John Stossel‘s latest column profiles one of the lesser-known Republican presidential candidates: former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.
When he was governor, he vetoed 750 bills and shed a thousand state jobs. That made Republican and Democratic politicians mad, but in a state with a two-to-one Democratic advantage, this Republican was re-elected.
“I got re-elected … by saying no to the government,” he told me. “I was a penny- pincher.”
His political philosophy comes down to this:
“The government has a role to protect me against individuals that would do me harm — whether that be property damage or physical harm. The federal government has an obligation to protect us against foreign governments that would raise arms again us. But beyond that, government does way too much.”
What about education?
“The number one thing that the federal government could do to improve education in this country would be to eliminate the Department of Education (and) give education back to the states — 50 laboratories of innovation … .”
Johnson is not a social conservative, which leads some political observers to say he has no shot at the GOP nomination — ever. He doesn’t buy it.
