Sunday, June 10, 2012

Report Gary Johnson is Reading 'Economics In One Lesson'

Nathan Kleffman emails:
I just came back from the Libertarian Party of Texas' convention, where I met Gary Johnson for the 2nd time. I handed him two of my favorite books, and told him that I thought that he would be a better libertarian if he read them. I am pleased to report that he rejected my gift of Economics in One Lesson, because he already has a copy and he said he is half way through it. He accepted For a New Liberty, thanked me for it, and assured me he will read it.

With the Paul / Willard firestorm going on, I'm really hoping the libertarian movement abandons the pipe dream of taking over the pro-war, pro-death, big government Republican Party, and instead move in droves to the Libertarian Party, where we finally have a realistic chance of getting not just 5%, but double digits. If we get Johnson to 15%, he will be in the debates with Barry and Willard. I hope you view this as a good thing, as I do.
Great news. Go Gary!

32 comments:

  1. The books are good, but The Revolution by Ron Paul is great for converting someone to non-interventionism. At least it did it for me. Showing how Al-Qaeda has grown in Iraq when it wasn't there before and how our wars have only increased terrorism was enlightening.

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  2. That's great news, but someone should expedite Gary's education process and hand him Rothbard's brick, "Man, Economy and State." Then he'll really know what's what.

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  3. That's great news, but someone should expedite his education process and hand him Rothbard's brick "Man, Economy and State." Then he'll really know what's what.

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  4. That's fantastic. I can respect a man who takes constructive criticism and tries to improve himself. Maybe after he has spent time studying he will come back on your show to give us his take on what he thinks of the ideas in those books. I don't expect him to be an expert over night but it would be cool to see if he finds their arguments as persuasive as a lot of us have found them to be.

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  5. Gary johnson's head will explode after reading For a New Liberty

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  6. It's his pro-war foreign policy that bothers me. Can you be a Libertarian and pro-war?

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    1. I don't really find his stance pro war. I think of it as my neighbor's house. If my neighbor is beating his wife, I do nothing because what they decide to do is their business, right? But if my neighbor's wife comes to me for help, do I protect her? If she is allowed to protect herself, she is allowed to hire someone to do it for her, can't she?

      Now things get dicey when it comes to children, which is why foreign policy gets messy. For now, I say we stay out of things unless a real plea from someone who is truly being abused asks for help and then we only send in VOLUNTEERS (mercenaries) not our volunteer service people. From what I have heard, this is Gov. Johnson's ideas as well.

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    2. Your argument is similar to justifications for spreading democracy or stopping the genocide in some country. And can we trust the sources that ask from outside assistance or report on government atrocities now reportedly committed by insurgents as in the case of Syria? Yes, as an individual you are welcome to protect an individual who has escaped from a abusive spouse and asked for such protection but not aggression against another party. Now if that spouse trespasses on your property and threatens bodily harm and refuses to leave and violates your property, then you are free to protect yourself proportionate to the threat level.

      With respect to sending volunteers (mercenaries), the government has no authority to send them but individuals do. Congress with a declaration of war can authorize troop action when the US is threatened but this is not the case. As long as these mercenaries receive only voluntarily provided truly private funds, especially not from any government funded non-government organization, then I think they can find their own way there. Just don't demand or coerce everyone to support this endeavor.

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    3. I agree with some of the concept behind your post if you were talking about entirely voluntary funding as well, but the main thing these mercenaries should make sure they are doing is only engaging in actions against those who are known to have threatened or killed people. They must avoid carrying out activities as the US government does where they raid everyone's homes looking for insurgents and weapons/etc.

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  7. Robert, you did deserve some of the heat from GJ fanboys after your interview - but I feel it WAS needed to show him the light and prevent him from being co-opted by Kochtupi funded think tanks!

    Great job with the interview for the most part (you could have showed him a little bit more respect though, but I understand the points you made had to be conveyed to him)!

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  8. Fantastic news! If he is open to reading these books, that goes a long way for him personally and anyone he influences. The most difficult thing for any libertarian is revealing he is libertarian to the mass of bozos who still believe their 5th grade teachers. I think we will always be a minority, but perhaps we can be such concentrated purists that we can make the changes that great people have made for the betterment of humanity. People will realize that taking orders from dictators in Washington and at home is detrimental to their well being, that the politicization of life is poisonous and that individual responsibility along with voluntary/non-violent cooperation is what makes life worth living. Love, beauty, creativity, etc. cannot thrive without real freedom. I sure do feel like I'm living in Ayn Rand's novel "Anthem."

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  9. Gary Johnson is willing to admit when he screws up. That's humility, that's honesty, that's something you can't learn in a book, it comes from the heart and is part of the character.

    When Gary's people missed filing for him for the New Hampshire primary, Johnson admitted that it was ultimately his responsibility to make sure this got done and it was his screw up. Buck stops here mentality. Recently on Fox's "Red Eye", Johnson admitted he was wrong when it came to calorie counting for menus. He thought it was a good idea that people would be educated about calories on menus (referencing Bloomberg's law requiring calories on chain restaurant menus) and said he would encourage that, but then realized later than any other governors coming after him would misunderstand between encouragement and making it law with criminal punishment, then you have the calorie counting bureaucracy. Johnson admit that he was wrong and that good ideas and intentions can be abused and misconstrued. Remember, this is the same guy who vetoed the dog walking police bill. So Johnson admits when he was wrong, which is something Obama only does when he's joking about jobs not being so shovel ready, and Obama lacks all humility.

    At least Johnson is continuing to educate himself with more books instead of playing that he's a "Misstra Know It All "(That's a Stevie Wonder song that perfectly described Obama).

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  10. Great news, I'm officially back on the band wagon!

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  11. Awesome to hear. If he keeps this up, in a few years he could become an amazing spokesperson for liberty. He already has a lot of credentials as a politician, but he has potential to improve his knowledge of libertarianism and economics by leaps and bounds.

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  12. Well ...

    It's about time :)

    where ya been Gary. @Reason on K-Street

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  13. This is a man I respect!

    Taking the time out of what I imagine is a busy schedule to educate himself! Addressing his shortcomings! I don't care what the man knows. As long as he has an open heart, an open mind and is committed to bettering himself, it's hard to ask for anything more.

    I could not be more please that he is reading Economics in One Lesson! Effing BRILLIANT interview last week, Robert.

    My only criticism is that you asked a third question about Hazlitt. I thought testing him on two authors was enough to demonstrate that he hadn't read any libertarian books. Hearing him have to answer the question a third time was pretty painful. BUT HEY! IT WORKED

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  14. Bobby,

    You da man but can you teach Ed Crane to put the fork down?

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  15. I think its wildly optimistic to expect Gary Johnson to get 5% of the vote. It's good to have a Libertarian Party, but Ron Paul has accomplished far more running for the GOP nomination than he ever did by running as a Libertarian. Whoever heard of RP even after his LP campaign, but today his name is a household word, and his "extrmemism" is much closer to being a part of the mainstream now.

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    1. Amen. Ron Paul's message of liberty has reached a tipping point in the Republican party and the country as well. It's just a matter of time when the younger (in thought) generation grabs the reins of power in this country. The ripples are reaching across the globe.

      However, with Ron Paul sowing the seeds of liberty within the Republican party and Gary Johnson likewise (although the jury is out on this) within the Libertarian Party, eventually someone will emerge in the Democratic party. Just as the Republicans have corporatism, the Democrats have unionism to overcome intellectually.

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  16. http://www.change.org/petitions/american-voters-allow-gary-johnson-to-be-part-of-the-presidential-debates

    Please help me get Gary in the debates. It will be better to have a pro-liberty President than Obama or Romney.

    Thank You

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  17. Great! Now can you please do the same and educate Bill Maher.

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    1. god i hate bill maher. watching his show is like being waterboarded for an hour. his 'favourite segment' on the show is where he discusses 'right-wingers' being in a bubble. i try not to choke on the irony

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  18. You know I hope Gary has a chance to see that he's made some inroads here since the interview was a little hard on him. I'm not saying the questions were wrong as I think RW did a great job but I can understand him feeling like he was in a "gotcha" situation.

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  19. It would be funny if Ron Paul selects Gary Johnson to be his running mate. He would also have the third party that everyone wants to him to run.

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  20. There is a reading list developed for Libertarians by movement founders at http://www.LibertarianBookClub.org They haven't loaded it all up yet, but it's systematic and follows the original Libertarian program.

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  21. What makes one think that it is any easier to make inroads against two political parties than it is against one? They will fight you just as hard trying to break in from outside both parties as they will fight you trying to break into just one. The whole MSM ans establishment is against anyone who tries either effort. Therefore it IS easier to break into one party than against both. We all know the ballot access restrictions, debate restrictions etc. Pick a party (either one) and then go for it.

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  22. Look at how fast the Republican Party neutered the Tea Party. In just two short years we have gone from flowing rallies against Obamacare to having Romney as the nominee. The same goes for the Democrat Party. OWS has rallies in almost every major city and the Democrat Party has effectively subsumed them.

    The Left/Right paradigm is the problem and everyone of the Paulians who abstains or goes third Party is massive progress. The Libertarian Party needs to get away from their "star power" personality candidates like Barr and Johnson and get back to the Harry Browne and Mary Ruarts who are philosophical believers first and political personalities second. The first quality of an anti-establishment candidate must be the ability to articulate the antithesis with conviction.

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