Gary Johnson has announced his intention of running for the office of President of the United States.
“I do believe that crony capitalism is alive and well. It’s Democrats and Republicans that contribute to that. I’d like to be that choice that is not going to succumb to that.”
Nothing like being late to
Nothing like being late to the dance. This campaign season is going to go down in history as the longest and most ridiculous in terms of both number and less than qualified candidates. It’s laughable. Who is this newest contender who feels prepared to run the country?
Transforming America
I feel your pain. We are almost done with a president possessing zero qualifications. Let’s not go there again. I wish he had told us during his first campaign just how he intended to transform the greatest country on earth into something else.
I'm not really convinced that
I’m not really convinced that a country can be filled with racism, misogyny and intolerance; can continue to allow people – children – to be slaughtered on a daily basis; can have no idea how to home the homeless, feed the hungry and care for it’s sick yet still be called “the greatest country on earth”. You can’t blame Obama for all of that.
Choices
I think you may have choices, without adding Gary Johnson to the mix. You have Bernie on one side and the Donald on the other.
What’s it going to be?
Political positions of Gary Johnson
Main article: Political positions of Gary Johnson
Johnson’s views have been described as fiscally conservative and socially liberal[109] with a philosophy of limited government[110] and military non-interventionism.[111][112] He has identified as a classical liberal.[113] Johnson has said he favors simplifying and reducing taxes.[114] During his governorship, Johnson cut taxes fourteen times and never increased them.[115] Due to his stance on taxes, political pundit David Weigel described him as “the original Tea Party candidate.”[116]
Johnson has advocated for the FairTax, a proposal which would abolish all federal income, corporate and capital gains taxes, and replace them with a 23% tax on consumption of all non-essential goods, while providing a regressive rebate to households according to income level. He has argued that this would assure transparency in the tax system and incentivize the private sector to create “tens of millions of jobs.”[117]
Johnson has said that he supports balancing the federal budget immediately.[118] He has stated he supports “slashing government spending”, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security,[114] which would involve cutting Medicare and Medicaid by 43 percent and turning them into block grant programs, with control of spending in the hands of the states to create, in his words, “fifty laboratories of innovation.”[118] He has advocated passing a law allowing for state bankruptcy and expressly ruling out a federal bailout of any states.[110] Johnson has expressed opposition to the Federal Reserve System, which he has cited as massively devaluing the strength of the U.S. dollar, and would sign legislation to eliminate it. He has also supported an audit of the central bank, and urged Members of Congress in July 2012 to vote in favor of Ron Paul’s Federal Reserve Transparency Act.[119]
In his campaign for the Libertarian Party nomination, he stated he opposed foreign wars and pledged to cut the military budget by 43 percent in his first term as president.[112] He would cut the military’s overseas bases, uniformed and civilian personnel, research and development, intelligence, and nuclear weapons programs.[120][121] He has stated his opposition to US involvement in the War in Afghanistan and opposed the US involvement in the Libyan Civil War.[122] He has stated that he does not believe Iran is a military threat, would use his presidential power to prevent Israel from attacking Iran, and would not follow Israel, or any other ally, into a war that it had initiated.[123]
Johnson is a strong supporter of civil liberties and received the highest score of any candidate from the American Civil Liberties Union for supporting drug decriminalization and having a pro-choice stance on abortion, while opposing censorship and regulation of the Internet, the Patriot Act, enhanced airport screenings, and the indefinite detention of prisoners.[124] He has spoken in favor of the separation of church and state, and has said that he does not “seek the counsel of God” when determining his political agenda.[125]
Johnson endorsed same-sex marriage in 2011;[126] he has since called for a constitutional amendment protecting equal marriage rights,[126] and criticized Obama’s position on the issue as having “thrown this question back to the states.”[127] Johnson has been a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana and has said that if he were president, he would remove it from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act as well as issue an executive order pardoning non-violent marijuana offenders.[128] Johnson has stated his opposition to gun control and has said, “I’m a firm believer in the Second Amendment and so I would not have signed legislation banning assault weapons or automatic weapons.”[129]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Johnson
Gary Johnson on wiki~
This is long but worth a read. Johnson has a mixed bag and he’d make an interesting and likely strong president, better than most (or all) running now.
nutty
It’s a rather sensible list of ideas, for the most part.
Too bad we’re all insane. : )
It's always infuriating to me
It’s always infuriating to me when any politician names Social Security as “government spending”. People who are on Social Security have already paid for their monthly check- it’s not a gift. It’s money that was taken from their income for many years and now they’re getting it back- having loaned it to the government for their working life. Children or widows that are eligible to receive SS qualify because a parent or spouse- who also paid into the system has died. Again, not a gift or charity.
Right!
That I agree with. And Social Security benefits should be increased.
I totally agree with you on
I totally agree with you on this, KAlden. You are correct.
Ditto, ditto and ditto
It always makes me angry when I see Soc Sec referred to “unearned income.” Unearned? Like hell it is.
Messing with Soc Sec is a strong Republican thing. Luckily, even Gary Johnson will not pull that off.