Gary Johnson (Lib)

Con
Should Law Enforcement Be Allowed to Use Racial Profiling?

"Stop and frisk policies in New York. 700,000 New Yorkers have been stopped in the last year and basically searched. And we're not talking about getting on an airplane here. We're talking about on the streets of New York and Mayor Bloomberg had criticism for Arizona's law [SB 1070] said it was going to lead to racial profiling. Well I have got to tell you in New York I think racial profiling is going on right now with regard to the whole stop and frisk. Isn't this why we fought wars when it comes to protecting our civil liberties? Well this is civil liberties out the window."

Con
Should the United States Continue the War on Drugs?

"How is it that the United States, the land of the free, has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world?

The answer is simple: Over time, the politicians have 'criminalized' far too many aspects of people's personal lives. The failed War on Drugs is, of course, the greatest example. Well over 100 million Americans have, at one time or another, used marijuana. Yet, today, simple possession and use of marijuana remains a crime — despite the fact that a majority of Americans now favor its legalization."

Con
Should Churches (Defined as Churches, Temples, Mosques, Synagogues, etc.) Remain Tax-Exempt?

"As with almost all aspects of the current tax code, the granting of exemptions, credits, etc., to specific groups is a recipe for favoritism and government manipulation. That is one of the primary reasons I advocate a simple federal consumption tax to replace all income taxes - and eliminate all tax subsidies, credits and exemptions."

Con
Should the Federal Government Continue to Subsidize Oil Companies?

"I really believe that we have got to get rid of all government subsidies."

Con
Should There Be a Flat Tax on Income?

"Governor Johnson advocates the elimination of tax subsidies, the double taxation embodied in business income taxes, and ultimately, the replacement of all income and payroll taxes with a single consumption tax that will allow every American and every business to determine their tax burden by making their own spending decisions. Taxes on purchases for basic necessities would be 'prebated', with all other purchases taxed equally regardless of income, status or purpose."

Con
Are the Common Core Standards Good for Education in America?

"More broadly, Gov. Johnson believes there is no role for the Federal Government in education. He would eliminate the federal Department of Education, and return control to the state and local levels. He opposes Common Core and any other attempts to impose national standards and requirements on local schools, believing the key to restoring education excellence in the U.S. lies in the innovation, freedom and flexibility that federal interference inherently discourages."

Con
Should K-12 Teachers Get Tenure?

"Tenure removes accountability that might otherwise exist. Problem w unions is u can't reward the best/get rid of worst."

Con
Should Any Public Colleges or Universities Be Tuition-Free?

"I would not believe that colleges or universities should be free. So from a federal standpoint… 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… In my opinion the high cost of college tuition has everything to do with guaranteed student loans. I believe that if guaranteed government student loans were to have never existed then college tuition today would be half of what it is."

Con
Should Voters Be Required to Show Photo Identification in Order to Vote?

"I'm in the camp that believes we should make it as easy as possible to vote. When you start talking about restricting the right to vote or voter ID, ultimately that's about less people voting."

Con
Should US Election Campaigns Be Publicly Financed?

"No. Absolutely not. Any sort of public financing empowers incumbency. Any sort of limiting of campaign contributions, any sort of public funding, is just going to give advantage to those who already have a name.”

Con
Is China an Economic or Military Threat to the United States?

"When people understand that the United States spends 52 cents out of the worldwide dollar on military spending and that China spends 9 cents, what arms race are we gonna engage them in? I mean really, is China a threat? No, they're not."

Con
Should the United States Maintain Its Embargo against Cuba?

"While reasonable people can disagree about the negotiations that were involved, easing restrictions and opening the door to broader economic and cultural relations with Cuba is the right thing to do — and long overdue.

Free markets, open communications and opportunities for the Cuban people to see the benefits of a less antagonistic relationship with the U.S. will accomplish that which five decades of barriers clearly has not accomplished.

Make no mistake, the Castro regime has done nothing to deserve reward. But the Cuban people have done nothing to deserve being locked out of the opportunities that a better relationship with the U.S. will bring.

The free market is a more powerful, and certainly more positive, force for good than is a government-imposed embargo. Congress should act to remove the barriers the President cannot remove administratively, and end the failed policy of trying to reform another nation by isolating it."

Con
Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?

"I am in the camp that if you outlaw guns only the criminals are going to have guns. I supported permitting the concealed carry of handguns in New Mexico. I believe there is a lot less violence in the parking lot, as they say, because the potential perpetrator of a theft or an assault is thinking twice because someone might be carrying a gun. Restrictions on gun ownership will only encourage outlaws to have heavy ammunition and high calibre weapons."

Con
Should Schools Be Gun-Free Zones?

"[Natalie Leppard:] Do you believe schools should be gun-free zones?

[Gary Johnson:]I don't. And, for those that are opposed to guns, I realize how incendiary what I'm saying right now sounds, but all of these atrocities, including what happened in Orlando, all of these shootings were in gun-free zones. The theater in Colorado, the night club in Orlando, the college campus shootings, Fort Hood of all places being gun-free, that's where they are all happening."

Con
Should the Federal Government Study Gun Violence?

"No, I don't think so. I think it could be subject to politicizing."

Con
Is Obamacare Good for America?

"I would do everything I could to repeal President Obama's health care plan. I think that very simply we can't afford it… The long-term solution to health care is a free market approach to healthcare. And by the way, healthcare in this country is about as far removed from free market as it possibly could be."

Con
Should All Americans Have the Right (Be Entitled) to Health Care?

"I am proposing that the federal government cut Medicaid and Medicare by 43%. Give the programs to the States, and also do away with the strings and the mandates that go along with Medicaid and Medicare... I believe that if the Federal government would have given me complete control of Medicaid and given me 43% less money in New Mexico that I could have effectively delivered health care to the poor in New Mexico... Is Health Care a right, I don't think so."

Con
Should the Federal Government Use Raids to Enforce Immigration Laws?

"Absolutely not. How are federal raids going to work in New Mexico where 48% of the population is Hispanic. They're going to knock on my door, and 'Oh gee. You're the former governor. I guess you're OK, I guess we won't even come in and look in your closet or your basement.' But statistically the next door they knock on, New Mexico being 48% Hispanic, the next door they knock on is going to be someone who is Hispanic, and they are going to have to produce papers. It is going to be an ugly situation."

Con
Should the United States Continue to Build the Fence/Wall along the US-Mexico Border?

"Having served as Governor of a border state, Gary Johnson understands immigration. He understands that a robust flow of labor, regulated not by politics, but by the marketplace, is essential. He understands that a bigger fence will only produce taller ladders and deeper tunnels, and that the flow of illegal immigrants across the border is not a consequence of too little security, but rather a legal immigration system that simply doesn't work. Militarizing the border, bigger fences, and other punitive measures espoused by too many politicians are all simplistic "solutions' to a problem caused by artificial quotas, bureaucratic incompetence and the shameful failure of Congress to actually put in place an immigration system that matches reality."

Con
Should the Federal Government Guarantee Paid Family and Medical Leave?

"I would be opposed to that."

Con
Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?

"Having had my own business, having had a thousand employees at one point, minimum wage was not an issue because we paid so much more than minimum wage. We had to have people that showed up, wore clean clothes, and, you know, on top of that a few of them could add and subtract, and a few of them could say please and thank you. Those were the people that had my job. But, minimum wage, look, I think he's [not clear to whom he is referring] missing the boat. Why doesn't he raise it to seventy-five dollars an hour? Well, of course he can't raise it to seventy-five dollars an hour because then prices would go way up and nobody would be able to afford to hire anybody. Oh, I see seventy-five is too high but $10.10 is just the right number? How do you arrive at that? Why not let the market place 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, back to this whole notion of showing up on time and wearing clean clothes gets you way above the minimum wage… I just think when government gets involved in setting wages, there's no stopping what government will intervene in doing."

Con
Should the United States Continue Its Use of Drone Strikes Abroad?

"When it comes to drones, I think it makes a bad situation even worse. We end up killing innocents and fueling hatred as opposed to containing it. It just hasn't worked. We need to educate ourselves on the root causes of this, which is Islamic terrorism and the ideology of sharia law. In this country, we've become so politically correct that in the name of freedom of religion we have allowed sharia law and its adherents to advance. We need to differentiate between freedom of religion and the politics of sharia law. Freedom of religion, absolutely. But if you're talking about allowing sharia law that runs contrary to the US Constitution, that is ideologically the war that we need to take on."

Con
Should the United States Send Ground Troops to Fight ISIS?

"Putting tens of thousands of American troops on the ground in Iraq or, especially, Syria, won't work. We have learned that the hard way."

Con
Should the United States Close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp?

"[Interviewer:] Governor, should we close Guantanamo Bay? Should the people who are there either be tried in federal district courts or returned to their country or should we keep it open and let them stay there uncharged, untried for the rest of their lives?

[Gary Johnson:] Well, when President Obama didn't close Guantanamo, when that was one of his promises, I really looked into the issue and I've had really a lot of prominent Libertarians tell me that, if it weren’t for Guantanamo, that we would have to create that situation somewhere else. So I've kind of been sold on the notion that this is something that we have to have whether, if it's not Guantanamo, it's going to be somewhere else. That these are enemy combatants so and not US citizens so I'm on, I've been, I've been wooed over to side that there’s a reason for keeping it open."

Con
Should the US Have Attacked Iraq in 2003?

"I was opposed to us going into Iraq from the beginning, I really thought that there was no threat to our national security, I really thought that if we went into Iraq we would find ourselves in a civil war to which there would be no end and I thought we had the military surveillance capability to see Iraq rollout any weapons of mass destruction and if they would have done that, we could have gone in and dealt with that… But that was 10 years ago, we're building roads, schools, bridges and highways in Iraq and Afghanistan and we're borrowing 43 cents out of every dollar to do that. In my opinion, this is crazy."

Con
Should the US Military Budget Be Increased?

"The important question is: Can we cut military spending and still provide for a strong national defense? Yeah, we can, the operative word being defense rather than offense. And as opposed to nation building. So how do you do that? Well, you go down the line, looking at: military in uniform; civilian support to the military in uniform; the conflicts we're currently engaged in; decisions on research and development, how we're going to spend our money going forward; a reduction in our base levels all across the planet; a reduction in nuclear warheads from 2,300 to 500. Given all that, I believe we can provide a strong military defense with a 43% cost reduction. Recognizing that the biggest threat to our national security is our overspending."

Con
Should the United States Have Mandatory National Service (Military or Civilian)?

"No."

Con
Should the National Security Agency (NSA) Continue to Collect Phone and Email Metadata on US Citizens?

"[T]here are increasing calls for government regulation and intrusion into the Internet. From some politicians' suggestions of a government 'kill switch' to recently-passed so-called Cyber Security legislation, the government is determined to insert itself into our freedom to communicate, conduct business and seek information via the Web.

The government is even demanding that it be granted special 'back doors' into encrypted, private information held and moved by Internet providers. The excuse is security — a laughable concept from a government that has proven time after time to be incapable of protecting even the most basic data.

Gary Johnson has consistently opposed these attempts at government interference with the Internet, and as President, would return the government to the side of freedom and innovation — not regulation."

Con
Should Interrogation Techniques That Some Consider Torture, Such as Waterboarding, Be a Legal Option?

"Torture and the practice of detainment without being charged are practices that need to stop."

Con
Should Colleges and Universities Use Affirmative Action for Admissions?

"OK, so I get elected President of the United States, and Congress somehow makes legislation to abolish affirmative action, I would sign that legislation. Would I actively seek that legislation? No, I wouldn't go out beating the drum on ending that. But if presented with the ability to end it I would."

Con
Should the United States Transition Away from Fossil Fuels and Towards Renewable Energy?

"If we did have the 100% efficiency improvement [in renewable energy] every 5 years, the green space would provide us 15% of our energy needs in 15 years. That doesn’t cut it. We really have to rely on traditional [energy] sources. That's the reality. And that is coal. And that's nuclear. And that's natural gas. And oil."

Con
Should Religious Liberty Give People the Right to Deny Goods and Services for Gay Marriage?

"[Interviewer:] Do you personally support law that would prohibit discrimination in the workplace or towards customers? I mean, if a Christian bakery wants to deny a gay couple from making a wedding cake for them, should they be allowed to?

[Gary Johnson:] Oh boy. That's a, you know, let's equate it, let's equate it to civil rights and say no. That this has to be an awareness and there has to be consequences to discrimination. And there should not be discrimination. This is America."