Gary Johnson: The Ron Paul of 2012?

[roo_ster]

The first article is a bit breathy (I excerpted only part of it), but I recall when this guy was gov of NM and thought he ought to run for POTUS.

Left NM gov't with a surplus and vetoed 750 bills.

Despite my dsidain of big "L" Libertarians and the utopian philosophy some endorse, I think it is always good to have a libertarian or liberty-minded person in the room to make gov't decisions.






http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/america-heres-your-change-candidate-for-2012/?print=1

America, Here’s Your Change Candidate for 2012

Posted By Ryan Mauro On November 12, 2009 @ 12:30 am In . Column2 01, . Positioning, Politics, US News | 56 Comments

Count another one in. Gary Johnson [1], the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico, is launching [2] his new Our America PAC, an obvious stepping stone to launching a run for president. Next time around, the “Ron Paul revolution” will have a new candidate, one that will promise sweeping libertarian change and that has executive experience and a persona more marketable than the squeaky-voiced self-proclaimed “defender of the Constitution.”

In many ways, Johnson makes for an obvious Republican presidential candidate. He was reelected as the governor of a swing state that tends to vote Democratic and the press gave him the middle name of “Veto” for his constant rejection of legislation. He slashed government and left office in 2003 with a surplus without raising taxes.

Johnson wouldn’t be a “change” candidate if he didn’t ruffle a few feathers. He openly talks about his pothead past and has defined himself by calling for an end to the war on drugs, a position that speaks to advocates of limited government but alienates social conservatives; he also endorsed Ron Paul during the last presidential election cycle. He opposes the Iraq war and hasn’t given a public position on the war in Afghanistan. He’s even suggested [3] legalizing prostitution. These positions mean he can’t win the Republican nomination, but that doesn’t mean he can’t become a significant force in the race or spark an intellectual battle inside the Republican Party as the libertarian element gains in popularity and coverage.
...


http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/apr/20/00035/

The Republic Strikes Back

Bill Kauffman

...

At breakfast the morn of the rally, I sat across the table from a friendly dude wearing a peace-sign T-shirt and looking like an affable old surfer. He introduced himself as Gary Johnson, the former two-term governor of New Mexico. Over the next day, I spent a fair amount of time chatting with Governor Johnson: mountain-climber, triathlete, vetoer of 750 bills.

He told me that he may take a shot at the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 as an antiwar, anti-Fed, pro-personal liberties, slash-government-spending candidate—in other words, a Ron Paul libertarian.

...

As this issue went to press, Governor Johnson told me that he was keeping his options open for 2012. Keep an eye out for him, will you?

Ron Paul started something. Or, rather, he revealed something: liberty has a constituency. I was heartened mightily by the crowd in Minneapolis, which was overwhelmingly young. What a rousing sight: bright and enthusiastic kids afire with the spirit of liberty, of resistance to regimentation and the tyranny of standardization. Homeschoolers, homebrewers, punk rockers, evangelical Christians, radical Kansans, and reactionary New Englanders. These were American girls and boys, beautifully stained in the American grain, hip to Republican lies and numbing Democratic statism. Hell no, they won’t go. They’ll not be cannon fodder for the wars of Bush-Cheney or Obama-Biden. They demand honesty and liberty and respect for all things small and smaller; they have nothing but scorn for the liars and whores who run the empire.

They reminded me of Emerson’s description of the Loco Foco generation: “The new race is stiff, heady, and rebellious; they are fanatics in freedom; they hate tolls, taxes, turnpikes, banks, hierarchies, governors, yea, almost laws.” (Spare me the mewling about “ordered liberty,” please—50 years of conservative pieties about “ordered liberty” led to Dick Cheney and a movement full of “men” who dared not open their mouths to defend liberty when she needed it most. Give me disorderly hinterland rebels any day.)

What I mean to say is that even if you can’t always get what you want, I think the kids are all right. 

[roo_ster]

Interesting fact:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_21_51/ai_56899758/

As for abortion, he's one of those politicians who say they're personally against it but wouldn't be comfortable outlawing it-yet local pro-lifers love him. "He backs every piece of legislation we're for," says Dauneen Dolce, of the Right to Life Committee of New Mexico. That includes "parental consent," "informed consent," and bans on assisted suicide, partial-birth abortion, and Medicaid-funded abortion. Johnson didn't win the group's endorsement in 1994, but got it four years later.

[MicroBalrog]

So wait.

This GAry Johnson guy:

What sweeping libertarian reform did he introduce as governor of NM?

And there's nothing utopian about libertarianism.

[zahc]

What sweeping libertarian reform did he introduce as governor of NM?

It sounds like he cut an awful lot of spending, and reduced government. That's just about the essence of libertarian reform?

[MicroBalrog]

It sounds like he cut an awful lot of spending, and reduced government. That's just about the essence of libertarian reform?

Let us observe:

Gary E. Johnson became governor in 1995. In that year, state budget comprised 4.4 billion dollars, while the population comprised 1.7 million, or $2,588 for every man, woman, and child in New Mexico. By 1999, said budget grew to comprise 5.7 billion, with a population of 1.8 million, or $3,166 per citizen. By 2003, the New Mexico state budget comprised 7.7 billion for a population of 1.9 million, or $4,052 per New Mexico resident. Source.


While his positions on personal liberties are commendable, this is a reasonable cause for concern about his libertarian credentials.

[Perd Hapley]

How much control does the NM governor exercise over spending? 

[MicroBalrog]

How much control does the NM governor exercise over spending? 

Well, I wasn't the one who stated the guy 'cut' spending.

If one can praise him for 'cutting' spending, it's then proper to counter with a factual assertion that spending actually increased.

[Perd Hapley]

No, it's not nearly that simple. 

You may be right about him being a spendthrift, for all I know.  However, pause, he may have cut all the spending he could within his own sphere, only to have the legislature increase spending overall.   

[Balog]

I can't help but see "lack of libertarian street cred" as a good thing for someone who wants to get elected.

[MicroBalrog]

I can't help but see "lack of libertarian street cred" as a good thing for someone who wants to get elected.

If they lack libertarian street cred, how do we know they are libertarians? Long-range telepathy?

[roo_ster]

If they lack libertarian street cred, how do we know they are libertarians? Long-range telepathy?

Check their closets.  Any costumes of G Lucas-created characters is a qualifier.

[mtnbkr]

Going down the same sad path.  Closed.

Maybe when you can have a discussion about Libertarians that doesn't devolve into jabs at costumes, we can leave one open.

Chris