If you lean liberal and…
…you believe college should be tuition-free:
Johnson disagrees. “I would not believe that colleges or universities should be free,” he told ProCon.org in June. “They would be too expensive from a federal standpoint. If states want to do that of course, that’s their prerogative. But should they be free? No, they shouldn’t be free.”
…you’re against big money in politics, and specifically Citizens United:
Johnson says corporations should give as much money as they want, as often as they choose, to whomever they please. “I think it [Citizens United] comes under the First Amendment, that they should be able to contribute as much money as they want,” he told The New American in 2012. (Hereiterated that sentiment this year.)
…you’re against fracking:
While Johnson admits fracking is an incredibly inefficient and environmentally destructive form of energy extraction, he thinks we ought to be doing more of it. “I have spoken to my former environmental secretary,” he tells ProCon.org, “and what he says regarding fracking is that it’s only 10% effective, that there are environmental concerns, and that he believes that more research needs to be done on fracking. Number one, it could become much more effective, meaning it could have a much higher yield. So it sounds very pragmatic to me, but that would be where I’m at.”
…you’re against the TPP:
Johnson doesn’t really know the specifics of the trade deal, but he supports it nonetheless. “My understanding is that it is more free trade than not. Is it a perfect document? Based upon what I understand it is not, but I could not tell you what the specifics are for why that’s not the case other than that it’s better than nothing given the current state of trade. So I would be in support of TPP.” (All three of his rivals – Clinton, Trump and Jill Stein – are against the deal.)
…you’re against the Keystone XL pipeline:
Speaking of details, when Johnson last publicly discussed the Keystone XL, in 2012, he also didn’t have a firm grasp on those pertaining to the pipeline – a project later spiked by the Obama administration, and which Trump has vowed to revive. Nevertheless, he said he would support it. “I completely support the Keystone Pipeline if it’s not an issue of the government implementing eminent domain to procure right of ways… I really don’t understand where the regulatory hurdles are… I would certainly remove the regulatory hurdles,” he said.
…you think the minimum wage is too low:
Johnson thinks this is a “non-issue” – because, as the Libertarian nominee has wrongly claimed, hardly anyone works for minimum wage. Here’s how he put it on HuffPost Live earlier this year: “Minimum wage, look, I think [everyone is] missing the boat. Why doesn’t he raise it to $75 an hour? Well, of course he can’t raise it to $75 an hour because then prices would go way up and nobody would be able to afford to hire anybody. ‘Oh, I see $75 is too high but $10.10 is just the right number?’ How do you arrive at that? Why not let the marketplace arrive at that? And I just think it’s much to do – minimum wage is much to do about nothing. I mean, nobody works for minimum wage [anyway]… [Just] showing up on time and wearing clean clothes gets you way above the minimum wage.”
…you support paid medical and family leave:
“I would be opposed to that,” Johnson told ProCon.org earlier this year.
…you think we should have virtually any reasonable restrictions on the purchase and ownership of guns:
“I don’t believe there should be any restrictions when it comes to firearms. None,” he said to Slate in 2011. When asked by the site iSideWith.com this spring, “Should there be more restrictions on the current process of purchasing a gun?” Johnson said, “No, only for criminals and the mentally ill.” In a June interview with CNN, he elaborated on his thoughts about keeping guns out of the hands of individuals with mental illnesses, proposing a hotline as a possible solution, above policy changes. “We’re not looking to roll back anything, but with regard to keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, with regard to keeping guns out of the hands of potential terrorists, Bill [Weld] talked about establishing a 1,000-person task force to potentially address that – look, a hotline? We should be open to these discussions,” he said.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/why-you-shouldnt-vote-for-libertarian-nominee-gary-johnson-w435712
