Majority Of Americans Agree With Gary Johnson On The Issues

Great list put together by The Delaware Libertarian and something I have been meaning to do for some time now.

So where does Gary Johnson fit in on the issues as compared to public opinion?

Take a look for yourself...

77% of the American people support the legalization of medical marijuana.
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney don't want patients to have that option.

75% of the American people think the defense budget should be cut.
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both want to spend more.

74% of the American people want the Federal budget balanced.
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, not so much.

72% of the American people think we're spending too much money on foreign aid.
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney want to keep spending.

66% of the American people now oppose the war in Afghanistan.  
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both want to stay.

65% of the American people think we should be involved in far fewer military interventions overseas.
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are happy to send our troops out.

50% of the American people favor legalizing marijuana.
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney want to continue the drug war.

50% of the American people favor marriage equality.
So does Gary Johnson.  Barack Obama is a recent convert; Mitt Romney isn't.

So why do the polls show that Barack Obama is polling at about 47%, Mitt Romney at 42%, and Gary Johnson at only 6%?

. . . because 75-80% of the American people don't know who he is, or what he stands for.

As you can see, the vast majority of Americans agree in principle with Gary Johnson on many of the issues that confront us today; the economy, spending, war and civil liberties. Unfortunately the mediots and their masters are all too happy to ignore Gov Johnson, much like they do with Ron Paul, because they know that it will put an end to the big government gravy-train that they have been riding for so long.

It's time for real change if we have any hopes of turning things around. With the opinions of so many people squarely in line with Gary Johnson's beliefs, the paradigm must shift away from the the thought that you are throwing your vote away on a third-party candidate.

The amount of daylight between Obama and Romney on the key issues is infinitesimal and debating which man is a better candidate for the future of America is about as significant as the debate over which is better, Coke or Pepsi. It doesn't matter, they're both the same.

If more Americans voted their conscience, instead of for the lesser of two evils, we would be in a better position to turn things around and end the stranglehold that the Republicrats have on power.

Remember, a vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.

Gary Johnson On The Issues - Drug Policy Reform

Drug Policy Reform

Despite our best efforts at enforcement, education and interdiction, people continue to use and abuse illegal drugs.

The parallels between drug policy today and Prohibition in the 1920’s are obvious, as are the lessons our nation learned. Prohibition was repealed because it made matters worse. Today, no one is trying to sell our kids bathtub gin in the schoolyard and micro-breweries aren’t protecting their turf with machine guns. It’s time to apply that thinking to marijuana. By making it a legal, regulated product, availability can be restricted, under-age use curtailed, enforcement/court/incarceration costs reduced, and the profit removed from a massive underground and criminal economy.

By managing marijuana like alcohol and tobacco – regulating, taxing and enforcing its lawful use – America will be better off. The billions saved on marijuana interdiction, along with the billions captured as legal revenue, can be redirected against the individuals committing real crimes against society. Harder drugs should not be legalized, but their use should be dealt with as a health issue – not a criminal justice issue.

Getting Smart about Drugs

The History Is Clear
AMERICANS WERE PROMISED IN THE 1970'S AND 1980's that hefty enforcement budgets and tougher sentences would lead to less crime and drug abuse.

* We have all been raised to believe that there are only two camps in the drug policy universe -- "pro-drug" and "anti-drug" -- and that any person who does not support the "War on Drugs" is automatically "pro-drug." This simply isn't the case.
* Since only criminal gangs and cartels are willing to take the risks associated with large-scale black market distribution, the War on Drugs has made a lot of dangerous people and organizations very rich and very powerful.
* The same happened with Alcohol Prohibition (1920-1933). Prohibition had only a minimal effect on the desire of Americans to drink (in some cases, it clearly made drinking more attractive), but pushing alcohol underground had other effects: overdose deaths, gang violence, and other prohibition-related harms increased dramatically during the Prohibition years.

Make Marijuana Legal
OVER A MILLION AND A HALF AMERICANS were arrested last year on drug charges, and nearly 40% of those arrests were for marijuana possession alone. Does this make sense?

* A recent Gallup poll reports that 46% of Americans now agree that marijuana should be legalized, a dramatic increase in support that reflects Americans' increased knowledge and understanding of the issue. Proposals to regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol have been considered in several states, and Governor Johnson has supported those efforts; he believes the federal government should end its prohibition mandate and allow each state to pursue its own desired policy.
* Governor Johnson believes it is insane to arrest roughly 800,000 people a year for choosing to use a natural substance that is, by any reasonable objective standard, less harmful than alcohol, a drug that is advertised at every major sporting event.
* As Governor Johnson often points out to concerned parents, "it will never be legal for a person to smoke marijuana, become impaired, and get behind the wheel of a car or otherwise do harm to others, and it will never be legal for kids to smoke marijuana." But we have to understand that marijuana is our nation's #1 cash crop despite the prohibition; it will always be available to those who really wish to use it.
* When polled, high school kids say marijuana is easier to get than alcohol. Perhaps this is because they buy from black market dealers who do not ask for ID?
* Legalization of marijuana would instantly and dramatically improve conditions on our southern border. Marijuana is Mexico's #1 illegal export, dramatically reducing the power and wealth of the drug lords, and instantly helping to restore stability in a nation whose stability and sustainability is truly vital to our economic and national security interests. If we truly wish to reduce border violence, take the profit out of it.

Harm Reduction
BEFORE WE CAN GET SERIOUS ABOUT REDUCING the harms associated with drugs, we have to accept that there will never be a drug-free society.

* To create a drug-free society, we'd have to build a police apparatus so intrusive that all Americans would have to be under surveillance 24 hours a day... presumably for their own good. Would citizens of the "land of the free" ever stand for that?
* Abuse of hard drugs is a health problem that should be dealt with by health experts, not a problem that should be clogging up our courts, jails, and prisons with addicts. Instead of continuing to arrest and incarcerate drug users, we should seriously consider the examples of countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands, and we should ultimately choose to adopt policies which aim to reduce death, disease, violence, and crime associated with dangerous drugs.
* Honest, effective education will be key to succeeding with this transition. America has cut teen cigarette use in half, not by criminalizing possession and use, but through a combination of honest education and sensible regulation.
* We can never totally eliminate drug addiction and drug abuse. We can, however, minimize these harms and reduce the negative effects they have on society by making sure drug abusers are able to access effective treatment options (jail is not an effective treatment option).

Gary Johnson On The Issues - Civil Liberties

Civil Liberties

Civil liberties are so foundational to America that the first eight amendments to the Constitution address them directly. These amendments enshrine government’s duty to protect individual liberties, including the rights to free speech and free association.

But today, government has created for itself sweeping powers to monitor the private lives of individuals and otherwise intrude upon our daily activities, our households and our businesses. The extent of the government’s reach today would be unrecognizable to the Founders.

Much of the recent erosion in civil liberties has occurred in the name of national security. But we can – and must -- combat threats to our safety while adhering to due process and the rule of law.

End the assault on privacy
THE FREEDOMS ON WHICH AMERICA WAS FOUNDED are now under attack from the very people charged with protecting and upholding them.

* The PATRIOT Act should be allowed to expire, which would restore proper judicial oversight to federal investigations and again require federal investigators to prove probable cause prior to executing a search.
* Habeus corpus should be respected entirely, requiring the government to either charge incarcerated individuals with a crime or be released.
* The TSA should take a risk-based approach to airport security. Only high-risk individuals should be subjected to invasive pat-downs and full-body scans.
* The TSA should not have a monopoly on airport security. Airports and airlines should be encouraged to seek the most effective methods for screening travelers, including private sector screeners. Screeners outside of government can be held fully accountable for their successes and failures.

Government must be neutral on personal beliefs
WE ARE A NATION OF MANY PEOPLES and beliefs. The only way to respect all citizens is to allow each to make personal decisions themselves.

* Life is precious and must be protected. A woman should be allowed to make her own decisions during pregnancy until the point of viability of a fetus.
* Stem cell research should only be completed by private laboratories that operate without federal funding.
* Government should not impose its values upon marriage. It should protect the rights of couples to engage in civil unions if they wish, as well as the rights of religious organizations to follow their beliefs.

Gary Johnson On The Issues - The Economy and Taxes

The Economy and Taxes

Americans are more concerned than ever before about the future of our economy, and those concerns are well-founded. As a nation, we simply can't afford to continue borrowing 43 cents out of every dollar we spend. Balancing the budget will mean making some serious changes in Washington, but these will be the corrections America needs to remain a free, prosperous, and secure nation.
The U.S. must adopt 3 approaches:

Cut Spending
THIS RECESSION HAS FORCED FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES across America to make hard choices and limit their expenditures. We must now expect our elected officials to make the tough calls that will keep our government on a sustainable path moving forward. We must restrain spending across the board:

* Revise the terms of entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which threaten to bankrupt the nation's future.
* Eliminate the costly and ineffective military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan; limit defense spending to actions that truly protect the United States.
* Stop spending on the fiscal stimulus, transportation, energy, housing, and all other special interests. The U.S. must restrain spending across the board.

Cut Taxes
THE U.S. TAX SYSTEM IMPOSES AN ENORMOUS toll on productivity through high marginal rates, absurd complexity, loopholes for the well-connected, and incentives for wasteful decisions. The government must lower the tax burden to stimulate the economy.

* Eliminate punitive taxation of savings and investment.
* Simplify the tax code; stop using it to reward special interests and control behavior.
* Eliminate the corporate income tax so that America will once again be a great place to start a business.

Reduce Federal Involvement in the Economy
MUCH FEDERAL INTERVENTION IS A PAYOUT TO special interests or counterproductive meddling that stifles competition, innovation, and growth.

We should:

* Reject auto and banking bailouts, state bailouts, corporate welfare, cap-and-trade, card check, and the mountain of regulation that protects special interests rather than benefiting consumers or the economy.
* Restrict Federal Reserve policy to maintaining price stability, not bailing out financial firms or propping up the housing sector.
* Eliminate government support of Fannie and Freddie.
* Reduce or eliminate federal involvement in education; let states expand successful reforms such as vouchers and charter schools.
* Legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana, rather than wasting money on an expensive and futile prohibition.
* Eliminate needless barriers to free trade and make it easier for would-be legal immigrants to apply for work visas.

Gary Johnson On The Issues - Spending and the Deficit

Spending and the Deficit

Government spends too much because it does too much. Unchecked deficits are the single greatest threat to our national security. Unless we take significant steps soon, our federal debt will equal the entire economic production of the United States.

We should start by reassessing the role of the federal government, and always asking the question: Should the government be doing this in the first place?
We must act now to:

Balance the Budget
THE U.S. IS BORROWING OR PRINTING MORE than 40 cents of every dollar the government spends today. The math is simple: Federal spending must be cut not by millions or billions, but by trillions. And it must be done today.

It's time to:

* End excessive spending, bloated stimulus programs, unnecessary farm subsidies, and earmarks.
* Reassess the role of the federal government and identify responsibilities that can be met more efficiently by the private sector.
* Recognize that you can't have limited government at home, but big government abroad.


Enact Responsible Entitlement Reform
MOST PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON SEEM TO THINK that we can control spending and balance the budget without reforming Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. This is lunacy.

* Identify and implement common-sense cost savings to place Medicare on a path toward long-term solvency.
* Block grant Medicare and Medicaid funds to the states, allowing them to innovate, find efficiencies and provide better service at lower cost.
* Repeal ObamaCare, as well as the failed Medicare prescription drug benefit.
* Fix Social Security by changing the escalator from being based on wage growth to inflation. It's time for Social Security to reflect today's realities without breaking trust with retirees.


Audit the Federal Reserve
THE FEDERAL RESERVE SHOULD BE TRANSPARENT and its actions held to the same level of scrutiny as any other federal department.

* The American people deserve to know the extent to which the Fed has purchased private assets at home and abroad.
* Many Americans have become interested in the Federal Reserve in recent years. America's representatives in Washington, D.C. need to also become a lot more interested in how this government institution affects the American economy.
* The role and the activities of the Federal Reserve are long overdue for examination, reassessment, and ultimately, thoughtful reform. Can the Federal Reserve pursue both stable prices and full employment, or does its currency manipulation cause malinvestment, inflation, and prolonged unemployment?
* Conduct an audit to provide true transparency of the Federal Reserve's lending practices.
* Establish clear Congressional oversight.
* Get the Federal Reserve out of the business of printing money and buying debt through quantitative easing.

Gary Johnson On The Issues - Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy

Maintaining a strong national defense is the most basic of the federal government’s responsibilities. However, building schools, roads, and hospitals in other countries are not among those basic obligations. Yet that is exactly what we have been doing for much of the past 10 years.

Given trillion-dollar deficits, America simply cannot afford to be engaged in foreign policy programs that are not clearly protecting U.S. interests. There is nation-building and rebuilding to be done right here at home.

Our military should remain the most potent force for good on Earth. To do this, we should resort to military action as the last option and only as provided in the Constitution.

Bring the Troops Home
AMERICAN MILITARY ACTIVITIES IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, AND, now, Libya should end, our troops returned home, and the focus of our foreign policy reoriented toward the protection of U.S. citizens and interests.

* With Osama bin Laden now killed and after 10 years of fighting, U.S. forces should leave Afghanistan's challenges to the Afghan people.
* Saddam Hussein has been out of power in Iraq for nearly eight years. America must leave so Iraq can have a chance to grow into a responsible member of the world community.
* Without a clear goal for our military actions in Libya, fighting rages on, and the American people are footing the bill.
* Decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, American troops remain scattered throughout Europe. It is time to reevaluate these deployments.
* The U.S. must make better use of military alliances which allow greater sharing of the human and financial burdens at less cost of protecting national interests.

Lead By Example
AMERICA CAN USE 'SOFT POWER' AS EFFECTIVELY as 'hard power' to further our foreign policy goals.

* No criminal or terrorist suspect captured by the U.S. should be subject to physical or psychological torture.
* Individuals incarcerated unjustly by the U.S. should have the ability to seek compensation through the courts.
* Individuals detained by the U.S., whether it be at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere, must be given due process via the courts or military tribunals, and must not be held indefinitely without regard to those fundamental processes.