Gary Johnson : The Libertarian Candidate (Full Bio)

I thought that I owed it to you all who are tired of the Republicans and Democrats not fulfilling their duties or their promises, and constantly lying to the American public just to get re-elected. I have believed, for quite some time now, that it is definitely time for a change not only in Washington, but on a local level as well. I have voted 3rd Party since 1988 in some form or another. Mainly Libertarian, because I agree with most of what they stand for. Fiscally Conservative, and socially Liberal. Individual freedom, and accountability. In other words, "I am capable of managing my own finances and do not require the Government in my personal or professional business! On a Presidential level, I voted for Ross Perot (Reform Party) in 1992 and GW Bush(R) in 2000. Other than that, its been all Libertarian Candidates for me. If that is something you might want to consider, then I suggest getting some info on candidates other than "Giant Douche, or Turd Sandwich". Remember, you're only wasting your vote if you vote for someone you don't like or trust, just to keep someone you dislike even more from getting elected. Hell, its all rigged anyway. You might as well vote your true beliefs, if you really want change. So without further eloquence, here is the full bio on Gary Johnson. He is the Libertarian running for the office of President of the United States. Gary Earl Johnson is an American businessman, author, politician, and the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He served as the 29th Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was also the Libertarian Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election. Johnson founded one of New Mexico's largest construction companies. He entered politics for the first time by running for Governor of New Mexico in 1994 on a low-tax, anti-crime platform, promising a 'common sense business approach'. He beat incumbent Democratic governor Bruce King by 50% to 40%. He cut the 10% annual growth in the budget: in part, due to his use of the gubernatorial veto 200 times during his first six months. Johnson sought re-election in 1998, winning by 55% to 45%. In his second term, he concentrated on the issue of school voucher reforms, as well as campaigning for marijuana decriminalization. Johnson ran for president in 2012, initially as a Republican on a libertarian platform emphasizing the United States public debt and a balanced budget, protection of civil liberties, military non-interventionism, replacement of income tax with the FairTax, and opposition to the War on Drugs. In December 2011, he withdrew his candidacy for the Republican nomination and stood for the Libertarian nomination instead, winning the nomination in May 2012. Johnson received 1.3 million votes (0.99%): more than all other minor candidates combined and the most votes in Libertarian Party history. On January 6, 2016, Johnson announced his candidacy for the Libertarian nomination again in 2016. Johnson won the Libertarian nomination in May 2016, with former Republican Governor of Massachusetts William Weld as his running mate. In August, Johnson's poll numbers began to approach the 15% threshold necessary to make him the first third party candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 to participate in the broadcast, fall presidential debates. So far, they have not let him debate and truth be told, I do not think that are even considering it. Johnson was born on January 1, 1953, in Minot, North Dakota, the son of Lorraine B. (née Bostow), who worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Earl W. Johnson, a public school teacher. In 1971 Johnson graduated from Sandia High School in Albuquerque, where he was on the school track team. He attended the University of New Mexico from 1971 to 1975 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science. While in college, Johnson earned money as a door-to-door handyman. His success in that industry encouraged him to start his own business, Big J Enterprises, in 1976. When he started the business, which focused on mechanical contracting, Johnson was its only employee. His firm's major break came when he received a large contract from Intel's expansion in Rio Rancho, which increased Big J's revenue to $38 million. Overburdened by his success, Johnson enrolled in a time management course at night school, which he credits with making him heavily goal driven. He eventually grew Big J into a multimillion-dollar corporation with over 1,000 employees. By the time he sold the company in 1999, it was one of New Mexico's leading construction companies. Johnson entered politics in 1994 with the intention of running for governor and was advised by "Republican Elders" to run for the State Legislature instead. Despite their advice, Johnson spent $500,000 of his own money and entered the race with the intent of bringing a "common sense business approach" to the office. Johnson's campaign slogan was "People before Politics". His platform emphasized tax cuts, job creation, state government spending growth restraint, and law and order. He won the Republican nomination, defeating state legislator Richard P. Cheney by 34% to 33%, with John Dendahl and former governor David F. Cargo in third and fourth. Johnson subsequently won a plurality in the three-way general election, defeating the incumbent Governor Bruce King (a relatively conservative Democrat) and the former Lieutenant Governor Roberto Mondragón (who ran as a Green) with just under 50% of the vote. Johnson was elected in a nationally Republican year, although party registration in the state of New Mexico at the time was 2-to-1 Democratic. As governor, Johnson followed a strict small-government approach. According to former New Mexico Republican National Committee member Mickey D. Barnett, "Any time someone approached him about legislation for some purpose, his first response always was to ask if government should be involved in that to begin with." He vetoed 200 of 424 bills in his first six months in office—a national record of 47% of all legislation—and used the line-item veto on most remaining bills. In office, Johnson fulfilled his campaign promise to reduce the 10% annual growth of the state budget. In his first budget, Johnson proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a repeal of the prescription drug tax, a $47 million income tax cut, and a 6-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax cut. However, of these, only the gasoline tax cut was passed. During the November 1995 federal government shutdown, he joined 20 other Republican governors who called on the Republican leadership in Congress to stand firm against the Clinton administration in budget negotiations; in the article reporting on the letter and concomitant news conference he was quoted as calling for eliminating the budget deficit through proportional cuts across the budget. Although Johnson worked to reduce overall state spending, in his first term, he raised education spending by nearly a third. When drop-out rates and test scores showed little improvement, Johnson changed his tactics and began advocating school vouchers—a key issue in budget battles of his second term as governor. In 1998, Johnson ran for re-election as governor against Democratic Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez. In his campaign, Johnson promised to continue the policies of his first term: improving schools; cutting state spending, taxes, and bureaucracy; and frequent use of his veto and line-item veto power. Fielding a strong Hispanic candidate in a 40% Hispanic state, the Democrats were expected to oust Johnson, but Johnson won by a margin of 55% to 45%, making him the first governor of New Mexico to serve two successive four-year terms after term limits were expanded to two terms in 1991. Johnson made the promotion of a school voucher system a "hallmark issue" of his second term. In 1999, he proposed the first statewide voucher system in America, which would have enrolled 100,000 students in its first year. That year, he vetoed two budgets that failed to include a voucher program and a government shutdown was threatened, but ultimately yielded to Democratic majorities in both houses of the New Mexico Legislature, who opposed the plan. Johnson signed the budget, but line-item vetoed a further $21m, or 0.5%, from the legislative plan. In 1999, Johnson became one of the highest-ranking elected officials in the US to advocate the legalization of marijuana. Saying the War on Drugs was "an expensive bust", he advocated the decriminalization of marijuana use and concentration on harm-reduction measures for all other illegal drugs. He compared attempts to enforce the nation's drug laws with the failed attempt at alcohol prohibition. Johnson was term limited and could not run for a third consecutive term as governor in 2002. In the 2008 presidential election campaign, Johnson endorsed Ron Paul for the Republican nomination, "because of his commitment to less government, greater liberty, and lasting prosperity for America." On April 21, 2011 Johnson announced via Twitter, "I am running for president." He followed this announcement with a speech at the New Hampshire State House in Concord, New Hampshire. He was the first of an eventually large field to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. On December 28, 2011, Johnson formally withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, and declared his candidacy for the 2012 presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party. Johnson stated that his goal was to win at least 5 percent of the vote, as winning 5 percent would allow Libertarian Party candidates equal ballot access and federal funding during the next election cycle. The final results showed Johnson polling nearly 1.3 million votes and 1.0% of the popular vote. This established a Libertarian Party record for total votes won in a presidential election and the second-highest Libertarian percentage ever, behind Ed Clark's 1.1% in 1980. On January 6, 2016, Johnson declared that he would seek the Libertarian nomination for the presidency. On May 18, Johnson named former Massachusetts Governor William Weld as his running mate. On May 29, 2016, Johnson received the Libertarian nomination on the second ballot. Johnson's views have been described as fiscally conservative and socially liberal with a philosophy of limited government and military non-interventionism. Johnson has said he favors simplifying and reducing taxes. During his governorship, Johnson cut taxes fourteen times and never increased them. Due to his stance on taxes, political pundit David Weigel described him as "the original Tea Party candidate." Johnson has advocated the FairTax, a proposal which would abolish all federal income, corporate and capital gains taxes, and replace them with a 23% tax on consumption of all non-essential goods, while providing a regressive rebate to households according to household size, regardless of income level. He has argued that this would ensure transparency in the tax system and incentivize the private sector to create "tens of millions of jobs." Johnson has said that he supports balancing the federal budget immediately. He has stated he supports "slashing government spending", including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. As far as foreign policy goes, he has quoted Tomas Jefferson with this answer " Friendship and Commerce with all, entangling alliances with none." Johnson presents himself as a strong supporter of civil liberties and received the highest score of any candidate from the American Civil Liberties Union for supporting drug decriminalization while opposing censorship and regulation of the Internet, the Patriot Act, enhanced airport screenings, and the indefinite detention of prisoners. He has spoken in favor of the separation of church and state, and has said that he does not "seek the counsel of God" when determining his political agenda.Johnson endorsed same-sex marriage in 2011; he has since called for a constitutional amendment protecting equal marriage rights, and criticized Obama's position on the issue as having "thrown this question back to the states." He has been a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana and has said that if he were president, he would remove it from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act as well as issue an executive order pardoning non-violent marijuana offenders. Johnson has stated his opposition to gun control and has said, "I'm a firm believer in the Second Amendment and so I would not have signed legislation banning assault weapons or automatic weapons." Johnson lives in Taos, New Mexico,in a home that he built himself.He is an avid triathlete who bikes extensively. During his term in office, he competed in several triathlons, marathons and bike races. He competed three times (1993, 1997, 1999) as a celebrity invitee at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, registering his best time for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim, 112-mile (180 km) bike ride, and 26.2-mile (42.2 km) marathon run in 1999 with 10 hours, 39 minutes, and 16 seconds. He once ran 100 miles (160 km) in 30 consecutive hours in the Rocky Mountains. On May 30, 2003, he reached the summit of Mount Everest "despite toes blackened with frostbite." He has climbed all seven of the Seven Summits: Mount Everest, Mount Elbrus, Denali, Mount Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Mount Vinson, and Carstensz Pyramid—the tallest peaks in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Oceania respectively. He completed the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, in which participants traverse a 26.2 mile course through the desert, many of them in combat boots and wearing 35-pound packs. Gary Jonson has his own web site, so if you are interested in his campaign and want more information on him, check it out.