Goodbye Ron Paul, Hello Gary Johnson
Now that the old news about Ron Paul is getting a new hearing, libertarians like Tim Lee are peeved.
I think I might have a solution.
Remember Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico? In 2004 there was a minor, or rather microscopic, Johnson-for-president boomlet. Some New Mexicans I knew in college considered him a dunderhead, but of course these were bien-pensant types. I’m curious as to what our own Daniel Larison thinks of him. “reason” gave Johnson room to pontificate in 2001.
Most successful pols spend their salad days engaged in political hackery, always making sure their “future political viability” is kept safe from harm. Johnson was on another plan altogether: He spent years smoking dope a couple times a week, competing vigorously in athletics, and then, with his wife of 24 years, building a construction business called Big J Construction. (Though the rental car workers suggested the name referred to his pot smoking days, the governor denies it stems from anything but the first letter of his last name.) In the mid-1990s, Johnson decided it was time to dabble in public service, and he approached the state Republican Party about running for the top statewide office. The Republicans were polite but dismissive, telling him that as an unknown businessman he couldn’t win. He thought otherwise, and he spent $500,000 of his own money to saturate the state with his message of a “common-sense business approach to politics.” When the ballots were tallied in 1994, he’d won with 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race. He increased his share of the vote in 1998 by 5 percent, making him the first governor in New Mexico history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms.
As one of my best friends just said, “And they replaced that guy with Bill Richardson? It’s a long way down from that guy to Bill Richardson.” My guess is that Dave Weigel feels much the same way.
There’s more to Johnson’s appeal.
I talked with Johnson in his Santa Fe office for about an hour in mid-August. We spoke of his accomplishments: no tax increases in six years, a major road building program, shifting Medicaid to managed care, constructing two new private prisons, canning 1,200 state employees, and vetoing a record number of bills. Says Johnson, “Every time you pass a law it is a little bite out of freedom.” But we spent the majority of time focusing on the two issues that have put the governor in the national spotlight—issues on which he hasn’t achieved anything close to success: drug legalization and school choice.
But frankly, the pothead vote alone gets you pretty far. And let’s not forget the votes of America’s would-be legit pimps and prostitutes. I’m not a libertarian, but I’d seriously consider voting for Johnson myself.
How about The Gary Johnson Revolution?
well, he’d surely get the andy rooney “why can’t candidates have classic american names?” vote.
— razib · Jan 11, 02:47 AM · #
A good VP choice for Ron Paul.
— Craig · Jan 11, 02:51 AM · #
Oh Great. The mega-ego of Gary Johnson crawls out from under a rock to try and rewrite his dismal failure as a Governor, and some poor, uninformed sucker writes an homage to him. As a New Mexican, I love how people who didn’t have to live and work in our state under that buffoon can have a “conversation” with him and believe he was some sort of libertarian messiah.
Don’t confuse the fairy tale of Gary Johnson with the real guy. In truth, he had no idea how to govern a state—he just acted like George Bush vs. the Democrats and stingily vetoed any legislation that could enhance the big picture of economic development in a very poor, rural, heavily minority state—then went on week long Iron Man training sessions. Contrary to the cozy Santa Fe bubble-world he lived in, the rest of our state experienced little or no economic progress during his reign of mediocrity. Wages and salaries were the lowest in the nation, while the cost of living was not. Health insurance premiums for small businesses individuals soared, and coverage was pretty much out of reach for a majority of middle income New Mexicans unless they worked for state institutions, federal agencies or school districts. There were many places in the state’s more populous areas in which you still had to wait months to get a phone line because no public-private partnerships existed to help expand our infrastructure.
Shall I go on? He nearly DESTROYED the education system in New Mexico by starving it to death, which resulted in the lowest test scores, teen pregnancy and drop out rates in the nation. At one point he proposed the state stop public education at 10th grade, because so many kids leave school any way, and the last two years were just “seat time”, in his words. Few businesses wanted to relocate to New Mexico based on our education system alone—none of their employees wanted to raise their kids in a third world country.
I’m a fiscal conservative, but I have to say THANK GOD Bill Richardson took over. Our economy is can only be described as booming, thank you. We have surpluses every year. Taxes on businesses and individuals were restructured and reduced due to increases in revenue from existing gross receipts and oil and gas taxes. Our kids schools are finally reforming and we are seeing significant gains in academic achievement. My own previously neglected southern NM city is growing like crazy, with new businesses and new resident pouring in. We are not seeing the collapse of housing bubble here, in any significant way, and instead are now having to deal with how to manage our growth in a way that doesn’t destroy the desert and quality of life for our residents.
If anyone thinks Gary Johnson is a good example of a Libertarian, then being a Libertarian means being a dimwitted, self-centered, vision-less do-nothing who irresponsibly ignores the needs of the people he is elected to lead.
And by the way, any decent pothead I know will have nothing to do with this guy.
(I linked to this post via Andrew Sullivan’s site. I hope he comes back to read this.)
— Ella in NM · Jan 11, 04:29 PM · #
Oh hell yeah. I’d vote for Johnson in a heartbeat. From Ella’s description it sounds like he’d be the best president since Calvin Coolidge.
— Tim · Jan 11, 06:58 PM · #
Reality check time. He was first Governor to win 2 terms because the state previously prevent Governors from running for re-election.
— Jerry Skurnik · Jan 11, 07:32 PM · #