Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is in Southwest Florida today speaking at campaign events in Fort Myers and Naples.
Johnson has been at the Republican National Convention where he was invited to speak at the pro-Ron Paul event, P.A.U.L. Fest. Johnson, a former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico brought his socially liberal, fiscally conservative message to a small crowd of students and area residents at Florida Gulf Coast University.
His platform calls for balancing the federal budget in 2013 with 1.4 trillion dollars in spending cuts; primarily from Medicare, Medicaid and military spending. “The biggest problem facing this nation right now is that we’re borrowing and printing money to the tune of 43 cents out of every dollar that we’re spending,” said Johnson. “So we’re talking about mutual sacrifice to save this country. And by mutual sacrifice, we’re going to all have to cut back. Everything’s going to have to be cut back.”
Johnson’s proposed cutting military spending and Medicare back by 30% and 43% respectively. Johnson says he’d also do away with the IRS by replacing personal income and corporate taxes with what he calls a ‘fair tax.’
“If we adopt one federal consumption tax, taxes won’t be an issue at all,” said Johnson. “Whether you’re an illegal immigrant, legal immigrant, U.S. citizen, visitor to the United States; nobody’s going to be able to avoid paying one federal consumption tax.”
That’s another part of his plan to present Congress with a balanced budget, not several years down the road, but in 2013.
Johnson’s message is as socially liberal as it is fiscally conservative. He supports marriage equality, legalizing marijuana, making it easier for foreign nationals to obtain work visas and pulling U.S. military forces out of Afghanistan immediately.
Johnson will hold a town-hall style event at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at River Park Community Center in Naples.