Candidate Profile: Gary Johnson
Back in the pack, the former New Mexico governor looks to break through.
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On paper, Gary Johnson looks very good as a presidential candidate. He was a two-term governor of New Mexico—at a time when it was a strong Democratic majority—and boasts strong conservative credentials, having shrunk government and lowered taxes while leaving the state with a budget surplus.
It’s not just on paper where Johnson looks good. In a field of Republican candidates who boast about their commitment to fitness, Johnson is a tri-athlete, having competed in multiple events. Temperamentally, he has shown a willingness to argue a point without personalizing a disagreement.
Where Johnson does not look so good is in the polls. Despite the aforementioned and the fact that he was the first candidate to start his campaign. Johnson has been polling in the 1-2 percent range.
His campaign wasn’t helped when CNN excluded him from the first debate that included all the major candidates on June 20. A decision that brought the network howls of protest from some quarters. Johnson responded to the snub creatively, by answering all the questions that were asked via YouTube.
But if his struggles in the polls are shaking his confidence it did not show in an interview with Patch between campaign stops. “If I didn’t think I could do the job I wouldn’t be doing this and I say that based on my resume,” Johnson said.
The issue for which Johnson has received the most attention is drug policy. He thinks the drug war has been a failure, a belief that his tenure as governor of a border state only confirmed, and is in favor of legalization.
“We’ve criminalized a behavior that 100 million people engage in. And in the wrong set of circumstances they could all be sent to jail for that behavior,” Johnson said. The problem, Johnson believes, lies in enforcement. “We are enforcing drug laws, but they’re terribly discriminatory.”
Johnson's time leading New Mexico also convinced him that the immigration and drug issues are intertwined. “The violence on the border is all drug-related,” he said.
Johnson’s opinions on drug and immigration policy fit with a man who endorsed the Libertarian Ron Paul in 2008. Except now he’s competing with the long-time Texas Congressman for votes. That said, he’s not too concerned about fracturing the Libertarian vote. “I’m not worried about splitting eight percent (the number at which Paul is presently polling). We need to get to 40 percent. If we start splitting that, then we’ll have to make a decision.”
Johnson owned a construction company before becoming a governor and after he was elected, he demonstrated he was beholden to no special interests, vetoing more bills than the 49 governors combined during his tenure. He maintains his independent streak when discussing Obamacare, which he would overturn because he doesn’t think the country can afford it. But he doesn’t let fellow Republicans off the hook either regarding health care reform, pointing out that, during the term of the second President Bush, a Republican-controlled Congress passed a prescription drug benefit.
“I thought when Republicans had the Congress and the Presidency they would get this country on sound financial footing,” Johnson said. “Well they didn’t. They blew it.”
It’s that type of tough talk that led one pundit to say of Johnson, “He was Tea Party before there was a Tea Party.”
Johnson’s other beliefs would seem to match those of what are typically known as Tea Party Republicans.
Generally, Johnson believes that “the federal government is a negative when it comes to policy in this country,” a statement that would be music to a constitutional conservative’s ears.
Johnson would have let the banks go under when they bottomed out in the fall of 2008 and then allowed their assets to be sold off. He admits that there would have been a steep downturn, but that would have been an example of short-term pain for long-term gain.
“There would have been a fire sale (for all those assets),” Johnson said. “But buyers would have picked them up and rebuilt the economy. Had that happened, our economy would be trending upward now.”
Johnson believes in abolishing the corporate income tax and instituting what he calls a “Fair Tax.” Such a move would eliminate the need for the Internal Revenue Service in his view.
Johnson would also like to see the Department of Education eradicated, saying that it provides mandates for schools without the necessary funding to achieve the mandate. Furthermore, he thinks the product of classroom education could use some competition and would benefit from state control. “Can you imagine the best practices we would have with 50 examples instead of one?” he wondered.
With respect to foreign affairs, Johnson advocates getting out of our various conflicts immediately and concurred with the remarks last month of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates -- that the US has been shouldering the load for too long as a member of NATO. Johnson was in favor of defeating terrorist groups in Afghanistan after they attacked the US on September 11, 2001. But he feels that goal was accomplished and the country over-reached in trying to nation-build in Afghanistan.
A complete rundown of Johnson’s take on all the issues can be found here.
Johnson’s next stop in South Carolina is scheduled for August. He has spent the bulk of his time campaigning in New Hampshire, which is likely to continue. In the meantime, he’ll ignore the polls and keep spreading his message, looking for the same kind of breakthrough as Bill Clinton and John McCain, past major party nominees who found themselves in a position similar to the one in which Johnson now finds himself.
Note: This is the latest in a series of candidate profiles written by Patch sites in South Carolina.
windwardtack
9:21 am on Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Gary Johnson is NOT like Ron Paul on drugs and immigration. I have looked for it and have seen no sign a all that GJ has strong feelings about American sovereignty, and Ron Paul definitely does. Ron Paul also focuses much more emphasis on not funding incentives to illegal immigration through taxpayer paid programs. This issue of sovereignty goes not just to illegal immigration but also to managed trade agreements such as NAFTA which Ron Paul opposes and Gary Johnson supports. Also, with regards to drugs, while both would leave it to the states, Ron Paul comes at the issue as a Christian who wants the federal government out of personal decisions, including practicing one's religion, and sees the need for consistency in protecting such liberties in order to make sure liberties he himself prizes are protected. He also, as a doctor sees medical marijuana as a compassion issue. However, he has said when asked that he's not sure he's ever even seen marijuana, and he disapproves of drugs, but thinks they should be dealt with by the states, with greater focus on treatment, as with alcohol, rather than incarceration. Gary Johnson has used medical marijuana for years after an accident, but beyond the compassion issue just thinks drugs should be legal. Essentially, Ron Paul is on the paleoconservative side of these issues, whereas Gary Johnson is truly socially liberal.
jonathan
10:46 am on Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Ron paul has been in congress for thirty yrs and has only got one bill passed, in his own words Paul said "im a lousy legislator" Paul is also one of the biggest earmarkers in congress! He has no problem filling barrels of pork and wasting taxpayer dollars! Paul has a good message but his actions speak louder than his words. He often puts his earmarks in bills and then votes no on the final bill knowing it will still pass with out his vote.
Gary Johnson is a breath of fresh air compared to the other republican candidates. He is honest and smart! Its so nice not to be pandered to by slick talking sound bite politicians. Gary Johnson speaks slowly and eloquently, which does not lend itself to debates.I believe Governor Gary Johnson is Obamas biggest threat. Its really hard for Obummers re-election team to paint a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti war GOP candidate who wants to legalize marijuana as a right wing extremist. His socially liberal stances will be attractive to democrat and independent voters. Not to mention he was a very successful two term(that's one more term than mitt romney) republican Governor. I met Gary Johnson twice last year in my state of MO.. Once when he spoke at UMKC and another event he spoke at Missouri Southern State University. in Joplin Mo. He took the time to answer all my questions and sincerely listened to my concerns.. He is obviously working harder than the other candidates! For this he has earned my vote and support!
Jillian Galloway
5:11 pm on Tuesday, July 5, 2011
On June 17, 1971, President Nixon told Congress that "if we cannot destroy the drug menace in America, then it will surely destroy us." After forty years of trying to destroy "the drug menace in America" we still *haven't* been able to destroy it and it still *hasn't* destroyed us. Four decades is long enough to realize that on this important issue, President Nixon was wrong! All actions taken as a result of his invalid and paranoid assumptions (e.g. the federal marijuana prohibition) should be ended immediately!
It makes no sense for taxpayers to fund the federal marijuana prohibition when it *doesn't* prevent people from using marijuana and it *does* make criminals incredibly wealthy and incite the Mexican drug cartels to murder thousands of people every year.
We need legal adult marijuana sales in supermarkets, gas stations and pharmacies for exactly the same reason that we need legal alcohol and tobacco sales - to keep unscrupulous black-market criminals out of our neighborhoods and away from our children. Marijuana must be made legal to sell to adults everywhere that alcohol and tobacco are sold.
"There's something extraordinarily perverse when we're so concerned about preventing addicts from having access to drugs that we destroy the lives of many times more people, either through untreated pain or other drug war damage".
John Steinberger
4:19 am on Wednesday, July 6, 2011
FairTax is a bill in Congress (HR-25/S-13) and it does not have quotation marks. It eliminates not just corporate income tax, but also personal income tax, Social Security and Medicare Payroll tax, capital gains tax, dividends and interest tax, gift tax, estate (death) tax and alternative minimum tax and replaces them all with a consumption tax on all new goods and services. It includes a prebate payment to legal resident households to cover sales tax expenses for necessities. A family of 4, for example would have to spending more than $2400 monthly on new goods and services before paying any net sales tax after receiving the prebate.
South Carolina members of Congress who co-sponsor the FairTax Act are Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Tim Scott and Rep. Jeff Duncan. In the words of Sen. DeMint, "FairTax would make America the best place in the world to do business."
You can call Sen. Graham and Rep. Gowdy at 1-202-225-3121 and ask them to co-sponsor the FairTax Act.
South Carolina has its own version - the South Carolina FairTax Act (H-3993/S-274) which would eliminate the 7% state personal income tax and 5% state corporate income tax by taking the exemptions out of the sales tax code and applying a uniform 6% sales tax to all new goods and services. Rep. Eric Bedingfield is one of the Primary Sponsors on the House version and Sen. David Thomas is a co-sponsor on the Senate bill. Find out more at www.scfairtax.org!
John Steinberger
6:07 am on Wednesday, July 6, 2011
For a complete listing of South Carolina FairTax Act co-sponsors, please go to www.scfairtax.org. You can post a comment asking for Gov. Haley's support at www.governor.sc.gov.