by D. BRIA B R IA N B @
N BURGH
N EW SR EV
IE W.C O M
ART
p h o to s b y MEGAN B ERN
ER
ary Johnson was the Republican governor of New Mexico from 1995-2003. He’s 58 years old, and he’s running for president of the United States on the Libertarian ticket. Republicans all over the country are waging a war against him, using underhanded methods attempting to keep him off the ballots. Right now, he’s on the ballot in all 50 states but with challenges remaining in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Oklahoma. While he was governor, he got the nickname Governor Veto for vetoing legislation sent for a rubber stamp more than 200 times in his first 180 days. Somehow, when the same technique was tried here, it just earned the administrator the reputation for being a dick. One thing seems odd, though: Why is the GOP so afraid of losing votes to this man when the old-school conservative seems to be on the right side of so many “liberal” issues?
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short. It’s only one or two, and we’re not expecting that to be the case.
Why should Republicans vote for you? So let me just point out the differences between me and the other two guys: I don’t want to bomb Iran. I want to get out of Afghanistan now. Bring the troops home. I do support marriage equality. I think that it’s a constitutionally guaranteed right. I support ending the drug wars and legalizing marijuana. I would like to repeal the Patriot Act; I think we have a growing police state in this country. I would have never signed the National Defense Authorization Act allowing for indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without being charged. I also believe that we need to balance the federal budget now. If we don’t, I think we’re going to find ourselves with a collapsed government. I am also advocating kicking crony capitalism in the rear end by eliminating corporate tax, income tax, the IRS and replacing all of that with one federal consumption tax. In this case, I’m advocating the FairTax. Those are the big differences between myself and my two opponents. [Editor’s note: The FairTax is a 23 percent federal retail sales tax collected at the final point of purchase of new goods and services for personal consumption.]
In this interview, I want to talk to you about issues. I realize you were in town not too long ago, but this will be the first introduction most people have to you. So let’s go, why should Democrats vote for you? You know what? I’m more liberal than Obama, and I’m more conservative than Romney. I think that’s where the majority of Americans fall—into the broad brushstroke of fiscally responsible and socially accepting. OK, that being said, there are big differences between me and the other two candidates. And I am talking as someone who’s going to be on the ballot in all 50 states. There are only three candidates that are in that category: me, Obama and Romney. I want you to know that we do have issues with several states, but we believe that we’re going to resolve the issues. But anyway, in second place when it comes to third-parties being on the ballot, I believe the Green Party will be on the ballot in about 30 states. No one is going to come close to 50 states. If we fall short in one or two states, then we fall OPINION
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NEWS
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GREEN
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FEATURE STORY
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ARTS&CULTURE
What made you run as a Libertarian when you were apparently a lifelong Republican and had two terms as Republican governor? Well, I would say that I’ve actually been a lifelong Libertarian. I registered as a Republican and ran as a Republican outside the Republican Party and
“PREZ” continued on page 12 |
IN ROTATION
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ART OF THE STATE
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FOODFINDS
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FILM
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MUSICBEAT
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NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS
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THIS WEEK
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MISCELLANY
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SEPTEMBER 13, 2012
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RN&R
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