Thursday, April 12, 2012

Has 'Libertarian' Candidate Gary Johnson Even Studied the Issues

By John Glaser

In an interview with the Daily Caller, presumptive Libertarian Party nominee for president Gary Johnson, tries heartily to describe his foreign policy…or at leasta foreign policy. Plainly put, the man is confused.
He says he supports U.S. military intervention in Uganda to root out the Lords Resistance Army and kill its leader, Joseph Kony. He thinks the drone war in Pakistan and Yemen creates more enemies than it eliminates, but doesn’t want to take drone strikes off the proverbial “table.” He wants to “completely withdraw our military presence” from Afghanistan, but wants to keep our military bases there. In fact, U.S. military bases should be maintained throughout the Middle East, he says, even though America faces “no military threats.” He supports “humanitarian intervention.” He wants to cut military and defense budgets by 43 percent, but only reduce national security spending to 2003 levels, “and just wring out the excess.”
Johnson is putting forth an image of himself of a former New Mexico governor who is outside the political establishment and serious about cutting spending. But evidently, the man hasn’t a clue what he is talking about with regards to foreign policy. His musings about war and intervention are little more than guesswork, wading his way through what he supposes is the libertarian position, while making clear he is no non-interventionist.
There is a strange habit the public and the reporting politicos perform when it comes to presidential candidates. They seem to assume that, since candidate X is running for president, surely he has studied the issues carefully.

8 comments:

  1. Johnson's a utilitarian. It's no wonder he tangles himself up like this. Nice guy, though.

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  2. In other words....he doesn't have a clue about libertarian thought or the consequences of intervention, not to mention the costs associated with it!

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  3. Let's face it:

    Johnson's just a stalking horse for the Establishment while pretending to have been a former Ron Paul supporter. He diverts Paul supporters.

    But if he ever became president, nothing would change. The idea, promulgated in this commentary from antiwar.com, that Johnson is just uninformed is rank naivete.

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  4. Sounds precisely what a big "L" Libertarian should say. Shameful.

    So glad Rothbard had enough sense to dump these chumps.

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  5. Glad you posted this because this gives me a 0% chance I will vote for Johnson in the fall. I will either write in Paul or just not vote. Screw the gun banning and healthcare mandating Romney!

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  6. I met Johnson a few months ago when he gave a speech in Miami. I really like the guy for personally but not politically so they only question I was interested in asking him was: what was it like to stand on to of the world? (he's an avid mountain climber and had climbed Everest)

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  7. Johnson's great, met him in person. He has more experience than Obama and Romney that's for sure. He is Libertarian candidate and brings with him successful executive experience as a 2-term Gov of NM

    As Governor, Gary Johnson cut 10% annual growth in the budget using his gubernatorial veto 200 times during his first six months in office. He the continued to veto over 500+ additional bills during the remainder of his tenure. He also cut taxes 14 times. Gov Johnson left the state with a $1 billion budget surplus.

    He is a true libertarian and has a great chance of putting the Libertarian Party on the ballot in all 50 states and get enough of a percentage of the electoral vote to be given the opportunity to debate with the Rep and the Dems then we get the chance to evaluate fairly. I've over the 2-party system; we need a third choice.

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  8. Good article, Gary Johnson has no idea what he's doing. He vetos but he did not do much economically for New Mexico. Some of his ideas likewise just seem way out there.

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