Email from OAI:
Friends,
It’s Mexico’s fault. Mexico is sending its criminals here to hurt us and take our jobs.
Once again, we see a presidential candidate picking an easy target and giving Americans someone to blame for problems that, frankly, are of our own making. And sadly, at least a few folks are jumping on board.
This isn’t new. There was a time in our history when politicians were saying the same things about Irish immigrants that Mr. Trump is saying today about Hispanics. They were all criminals and they were coming here to take “American’s” jobs. Here’s what I think about that: “It embarrasses me.”
But I’m not sending this email today to talk about a flamboyant showman turned politician. Rather, my message is that someone needs to start telling the truth — and that’s why the Our America Initiative exists.
It’s not Mexicans who are keeping Americans from getting good jobs. I was Governor of the most Hispanic state in the nation for eight years. And I am an entrepreneur who has employed thousands of people in New Mexico. I’ve seen first-hand how the value of a workforce and the labor market are enhanced by immigrants.
The truth is that the problems are an $18 trillion debt, a government that only knows how to destroy jobs — not create them, and a tax system that incentivizes all the wrong things. Supporters of liberty understand these truths, and Our America exists to give liberty a voice.
Mr. Trump keeps talking about all the crime being brought to America by immigrants. The TRUTH is that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than the rest of us. What is NOT being said, loudly enough, is that border crime and most of the problems being blamed on Mexico are, in fact, the result of the failed War on Drugs. But the politicians are afraid to say that. The truth hurts.
Our America has been — and remains — one of the most consistent and credible voices for ending the War on Drugs. We’re telling the truth, but we need to do more to be heard.
That’s where you come in. We need your help, and your financial support. Countering the messages of hate, racism and ‘blame everyone else’ requires money — and Our America depends on your contributions to do our work. Your investment of $10, $25, $50, $100, $500 or more allows us to reach more people, communicate our message via social and traditional media, and recruit more and more advocates for liberty.
We can’t let the politicians go unanswered. Americans are hurting. Our freedoms are being attacked, and it’s up to us to tell the truth.
Thanks, as always, for your support of liberty and real solutions.
Gov. Gary Johnson
Honorary Chairman
P.S. We’re excited to let you know that the Our America Initiative is now accepting bitcoin payments for those who wish to support our work with digital currency and without the interference of banks and other “middlemen”. Just go to Our America and click on the Bitcoin icon.
How exactly would you propose they “export more of what works”?
If Mexico’s leadership were not the problem then 25% of their people would not have been forced, by depravity such as $6 PER DAY slave-wage, to self-deport North. Our politicians need to export more of what works to Mexico, not enable a depraved government continue to treat it’s people with such unnecessary depravity.
You’re not babbling.
More fyi: http://reason.com/blog/2015/07/16/the-trump-jillette-feud-of-july-201
“I have a touch of it myself, which is why I readily recognize it for what it is.”
Me as well. In the vein of Alfred Adler childishness can point to a greater potential of character development and ability to learn how to adapt properly, or on the other hand can hold people back like a parasite influencing their judgment. Narcissism is more or less universal, a self-absorption as a consequence of poor empathy (usually manifested as poor etiquette) and an emotional tendency towards absolutism over differentiation and contextual considerations. I know I’m babbling. In Trump’s case it seems to be that he has no ability to moderate, but I think it is not on purpose. He is just very ignorant, and in this sense I think closer to your “average joe” than to someone more blatantly power-hungry. Nevertheless you make a worthy assessment that deserves serious consideration.
Haters gonna hate … that can be applied in more than one way here.
Yes, and of course GJ could keep making the point why he LEFT the GOP. Not only do they mostly pay lip service to economic freedoms, they just keep getting worse on social freedoms, like being FOR immigration, marriage equality, sentencing reform, and legalizing weed. Not to mention their crazy desire to police the world at the cost of literally trillions of taxpayer dollars.
Agreed with Capozzi here.
And also GJ will not necessarily be a candidate, but he can still try to get media and help influence the public conversation whether he will be or not, and commenting on what leading establishment party presidential contenders are saying is a good way to do that.
My feedback is it’s silly to expect that GJ will have any influence on who the GOP’s nominee will be. To the extent that his comments on the GOP field have on a GJ 2016 campaign, my guess it he would best be served to show that he and Ls are saner than the Rs on a host of issues as a means to attract sane voters, and to get the insane to question their own crazy positions.
The GOP is off the rails on immigration, although the corporate types are probably generally for freer immigration and certainly can do the math when it comes to the “Hispanic vote.”
Near 0% chance Trump gets the nomination, anyway.
To be fair, George frequently advises us to try to push the other parties in a direction as extreme and presumably self-defeating as possible. But that ignores that they may actually win with that extreme agenda, and that it will influence the public conversation and public policy for the worse whether they win or not.
Agreed!
Yes, it’s very common. I have a touch of it myself, which is why I readily recognize it for what it is. I think he takes it to a sociopathic level. His narcicism and vindictiveness are legendary, which is why he loves to splash his name all over everything like a vandal. I honestly don’t believe there is any level of ridiculous that he will not go to in order to get more power, money, attention, and more new young women he hasn’t had sex with yet. And that’s what makes him dangerous – textbook sociopath, and better at it than most.
Who needs a logical conclusion when you can just keep escalating? Think Hitler, Napoleon, Caligula…
Any reaction will do, as long as there’s a reaction. Ultimate attention whore, with apologies to sex workers.
Thanks! That’s exactly what I meant.
I disagree.
I think that he understand that the real issue here is influencing the public discussion and the public policy changes it leads to, which Trump will do regardless of wheher he is nominated by the Republicans or wins as an alt party/independent candidate or not (I don’t rate it as likely that Trump will do either of those), and which Johnson will also do to some extent, even though it is extremely unlikely that he will actually be elected president.
Gary’s position on migration issues is a lot better than Jeb’s.
I don’t know if he wants to campaign or not, but he does want to influence public policy. Doing that requires explaining differences with all of the prominent people influencing it, especially leading candidates – regardless of how sane or insane they are.
Frankly Dr. Phillies, and I say this with all due respect, I think your dislike of Johnson is coloring your response here. From what I read you usually seem critical of the LP for being Republican-lite and pandering to them. Here we have some harsh criticism by the LP frontrunner on the GOP Frontrunner( or one of them, for the moment) I fail to see how this is in anyway “terrible political judgement.” It seems to me to offer an important contrast between the GOP and LP on the issue.
Did Johnson say he agreed with Bush? Even if he did, perhaps Johnson is taking the gamble that Bush will not be the nominee but rather someone like Scott Walker, who just declared he would consider bombing Iran on his first day in office. I’m no fan of Bush, but the media portrays him as “moderate” and sane contender. He may be hoping to pick up some of his support should someone thought to be more extreme than Jeb win the nomination. There’s nothing wrong with agreeing with Jeb on this issue if he has a sane position. And I should point out most Republicans don’t agree with Bush on immigration, so I don’t see how it makes Johnson a Republican-lite.
I also see nothing wrong with Johnson calling out Trump on his rhetoric. In addition to all the immeasurable entertainment Trump produces, he also provides the LP with a golden opportunity to attract Latino voters who are tired of being used as a scapegoat in the sort of attacks Trump lobs. Frankly if Johnson remained silent on all this in the cynical and misguided belief that anything he said would influence the GOP race in one direction or the other I would lose respect for him. At least he’s willing to speak up to combat the bigotry of a rival candidate.
Johnson shows terrible political judgement. Trump is the sort of candidate a libertarian politician should want the Republicans to run, because Trump is the sort of candidate who will wreck the Republican party. Running on the stand ‘I agree with Jeb Bush’ also does not advance our party, because it makes us sound like closet Republicans. If Johnson want to campaign, he should focus on attacking the bad jobs of Bush and the other relatively sane Republican candidates.
There’s a legitimate question as to whether he was ever actually tortured, and his supposed heroism consisted of being captured. He had a very crappy record prior to that, including in the academy, and was only able to graduate and serve as an officer at all thanks to his family background – a long lineage of Admirals and commanders going back from his father to the Revolutionary War.
For more on McCain’s “war hero” status, see here:
http://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-when-tokyo-rose-ran-for-president/
Trump does strike me as childish. I don’t really know if he is a sociopath, it is possible but his sort of childishness is unfortunately common. His migrant bashing takes an odd turn when he suggests that Mexico sends them to us! He doesn’t see the logical conclusion of anything he says, or the need to back up such claims. He just tries to make people laugh, I guess.
Of course he doesn’t, especially if he hasn’t changed his mind.
It’ll be interesting if he “changes” it again if he actually runs outside the duopoly and no longer has to cater to Republican primary voters.
Trump has a history of petty one-upmanship, like a child. He’s dissing McCain because McCain dissed him (or so he claims; I’m not sure of the details). Also, McCain authored “Amnesty,” and Trump’s big shtick these days is migrant bashing. And it gives him attention, which he craves. Also, it bolsters his reputation for being bold and unafraid to go after sacred cows.
Trump and McCain both strike me as dangerous sociopaths, so having them feuding doesn’t seem like a bad thing.
Hey single-payer! I stand corrected.
Of course he says nothing about it now.
I doubt Trump considered any of that. 😉
But I don’t know really, if anything the fact that McCain was willing to serve no matter what says something significant about him, both very admirable and very dangerous. I guess I don’t consider it a blight on his person (his support of extremists and perpetual war is sufficient)
I don’t feel like looking it up again, but you can find this information pretty easily with a search.
As for Trump… see http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/make-america-great-again#.yoyMM4dNe8 among other things.
There’s a legitimate question as to whether he was ever actually tortured, and his supposed heroism consisted of being captured. He had a very crappy record prior to that, including in the academy, and was only able to graduate and serve as an officer at all thanks to his family background – a long lineage of Admirals and commanders going back from his father to the Revolutionary War.
(which is not to be interpreted as any sort of sweeping statement. Different people have different reactions to torture)
As far as I’m concerned McCain may as well be a war hero. It might be what drove him so insane.
He actually is right about McCain, but very little else.
I don’t remember one word ever coming out of Trump’s mouth that mattered.
Yes, I speak objectively. Usually people have some nuggets of information mixed in with their b.s. Usually it is random, but even this never happened for Trump.
Trump is 100% right on this and Johnson is 100% wrong!
Did Gary say “It’s not about New Mexico, Mr. Trump?”