Gary Johnson Q&A w/ The Objective Standard:

Johnson: We don’t live in a democracy, we live in a republic. We live in a country that’s governed by laws. If we lived in a democracy, we could all vote ourselves a raise, and we wouldn’t be able to afford that, and that’s been the demise of democracies. We live in a republic, and if we lose sight of that, we do so at the expense of individual freedom and liberty.

“I’m Gary Johnson-entrepreneur, athlete, former 2 term gov. Of NM, veto king” – Gary Johnson on Twitter responding to the Tampa, FL debate hosted by CNN/The Tea Party. The only kind of king that results in liberty.

Get a first peek at the interview I did with Gov. Gary Johnson that I did for a GJ Grassroots Podcast I hosted that has yet to be released by the campaign, on my radio show-turned-podcast Freethought. Click here to download the podcast. This would be the third time Gov. Johnson has appeared on my program, the first time talking to him since he announced his presidential bid.

Honest- adj., free of deceit and untruthfulness; sincere. See also Gary Johnson:

Catchy campaign slogan, eh? (Photo credit: Nick Fidel)

Gary Johnson placed 3rd in the CPAC 2011 straw poll. That may seem like the short end of the stick, but think of the little recognition Johnson got, and how little in advance he scored the speaking position. This just goes to show that people are ready for bold spending cuts, which Gary made sure to mention amounted to $1.5 TRILLION; a balanced budget tomorrow.

I’m glad Ron Paul won, I’d obviously support with full effort a Ron Paul 2012 campaign. But I have to think in real terms. I know it’s hard to say this, I’m just as big of a Ron Paul fan as all of you are, but Ron Paul is not immortal. He’s going to be around 77 in 2012, and has to lead for 8 years. I’m sure he’d rather live stress free with his family rather than the tremendous job of president. Gary Johnson is younger, an extremely fit athlete, and has held a similar position on the state level as governor of New Mexico. That’s just my 2 cents on why I think Ron Paul should not run for president again, even though I’d support him 110% if he did. Now, I’d love to see him really do a lot of significant spreading of the “brushfires of liberty” in the minds of men. R3VOLution of the mind is where it’s at. And even though Gov. Johnson isn’t as philosophical as Ron Paul, you know that he’d go further than just a balanced budget. He’s said time and time again that he supports ending the Fed, and it’s not like he’s 100% cost/benefit. In one of his State of the State speeches, he said “Man is superior to government, not the other way around.” Definitely a consistent belief in the philosophy of liberty, just he also prefers to take it from a business standpoint. It’s easier to sell vetoes to the public when it’s in terms of cost/benefit rather than just pure philosophical. That’ll beget the idea that government can do better with much less, which will lead to an increase in limited government philosophy throughout the nation. Gov. Johnson did shift public opinion on school choice in NM significantly.

If the 3rd place is an indication of anything, it is to not underestimate Gary Johnson one bit. He could’ve been down in the percentage ranks with Donald Trump for saying “legalize marijuana” at a conservative conference. Think about it… Johnson ‘12.

Found this video on C-SPAN of the New Mexico’s Governor debate from 1998. Should give all you Dueling Barstools readers a preview of what Johnson vs. Obama might look like.

Willie Nelson has started a new political movement, called Teapot Parties, as celebstoner.com reports:

All 50 states have started Willie Nelson-inspired Teapot Parties since the singer called for a new political party that “leans a little to the left” after his marijuana arrest  in Texas on Nov. 26. “Tax it, regulate it and legalize it,” the singer says. “And stop the border wars over drugs.”

There’s also a poll on the page as well, with Gov. Gary Johnson as a contender for the “next top CelebStoner.” Vote in the poll!

Although this will probably never happen, I think John Dennis should be Gary Johnson’s VP choice if he wins the primary.

They are both entrepreneurs; they are both very down-to-earth and humble; they both get much support from independents and Democrats (I was phonebanking for John Dennis’ congressional bid, and one person said they supported him because Pelosi wasn’t left enough, that they voted for Cindy Sheehan in ‘08 and now Dennis in ‘10); they both got massive support from Ron Paul; they both were nationally recognized; they have a great understanding of the philosophy of liberty and are not zombies; and it would break the mold of the image of a typical Republican being a square with a stick up their butt (they have grey hair, but aren’t your typical ‘old geezers’).

How that would work practically against Obama beats me. It could suck away a lot of his disenfranchised constituency who want real anti-war and socially tolerant candidates, but the whole capitalism thing might hinder that effect. What ever the result, I think that they would be a good ticket because of their similarities, which hopefully amounts to less argumentation in the White House.

Many presidents in our history have talked about balancing our budget and cutting spending, including even FDR in his first race against President Hoover.

But the walk never matched the talk. Continuously budgets rose, administration after administration. A few like Coolidge cut back a lot, but the trend is there. The talk remained the same, but once in office everyone flipped flopped to some degree, including Reagan. No modern president has ever cut spending in a serious way.

Will anyone ever mean what they say in this area? I say yes. And his name is Gary Johnson.
Will we get the ideal? Maybe, maybe not. There’s a lot to scale back, and government growth will drop. But when that will sum up to a balanced budget depends on the annual rate of decrease in spending. It depends how much Congress is willing to co-operate on scaling back. They’d have to scale back by at least 43% of the budget and sustain and expand upon those cuts annually.