got 1% of the vote, a record for the Libertarian Party. This time he will likely get 7%, which would qualify them for federal campaign funds for 2020.
Hobbies: He has climbed the tallest mountain on each continent (except presumably Antarctica).
Signature style: suit, tie, Nikes.
Fan of: Ayn Rand.
– Abagond, 2016.
Sources: mainly Pew Research (August polling), New Yorker (general profile), Indian Country Today (Native Anericans), VOA (Weld quote), FiveThirtyEight (the 22% figure), Wikipedia (endorsements), CNN Town Hall (position on Blacks).
See also:
- 2016 election for US president
- Republicans
- The War on Drugs as the New Jim Crow
- Raven-Symone
- Native Americans
- Ayn Rand Fan Club
- Paul Ryan
- Charles Murray
- Clarence Thomas
573
Fan of: Ayn Rand. Yikes!
LikeLiked by 3 people
During the libertarian town hall CNN hosted, he acknowledged that discrimination and that the BLM movement has, for him, been a “wake up call”. And that prior to them, he had his “head in the sand” with regards to racial discrimination.
LikeLike
Libertarianism (American type) is a trojan horse for feudalists and fascists. They are the equivalence of the mythical sirens in the political world.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Then from one of her arias for heldentenor: “I am done with the monster of ‘we,’ the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: ‘I.'” – Ayn Rand
“This odd little woman is attempting to give a moral sanction to greed and self interest, and to pull it off she must at times indulge in purest Orwellian newspeak of the “freedom is slavery” sort. What interests me most about her is not the absurdity of her “philosophy,” but the size of her audience.” – Gore Vidal, 1961
If Gary Johnson is in fact a fan of Ayn Rand, well then, voters should be more than a little concerned with whether he’s been infected with her “objectivism” philosophy. This is simply a fancy masking term utilized for greed, selfishness, veiled hints of a master race and being comfortably divorced from reality.
LikeLike
A fan of Ayn Rand that’s a very bad thing. Not good at all. In fact it’s down right scary.
LikeLike
“If Gary Johnson is in fact a fan of Ayn Rand, well then, voters should be more than a little concerned with whether he’s been infected with her “objectivism” philosophy. ”
I think Johnson is more Freedman/Hayek then Rand as he has said there economic thinking reflects his approach to governance.
Randian philosphy is rooted in scocial darwinism and opposes State funded safety nets. Both Hayek and Freedman argued for safety nets as part of their economic world view.
“The assurance of a certain minimum income for everyone, or a sort of floor below which nobody need fall even when he is unable to provide for himself, appears not only to be wholly legitimate protection against a risk common to all, but a necessary part of the Great Society in which the individual no longer has specific claims on the members of the particular small group into which he was born.” Hayek
Hayek most popular work, ‘The Road the Serfdom” was mostly written in opposition to the central planning behind State sponsored Communism, Fascism and Socialism which were relevant in his time. His economics was largely laissez faire and was critical of government intervention in markets. When Johnson speaks of government “creating a level economic playing field” he is drawing from Hayek.
The dictator Pinchot had Hayek write his economic plan and the Chilean economy boomed. But what Pinchot didn’t do was follow Hayek advice on safety nets and instead chose a fascist police state to keep poor people in check. The point I want to make is that economics and political ideology are two different things. The “free” market can exist within fascism, Communism (China) or western style democracies.
Modern day Republicans want the benefit of the free market while ignoring or defunding safety nets put into place to help those less fortunate. Hayek and Freedman argued you could have both: Deregulated markets and safety nets and that these were not contradictions but required for a society intent on upward mobility for its citizens.
In regards to Rand keep in mind she immigrated from a communist country and in her time anti communist writing was popular. She rejected State sponsored Communism and its collectivism and embraced State sponsored Capitalism along with hyper individualism. She did see or call herself libertarian but many libertarians draw from her writings. She has been characterized as “greed is good” because of her focus on “self interest”.
In my opinion “self interest” can be either good or bad depending on context and intent. Entrepreneurship is rooted in self interest and if the State taxes that to heavily or their is too much bureaucratic interference that can have a negative affect on the economy and society as a whole.
If we think about Trump and Hillary its obvious that their self interest is rooted in narcissism and wealth accumulation. Johnson’s self interest in running doesn’t seem to come from there but more from his own classical liberal ideology.
In New Mexico Johnson vetoed close to 750 bills. Some of these were spending bills but a lot were business and corporations seeking small monopolies within the state. A typical politician uses pay for play as a way to maintain political power and extend personal wealth. Johnson on the other hand vetoed these because he saw these bills as “crony capitalism” and wishing the state maintained a “level economic playing field” he vetoed them. That points back to Hayek not Rand.
So Johnson speaks a lot about entrepreneurship, free markets and privatizing some government agencies as well as abolishing others. This has caused him to say some pretty ridiculous things like “The free market will solve global warming”. lol
I believe him to be honest but naïve.
LikeLike
*She did not see or call herself libertarian
LikeLike
The Richmond Times Dispatch has endorsed Gary Johnson for president. I believe this is the largest paper ever to endorse an LP presidential candidate.
http://www.richmond.com/opinion/our-opinion/article_b79cc2b6-8ed5-532c-92eb-4a37e779c433.html
LikeLike
As someone who has been a fan of, and studied the liberty movement for many years, I have an opinion on the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. IMO he is a LINO. (Libertarian in name only) Many of his positions such as his support of the patriot act, forcing people to bake cakes ( Not only gay wedding cakes.. Even in the extreme example of a Jewish baker being forced to bake a Nazi a swastika cake, because the consumer is always right I guess?) are not libertarian positions. He supports government funding for the private organization Planned Parenthood,(Libertarians believe in an honest playing field where no one is harnessed by government regulations, but likewise where no one company is unfairly lifted up through cronys giving them an unfair advantage, whether it be from money or a lifting of said regulations for only them, over similar organizations and companies) He’s also come out in favor of a carbon tax. What exactly does that mean ? Is he going to tax our breath? I don’t believe a carbon tax would be a good thing for free markets. The richest companies would just pay it, and probably just skate around the regulations like insider companies like planned parenthood does. Only the richest and wealthiest companies would be able to survive. Indirectly causing those said companies to get even wealthier, and probably causing them to further pollute with no repercussions ultimately. Vote for Mr. Trump! He is for a fair free market only giving favor to AMERICAN companies, be they big or small. In fact by lifting regulations on everyone it wouldn’t matter if Carrier Air Conditioning moves to Mexico, or if Apple is in Ireland or China, because with less regulations and taxes, countless other companies, AMERICAN COMPANIES, will rise up to take their place. I’m voting for Trump, and to other libertarians and freedom fighters out there, I hope you do too.
LikeLike
Dave said,
“Many of his positions such as his support of the patriot act”
Both Johnson and Bernie Sanders oppose the patiot act. His poition is clearly stated on Isidewith.com .
In an articale Johnson wrote called “Gary Johnson: The Patriot Act or Liberty, It’s Up to Us.” He says this.
“The Our America Initiative, along with other civil liberties advocates such as the ACLU, continues to fight for a restoration of the 4th Amendment’s protections. Clearly, that fight is far from over.”
‘The REAL opportunity to breathe life back into the 4th Amendment and some measure of restraint on unwarranted surveillance of American citizens comes next year when the Patriot Act expires and Congress will have to reauthorize it — or not.’
“My preference is to simply repeal the Patriot Act. But at a minimum, Our America will be fighting for substantive changes to the sections of the law on which the government is basing its legal justification for mass surveillance.”
“There will be many important policy debates over the next several months. But when it comes to civil liberties, the reauthorization of the Patriot Act is undoubtedly one of the most important — if not THE most important.”
Gary Johnson also wants to abolish the N.S.A. He along with Jill Stien has said that Snowden should be pardoned and commended for exposing the U.S. surveillance apparatus.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/06/libertarian-gary-johnson-wants-to-abolish-the-nsa/
Gary Johnson has been mischaracterized on his positions not so much from the media but from self identified “radicals” within the Libertarian Party. The greatest threat to the Libertarian party lies not from outside groups but rather from libertarians within the party who think Gary, as Dave put it is a LINO. Its the true Scotchman fallacy.
LikeLike
Dave said,
“Many of his positions such as his support for forcing people to bake cakes ( Not only gay wedding cakes.. Even in the extreme example of a Jewish baker being forced to bake a Nazi a swastika cake, because the consumer is always right I guess?)”
This is a little more complicated to explain as it is rooted in how some libertarians view property rights and gets into libertarian political theory.
This question originally came up in the debates prior to the convention choosing their candidate. It was meant to support “religious liberty” rights that many in the libertarian purist and palo wing believe in. Gary correctly said he opposes any laws that allow for discrimination under the guise of “religious liberty” because once a precedent is set discrimination against Muslims and others would eventually occur.
“Should a Jewish baker be forced to bake a Nazi a cake ?”
This is a straw man argument. In the real world outside of libertarian theory no Nazi would consciously buy a cake from a Jewish owned business.
But lets go with it a bit. If the law states that the Jewish baker had to bake the cake that would indeed invoke the power of the State. But what the State can’t do is force the Jewish baker to put a swastika on the cake. This is how the laws are written now.
Furthermore a Christian or an Atheist could possibly refuse to put a swastika on the cake which shows that this analogy has nothing to do with protecting religious freedoms because finding Nazi’s offensive has nothing to do with religion.
The majority of Christian, Jewish or Atheist bakers have no problems baking cakes for gay people. But a handful of religious bigots want to make a big deal about it and libertarians rush in with these “lets protect religious liberty” arguments when their is suppose to be separation of Church and State. For the State to favor the rights of religious bigots over the rights of secular citizens would show favoritism of one group over another based on one groups religious beliefs which is contrary to the idea of separating religion and State issues.
In order to understand why the libertarian purists side with property owners and their right to discriminate I will lay out how this libertarian theory developed.
Libertarianism came out of classical liberal thinking. Murray Rothbard developed a social construct that rooted property and self ownership to civil liberties. His theory is called the “non aggression principle” or NAP for short. The valve between the people and property is NAP and thus a set of principles were advanced. The NAP is a legal theory that defines the equipoise between people and property in relation to the use of force. It allows for defensive violence when people have aggressed against you. But it doesn’t allow for proactive aggression that gives you the right to shoot somebody who walks across your grass.
So this sounds like a good principle to root ones life in but because it roots itself so heavily in property rights it can fail in regards to protecting everyone’s civil liberties which, ironically, is what the Libertarian Party prides itself in.
The contradictions arise when purists are unwilling to take pragmatic steps towards general liberty in terms of delegating when discrimination is legitimate and when it is not. Purists root it strongly to the NAP and suggest any force to allow a positive right is “the gun in the room”.
The “gun in the room argument” is a fallacy libertarian purist use to defend the religious bigot. The idea is that if the baker is threatened to bake the cake and the baker refuses then the State will shows up with its monopoly on violence (guns) and forces the baker to bake the cake. This violates the NAP in theory because the State has aggressed against a peaceful individual who simple wants to not make a sale.
But it has larger implications then that when you take libertarian theory literally.
For example a privately owned bus line could require Blacks to sit at the back of the bus as that decision is strictly the decision of the owner who is directing how his property should be used. However if the business line is city owned then libertarians would object to racial segregation based on the State being forbidden to discriminate based on race, sexual preference ect.
In other words some would like to gut the CRA amendment that deal with private enterprise but keep the parts that deal with State institutions, employees ect.
This is what caused Rand Paul to falter in his famous Rachel Maddow interview. He later clarified he would not change the CRA because to do so would have been political suicide for him. But you can see where his thinking comes from.
To the outside observe and to the public in general such libertarian positions seems contradictory.
It is in the States interest to insure civil rights are consistently applied broadly across society, but as you can see, libertarian theory, when carried out to its logical conclusion, conflicts with that.
The Classical liberal/pragmatist wing of the Libertarian Party emphasizes individual civil liberties and for practical reasons rule in favor of laws that protect marginalized communities.
My apologies for the long post but for those of you not familiar with how libertarians process their theory I hope this has been useful.
LikeLike
While I support certain laws, such as making people who own private businesses that cross over in the public sector to regulate against hate; that is different from forcing someone to bake a cake for whatever reason. But one thing I will say is the state probably regulated the heck out of any other company that would provide public transit so as that they are the only game in town. In a true libertarian society there would be several transit companies that would compete for the fare of the public, thus, making any company that would force someone to sit on the back of the bus because of their color, at a competitive disadvantage in a true free market. Ultimately they would go out of business if they didn’t provide excellent and equal service to those who are willing to pay. There is a free market for bakers, at least now there is, while big companies such as Giant, and Walmart, may have made many “Mom and Pop” shops go out of business, currently at least , there are still many bakeries around. So going into a shop making a baker do anything he doesn’t want to seems a little silly to me , and may even border on bullying. I’m sure even the Nazi could find the cake he wanted somewhere.
LikeLike
Gary Johnson on immigration verses white guy obsessed over “illegal”.
His position on immigration isn’t one Americans want. It’s why Obama couldn’t get much done because the nativist undertow isn’t just within the Repblican party. His idea of making it as easy as possible for Mexican workers to enter this country comes from his belief that immigration is good for the economy. That he wants a kind of amnesty is rooted in civil liberties. His values are way different then Clinton’s and Trump’s.
(https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1831639133789426&id=100008300714748)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gary Johnson live from New York, September 9th.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10153335611649364&id=165297924363
LikeLike
Well as we know the debate commission chose not to include Johnson/Weld in to the presidential debates. They did not make the 15% average needed to qualify. This has a bit to do with how the poll questions are worded as well as polling registered voters verses “likely” voters. There is a four to five point difference between the two numbers and the polling companies chose to go with “likely” voters as that computes to a lower averages for third party candidates.
There are two polls showing that 60% or more voters want third party candidates included in the debates. Even Bernie Sanders thinks the 15% threshold is too high.
So far there has been four newspapers who have endorsed the Johnson/Weld ticket compared to zero for Trump.
The Debate commission itself claims to be “non partisan” but keep in mind its made up of Democrats and Republicans that have a vested interest in keeping third party candidates out.
Johnson and Weld plan to set up outside the debates and live stream on FB and answer questions the debate panel asks of Trump and Clinton in real time. They ask that Americans boycott the debates.
The best argument the Libertarian candidates have is that if elected, they would act as a bridge between the Democrats and Republicans. A Clinton presidency or a Trump presidency would be so polarizing that the ability to govern would become worse then it already is. Their administration would be made up of both Democrats and Republicans and they feel they can bring both sides to the table to govern.
Polls show that 70% of Americans don’t like the direction this country is going but if you break those numbers down you find its not because Americans think the country is going to far to the left or right but rather they can’t stand the gridlock and partisan politics.
Now their is plenty about the libertarian Party you can object too but this year they have fielded two candidates with both executive experience and private enterprise that are not beholden to special interests.
Both Johnson and Sanders are similarly viewed as honest and possessing integrity and that is part of there appeal particularly to millennials where they get most of their support.
LikeLike
So Gary Johnson had another Allepo moment last night at the MSNBC town hall meeting. The question was who Gary Johnson favorite foreign leaders was and he drew a blank. In thinking about the question I don’t think I have any favorite foreign leaders either as they all represent their respective 1%.
Nicholas Sarwark, chair for the Libertarian Party released this statement:
“Today in coordinated Democratic attacks on Gary Johnson:”
“Last night on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Johnson had trouble remembering Vicente Fox’s name while being asked to name a living foreign leader he respected. It was not his greatest moment, but we all blank on names sometimes.”
“Within minutes, the organized outrage machine for the most hated and distrusted Democratic candidate for President in American history had recut the video into a 51-second clip suitable for pushing out through Shareblue and billionaire Tom Steyer’s networks of rapid response. When you have $55MM to spend on tearing someone down, you can afford very quick video editors.”
“Other MSNBC personalities amplified the messaging, with Joe Scarborough misspelling “Aleppo” in his tweet, and The Rachel Maddow Show using it to make fun of Johnson. Many of the news stories simply lied about what happened, claiming that Gary Johnson “couldn’t name a single foreign leader, living or dead,” which I suppose makes a better headline than “took a few extra seconds to remember the name of the former President of Mexico.”
“This morning, there is a coordinated social media campaign where supporters of the Democratic nominee are being encouraged to share the video on a friend’s wall and question Gary Johnson’s fitness for the office. It’s not a coincidence, it’s an organized, well-funded attack on the Libertarian Party candidate for President by the Democratic Party machine and a group of billionaires.”
“Do I wish Gary had come up with Fox’s name faster? Yes. However, I would much rather a President who occasionally blanks on someone’s name than one who can’t remember even a single name of all of the innocent women and children she has drone murdered overseas with my tax dollars. Who can’t remember even a single name of the millions of African American men caged by her husband’s racist “tough on crime” policies to lock up “super predators.” Who can’t remember the names of all of the foreign leaders she has sold influence to through her foundation while serving as Secretary of State.”
“Actually, that last one was unfair, I’m sure she remembers them. Always important to remember the names of the people you’ve sold favors to.”
#NoMoreMoldySandwiches
#NoMoreLiars
I think this demonstrates how hard it is for third parties to break the two party dulopoly particularly if the mainstream parties view you as a threat.
The LP has raised around 3 million in small donations and because of Johnsons pull amongst millianials, the DNC has a special Super Pac with 55 Million dollars dedicated to making Johnson look like an idiot.
Public speaking was never his strong suit and some blame could be directed at his handlers for not prepping him better. I like his character, he is refreshingly honest but he does seem undesisive and doesn’t have the presidential qualities that the populace looks for in a leader.
Compared to Hillary or Trump he would do the least damage and would persue ending the war on drugs here at home as well as military invention abroad.
LikeLike
In Utah an independent candidate, Evan McMullin, is running as little as 4 points behind Clinton and Trump. If he wins Utah and neither Clinton nor Trump reach 270 electoral votes, the election would get thrown to the House where McMullin could emerge as a compromise. There is a 1% to 3% chance that it could be decided by the House.
More:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-evan-mcmullin-could-win-utah-and-the-presidency/
LikeLike
That is scary stuff. Mormons, Libertarians…yikes!
LikeLike
@Afrofem
Mormons and libertarians are the sort of people you would want for neighbors. They are not scary lol
https://www.evanmcmullin.com/national_security
McMullin is a graduate of BYU and is former CIA. He is a neocon and more conservative then Johnson. He is running because he says Gary Johnson isn’t libertarian enough lol. In truth Johnson’s pro choice position and liberalism on social issues off puts older Mormans.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Michael Jon Barker
Are there many Mormons in your area?
LikeLike
I live in Los Angeles so the LDS church is well established. One of my son’s lives in Salt Lake City and he is gay. He says it’s a tolerant place. Salt Lake City feeds the homeless and he volunteers at a place so he can eat for free because he says the food is home cooked and good. I think it’s part of the brown bag program. I’m not sure if it is through the city or the church.
I’m not a religious person myself but in watching how religious people handled Trump the Mormans seem to have rejected him while the Evangelicals make up excuses for his behavior. So to me that shows that their idiology means something and I respect that.
They also don’t seem to be anti immigration or xenophobic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/ut/utah_trump_vs_clinton_vs_johnson_vs_stein_vs_mcmullin-6154.html
If you looks at the polling data over the last month you will see that Trump has lost five points in Utah and Clinton has gained four points with Trump currenlty leading by five. McMullin shows the greatest increase from nine to twenty points during the same time frame. Johnson loose three points from twelve to nine and Stien is remains stuck at one.
It appears that third party tickets are taking some votes away from Trump and keeping Clinton’s ticket from gaining momentum there.
In New Mexico, Johnson’s home state, he is pollimg at 19, Trump at 30 and Clinton at 40.
LikeLike
i was trying to figure out who to vote for!
LikeLike
@michaeljonbarker
That is good to hear. A lot of Mormons in my Ward are from out west and many expressed a lot of judgement within the Salt lake city Mormons. It is quite good to hear that that has changed about them over the years.
LikeLike
@ Sharina,
I think Mormans believe in social safety nets for communities, maybe you can comment on that.
Here’s a link to the most liberal cities in Utah.
https://www.roadsnacks.net/most-liberal-cities-in-utah/
Salt Lake City hosts the Utah Pride Festival.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Pride_Festival
Utah has incarceration rates below the national average and have passed criminal justice reform to lower prison populations the majority of which are non violent drug crimes.
I’d rather live in Utah then Texas. lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apologies for misspelling your name Sharinair.
LikeLike
“Utah has incarceration rates below the national average and have passed criminal justice reform to lower prison populations the majority of which are non violent drug crimes.
I’d rather live in Utah then Texas. lol”
@MJB
You’re not hinting at something… lol… are you?? 😀
j/k
LikeLike
@MJB
I will comment in full later, but Sharina is fine.
LikeLike
Everyone thinks I’m a pot head. I have my Allepo moments lol
LikeLike
I found an interesting blog piece written by a Mormon criticizing Evan Mc Mullin (whose Mormon) for being an extension of the Republican style neo con foreign policy.
http://www.millennialstar.org/why-i-am-nevermcmullin/
LikeLike
Bill Weld, Gary Johnson’s VP running mate, addresses crowd in Massachusetts today.
(https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1449511911745356&id=100000596833677)
LikeLike