Seven Principles of “Good Government” By Gary Johnson: DEBUNKED

If you are like us at Liberty Hangout, you probably cringe every time you hear Gary Johnson speak. You probably cringe every time any of his supporters find a weak excuse and exploit it to best justify their on-going support for the Libertarian Presidential Nominee. We often question the underlying mindset that leads to left-libertarian ideology, and in a quest for understanding, we took a look at some of the literature written by Gary Johnson.

The first thing that should be taken notice is that Gary Johnson barely has any literature. He has two ebooks: “Seven Principles of Good Government” and “Common Sense for the Common Good: Libertarianism as the End of Two-Party Tyranny“. While this is by no means a compass of political capability, it is a minuscule impression compared to the 11 books Ron Paul has written over the course of his political career. I should also mention that anything referring to the “Common Good” is often a nod toward promoting collective and social policies. I digress; some of us at Liberty Hangout decided to dissect some of Gary Johnson’s material, and what we came across was a heaping load of…. well let me explain.

Our founder, Justin Moldow, is taking on the mind numbing task of reading Gary Johnson’s second book “Common Sense for the Common Good”, so that one will be addressed at another time. However, I am not as patient with reading the political version of a children’s book, so I skimmed over Gary Johnson’s first book, “Seven Principles of Good Government“. I grinned as I went over these because there is so much hypocrisy in how he has applied these principles to his campaign and how they contrast with the libertarian ideology.

I. “Good Government”

So I don’t mean to go on a tangent here, but his first fallacy is actually in the title: “Good Government”. Libertarian philosophy is first and foremost centered around self government; the idea that you should be free to make fiscal and social decisions that directly effect you. It is also the statement that government is sanctioned force and therefore there truly is no such thing as “good government”. I actually wrote a book and it’s called “The One Principle of Good Government”. Actually it’s a page long. Actually it’s really a sentence long: there is no such thing as good government.

II. The Seven Principles

Now lets see exactly what “principles” a man who compromises on every principle sets for society as a standard of governance:

I love this one: Become reality-driven.

For somebody who is convinced he actually has a shot at the presidency promoting the muddled idea that Libertarianism is Centrism, Gary has a lot of gall to propose he is driven by reality. It is clear that Gary is attempting to promote “common sense legislation” as he diligently puts it, but “common sense” in Washington is far different than the “common sense” we know in our daily lives. Anti discrimination laws, gun control legislation, and foreign entanglements are all “common sense” fixes in Washington, and Gary thinks so too! Is that legislation based in reality? The reality is, if you cannot take a principled stand, then you are always subject to capitulation. The National Woman’s Party is responsible for the result of the Women’s Suffrage movement in federally recognizing a woman’s right to vote. To date, they have never won an election.

Ahh yes, everybody’s favorite argument: Gary “Honest” Johnson. Has Gary Johnson always told the truth? If he did then he would’ve already rendered himself disqualified for the presidency. How? Well let’s talk about the debates for starters. Gary said repeatedly that if he didn’t make the debates, then he would have no chance of winning the presidency. Gary Johnson also said he had a “better than 50% chance of getting into the presidential debates”. Neither of those were true, so shouldn’t he drop out? “We can still get in future debates”, well considering Johnson hasn’t risen any more than 3% in the polls in the past 5 months, it is safe to say that is not going to happen either. Thanks for being honest, Governor.

“Always do what’s right and fair”. Was it right to throw Austin Petersen’s novelty gun in the trash? Is it fair that the least libertarian candidate won the Libertarian nomination? If Johnson’s actions following his nomination weren’t enough to discredit his integrity, then maybe look above at my criticism of his “honesty” contention. Gary Johnson lied to make people believe he had a chance of getting an average of 15% across 5 polls, instead of delivering a no BS assessment of the situation and developing a thorough strategy. Or maybe that, after being on every major media network, he blames the idea that the polls don’t include his name, instead of owning up to the idea that maybe he isn’t a good messenger for liberty. That’s maintaining integrity for sure.

“–don’t procrastinate”. Gary has an arsenal of establishment endorsements, a so-called pro-fundraiser in William Weld, and a one in a million chance at taking liberty mainstream, and it never manifested into anything bigger than what he had at the start. Gary’s goal was 15%, not 51%, and that is the problem. The dissenting argument is “Gary would’ve started focusing on winning after he got in the debates”, but I think you see the flaw in the logic now. Whatever Gary’s plan was, it didn’t work, as his political immobility has shown, and now Gary is once again being painted as the third party candidate who doesn’t have a chance by the same media networks that gave him a chance.

How can anybody know what you’re doing when YOU don’t know what you’re doing? Governor Johnson has fallen blank on foreign policy questions, has flopped his positions in the heat of townhalls, and often passes questions he doesn’t know the answer to off to running mate William Weld. It is clear that Gary contradicts himself often on this, and could very well be a conclusion as to why this season has been so cruel to him.

Once again, don’t tell people you have a good chance of getting into the debates when every analyst says otherwise. I hate to beat a dead horse, but it really says a lot when somebody is not willing to admit the true circumstance of their situation. It suggests that Gary was so deluded in the idea that people hate the other two candidates so much, he could say with confidence that if he didn’t get into the debates, he would have no chance of obtaining the presidency. I saw that coming from a mile away.

This is a good way to wrap-up this summary of catastrophic hypocrisy. Governor Gary Johnson was not willing to stand on principle, was not willing to learn more about what he didn’t know, was not willing to accept pending disappointment, and therefore did not get the job done. If the job of president excites Gary so much, why doesn’t he know more? How can one be truly passionate about politics if they aren’t aware of what’s going on? If the job of president excites Gary so much, why is he one of the most boring candidates people have ever heard? Why can’t he answer questions without having to pause and “um” every two seconds? It’s probably because Gary Johnson knows he won’t get the job. He may very well only be doing it for himself.