The Ballad of Fmr. Governor Gary Johnson
David Baucom | January 2012
Gary Johnson is an accomplished entrepreneur, having grown a one-man business to employ a thousand. He's an experienced mountain climber, having summitted Everest. He's a seasoned triathlete, and an avid skier. He's built his own home. And also, he's a two-term governor of New Mexico who for months has been campaigning for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
Not that you'd be expected to know this. Most Americans are scarcely aware of Johnson at all. He's been in a few debates (and even delivered a zinger or two), but has been excluded from most of them, and been generally ignored by the media.
I caught notice of Johnson in late summer and, piqued by his ideas and candidacy, I ended up participating in some media conference calls with Gov. Johnson and then doing a one-on-one interview with him for the journal The Objective Standard.
Johnson is an unconventional Republican who calls himself a "classical liberal" and views the proper purpose of government as "protecting you and me against individuals, groups, corporations (and other countries) that would do us harm, whether that’s from a property perspective or physical harm." He cited to me the differences between his own classical liberal, libertarian-leaning views and that of social conservatives: "I think the conservative agenda would criminalize behavior that a lot of individuals engage in, and I’m now talking about 'bedroom crimes,' I’m talking about how gay individuals should be able to enjoy freedoms and liberties extended to heterosexual couples. And smoking marijuana in the confines of your own home, doing no harm to anyone, arguably other than yourself—that shouldn’t be a crime. Should it be a crime if poker players in this country play poker online? That was Republican conservative legislation that got passed. Ten million Americans who were playing poker online can no longer do so. I would argue government has no place in that equation, other than the rule of law, contract law, [etc.]"
His stand on marriage equality garnered him attention earlier this year when he criticized a conservative-circulated "marriage pledge" as "un-American," "intolerant," and "offensive." And he's doesn't simply take the standard counterpoint. Echoing the same message as a previous Charlatan article I happened to write, Johnson calls for government to "get out of the marriage business" altogether.
His divergence with typical Republicanism goes beyond social issues into the economic realm. Since my own take on Republicans is that they have no defining moral-economic principle, I posited this to him:
"Although Republicans allegedly stand for lower taxes and greater freedom, for over half a century they’ve defined and conducted themselves in relation to Democrats—who have grown progressively socialistic. Republicans were once against an income tax, but then accepted it, and we got higher and higher rates. They were against Social Security, but then accepted and expanded that. They were against Medicare, but then embraced it. And they were against welfare, but accepted most of that. How much of a role has this Republican slide played in causing the current fiscal crisis? How much are they to blame?"
"I really believe both parties are," Gov. Johnson answered. "I just go back to a few short years ago when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency, and passed a prescription health care benefit—which at that time was the largest entitlement program ever passed—and ran up record deficits. So I see Republicans as part of the cause. I have not seen them as the solution here. Basically, I am a Republican because I’ve always felt that Republicans do a better job when it comes to the checkbook, but, of late, I just see it as status-quo on both sides.”
