YAL-UCSD Interviews Gov. Gary Johnson

This past Thursday several members of Young Americans for Liberty at UCSD attended a banquet at Elijah’s Restaurant in La Jolla. Governor Gary Johnson came to speak in San Diego as part of his Our America Initiative. Gary Johnson was Governor of New Mexico for two terms, from 1995 to 2003. His governance was largely successful to strict adherence to his strict principles of free markets and limited government. Governor Johnson vetoed over 750 bills while in office, and at one point was the highest-ranking official in the United States to openly advocate the full legalization of marijuana.

A fierce advocate for liberty (in the vein of Ron Paul), Gov. Johnson now tours the country (on his own dime and that of grassroots supporters) as part of his ‘Our America Initiative’ project; where he speaks in different venues to inform people of the liberty movement and promote the ideals of limited government. After giving a great speech and fielding many questions Thursday night(some of them quite tough), Gov. Johnson was gracious enough to sit down with us for an interview.  

Below is a transcription of the interview.

Tax Day: Whatcom Community College, Wake Forest, Idaho, and SUNY @ Buffalo University

Here are some more photo highlights of what some campuses did this past Thursday for Tax Day.

YAL at Whatcom Community College holding their own Tax Day rally:

The GOP in 2012: Save the best for another year.

Q.  My question is two-fold (er- sort of two-and-a-half fold): I understand that it’s a little early, but 1. Who do you think the GOP will nominate in 2012, and 2. who do you think the GOP *should* nominate in 2012 (and 2b. what do you think of Republican Governor Gary Johnson)?  — Wes from Nashville, TN.

A.  Don’t sell yourself short — that’s definitely three questions.  And three questions which it’s going to be difficult to fit into my goal of 500 words for these Q&A posts.  But here goes:

Based on the options presented in the straw poll at CPAC 2010 (with the exception of Ron Paul, of course), it doesn’t look like we can expect any surprises — pleasant or otherwise — from the GOP in 2012.  Romney, Palin, Pawlenty, Pence…this is nothing new.  All these candidates but Dr. Paul are identical:  They claim to be small government conservatives who will cut taxes and keep us safe, but they’re really spendthrift warhawks whose foreign adventurism endangers us while their domestic agenda steals our liberty.  Their idea of reigning in government is slowing its growth, not making that growth negative, and they’re unaware that war is just another big government program.

Read the rest here.