Listening ESL
Nick: So, we are with Gary Johnson running for hopefully nomination for President. And, you are former Governor of Mexico. Can you tell us a little bit about what you did when you were in Mexico?
Gary: Well, I think first and foremost I was really good at uh, the stewardship uh, of tax dollars. I was penny pinching. I vetoed 750 billion while I was Governor. That’s, I left Mexico with a $1 billion plus, uh surplus. And, back to the vetoes. Only two were overwritten so, it made a difference when it came to billion dollars worth of spending. It made a difference when it came to government telling you and I what we could or couldn’t do in the bedroom.
Nick: That is a broad field. That is not the typical things we hear from a Republican primary. Uh, what, how do you differentiate between the other…
Gary: I think I’m different when it comes to believing that Republicans are first and foremost about pocketbook issues. And, that’s why I’m a Republican. When it comes to this social agenda I really believe that a government should make you and I to make decisions that only will affect our lives. That we are best suited to the decisions, not the government. So, I think I, I think I, differentiate myself by what would be described by the rest of the world as a Republican narrowly focused, social agenda I do not have a social agenda. My agenda has to do with dollars and cents and when it comes to agendas I want to empower all of us to make the decisions I think only you and I have the ability to make. I would love to see the Republican party as a party of choice. The Republicans would always come down on a powered individual to make the choices that only we the individual can determine.
Nick: You are right. You are right I think that an individual is something that I like. You mentioned dollars and cents Back up from the macro picture. Obviously, on a natural stage the government finds they are not in good shape. But, how do you want to address the budget crisis that… there is definitely a budget crisis in Washington DC. How, are you going to get us back on track?
Gary: So, stop printing money. We need to balance the federal budget. I would not currently vote for an increase in the uh, in the debt limit. I would veto that legislation. I think we will be forced to not printing any more money. But, all the calamity that will go along with enforcing that issue I just suggested that there would never be a better time to do it than now to any distance in the future. We have control over the situation now upon market to present itself. Instead of something out of control. And, I just suggest it’s in the cards. It’s going to happen unless we actually balance the federal budget. And, when it comes to job. They say and act the fair tax. Fair tax dot org for those who haven’t looked at this But, eliminate the business-to-business tax, eliminate the corporate income tax, eliminate the income tax for you and I and implementing one time consumption tax that takes the place of all other federal taxes. So, we are also talking about abolishing the IRS too.
Nick: I think you mentioned back in there to create all the way back to actually get people off of the poverty line? Like, so with the sales tax progressing.
Gary: Yes. So, everybody in the country gets covered to the poverty level. And, it would be fair and it would also stimulate safeness.
Nick: Your position on Iraq, I know was a lot different than any other public figure. What do you suppose we do about Afghanistan and Iraq.
Gary: That we get out tomorrow. I was opposed to Iraq from the start. I, I never thought there was a military threat from Iraq and if there would have been, if there would have been weapons of mass destruction I thought that we would have the military surveillance capability to see that happening. And, if it would have happened we could have gone in and dealt with it. I thought that if we went into Iraq we would find ourselves in a civil war which there will be no end. Afghanistan initially, I thought that was totally warranted. We were attacked. We attacked back. But, after being in Afghanistan for six months we effectively wiped out Al-Qaeda. That was ten years ago. We are building roads, schools, bridges, highways, hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places in the world. We have the same needs here. And, we’re bankrupt. We are borrowing $0.43, printing $0.43 out of every dollar that we are spending. That is crazy. Where in the United States Constitution does it say that if we don’t like the foreign dictator that we should go in and topple the foreign dictator.
Nick: It is not in there.
Gary: I don’t think it’s in there.
Nick: I also don’t see where it says the president gets to do that.
Gary: No congressional authorization. Haven’t we injected ourselves into a civil war in Libya. Don’t five other countries in the Middle East right now qualify for that same intervention? Is there no end to our military involvement in other countries? Can we, I advocate military spending by forty three percent. Um, can we provide a strong national defense for this country and cut military spending by forty three percent? I think the operative word her is defense. And yes we can We can’t afford offense and we can’t afford to nation build. Let’s dry it up.
Nick: And so, (inaudible)07:00.
Gary: Just that I am gonna be around. I’m gonna be around. I’m gonna be in New Hampshire every couple of weeks uh, for several days, every couple of weeks. I am going to be talking to as many groups as I can and putting my chips on the table here at New Hampshire. We have a great political environment here in the state. We’re really, it’s my observation. People really do go out of their way to hear what a candidate has to say. And uh, to cuss and discuss it.
Nick: Thank you.
Gary: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
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