The following was posted on Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson’s Facebook page on May 22nd, 2016 (via American Third Party Report):
A Message from Gov. Gary Johnson for Libertarian Delegates
Friends,
With less than a week until the LIbertarian National Convention gets underway, I want to take a moment to share some thoughts — and to ask for your vote.
You know me. I first joined the Libertarian Party in 1993. For the past five years, I’ve been traveling to all corners of the nation, attending as many Libertarian gatherings as I can, taking the principles of Liberty to the airwaves, and spending hundreds of hours listening to you and discussing the path forward to solidifying the Libertarian Party as the real alternative to the Republicans and Democrats.
Finally, our work is paying off. Building on the work of those who have gone before us, we have put the Libertarian Party in the national conversation. Just last week, Fox News did three separate stories in one day about the role the Libertarian Party will potentially play in 2016. It’s safe to say that has never happened before, and I’m grateful to be a part of making that happen.
We probably haven’t agreed about everything. In fact, I don’t know anyone who agrees with me 100% of the time. But we DO agree on the fundamental idea that government should be small, and Liberty should be great. We agree that the force of government must not be used to take our freedoms from us, and we agree that the Libertarian Party best represents our shared vision of a government that protects Liberty as the true American value.
Together, in 2012, we made history by garnering more votes for a Libertarian presidential candidate than ever before. But that is nothing compared to our opportunity in 2016. The Republicans and Democrats have handed us what is undoubtedly the greatest opportunity ever to compete on an equal footing with the two “major” parties. The pollsters see it. The media sees it, and most important, millions of Americans see it.
The spotlight is on us — and we have to perform.
With the nominating convention upon us, I want to be sure your questions are answered and your concerns addressed. I hope we have an opportunity to visit personally in Orlando, but in the meantime, I want to address a few concerns that have been raised by some.
In a nationally-televised debate among three of the Libertarian candidates for President (A debate that should, by the way, have been more inclusive of all the candidates.), a highly unlikely hypothetical question was raised about whether a Jewish baker has the right to refuse to serve a Nazi sympathizer asking for a “Nazi cake”. I responded to that question in the legal context of whether a public business has the right to refuse to serve a member of the public, as distasteful as it might be.
The simple answer to that question is, whether all like it or not, U.S. law has recognized the principle of public accommodation for more than 100 years: The principle that, when a business opens its doors to the public, that business enters into an implied contract to serve ALL of the public. Further, when that business voluntarily opens its doors, the owners voluntarily agree to adhere to applicable laws and regulations — whether they like those laws or not.
To be clear, anti-discrimination laws do not, and cannot, abridge fundamental First Amendment rights. I know of no one who reasonably disagrees. In the highly unlikely event that a Nazi would demand that a Jewish baker decorate a cake with a Nazi symbol, the courts, common sense, and common decency — not to mention the First Amendment — all combine to protect that baker from having to do so. It’s not an issue, except when distorted for purposes of gotcha politics.
Does a public bakery have to sell a cake to a Nazi? Probably so. Does that bakery have to draw a swastika on it? Absolutely not. And that’s the way it should be.
Of course, we all know that this conversation is really “code” for the current, and far more real, conversation about society’s treatment of LGBT individuals. I have even heard some talk of a “right to discriminate”. And of course, we have states and municipalities today trying to create a real right to discriminate against the LGBT community on religious grounds — the same kinds of “religious” grounds that were used to defend racial segregation, forbid interracial marriages and, yes, defend discrimination against Jews by businesses. That is not a slope Libertarians want to go down.
Once again, my belief that discrimination on the basis of religion should not be allowed has been distorted by some to suggest that a legitimate church or its clergy should be “forced” to perform a same-sex marriage. That is absurd. The various ballot initiatives I supported across the country to repeal bans on same-sex marriage all had one provision in common: A specific provision making clear that no religious organization, priest or pastor could be required to perform any rite contrary to that organization’s or individual’s faith. That protection was supported almost universally by the LGBT community — even though most legal scholars agreed that such a protection already exists in the Constitution. We just wanted to leave no doubt.
I was the first major candidate in the 2012 presidential campaign to call for full marriage equality, and Libertarians have long stood for equal treatment under the law for all Americans. As your candidate for President, I will not tarnish that record.
Another concern some have raised, with the help of some misleading blog reports, relates to the finances of the 2012 campaign. As you know, the Federal Election Commission is a government agency. Dealing with them is not unlike dealing with the IRS. It can take years and far too much money to resolve issues.
Due to the nature of FEC reporting, our 2012 campaign reports continue to show a substantial “debt”. That is in no way unusual. Most major national campaigns have the same reporting issue. The actual debts listed by the FEC have, in reality, been resolved and the resolution has been submitted to the FEC for approval — months ago. Our attorneys continue to work with the FEC to gain acceptance of our submissions, and we are confident they will ultimately do so. This is a tedious and burdensome process that plagues virtually all major campaigns, and says more about the nature of government regulation than it does about our finances.
The key fact for you, as a Delegate, to know is that NO funds being raised for the 2016 campaign will be used to reduce the 2012 debts shown on our campaign disclosure reports.
I hope this information is helpful, and encourage you to bring any additional questions or concerns to me directly at the convention.
As Libertarians, we have an opportunity in this election to truly make history. It is important that we do it right. National polls are already showing me to be in double digits against Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton — and we haven’t really gotten started yet.
But understand this: Despite all the media attention, polls and excitement, I know that my first task is to earn your vote at the nominating convention in Orlando next weekend. And I am dedicated to that task.
We have taken amazing strides — together — to put the Libertarian Party on the national stage as a serious, credible alternative to the Republicans and Democrats. Next weekend, I am asking you to allow me the honor of taking even greater strides, with your help and support. We have known one another since the days when we were fighting for even the slightest recognition, and I have not forgotten that you were doing the hard work even before it became fashionable, as was I.
I look forward to seeing you in Orlando. Our campaign will be hosting a social event Friday evening. Please join us. Likewise, we will have an “office” set up in Salon I of the convention hotel, and I urge you to stop by. I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you!
Gov. Gary Johnson
Anthony Rankin –
Have you ever had a real experience in your life? Or is it all out of books and ‘debate?’ What do you say to a grandmother confronting the fact her new grandson cannot breathe? Why? Exxon told her there was no danger to stay in the wake of the Mayflower Spill. She was always healthy. Now, she spends every penny on doctors who do not know what to do.
It did not happen to one person, or one family, it happened to dozens of them. We worked with the victims of the BP Spill too, and with the physicians who eventually realized what they were seeing.
No one could believe a company would lie like that. But they did. They hired PR people from out or area to tell the lies then shipped them back home, well paid. They left families struggling with doctor bills, damage to their homes. Unable to live where they had grown up. So inconvenient for those who want to continue in the circle jerk of complacency.
You know why they do it? To ensure no body of evidence is available at the time of trial. Forward thinkers, those guys.
Rocky lost his family. They died in the aftermath of the BP spill, frightened, bewildered. Rocky can’t work any more. Instead he lives in constant pain. I suppose you think that is his imagination?
I have an idea. Go out to your car and inhale for the next hour. Breathe deep. In Mayflower they told people to stay and the stench lasted for weeks. Surely you can take an hour…or two…or three. Go ahead – do it.
Or don’t – and keep lying to yourself and others.
We provided the report on petroleum poisoning to the Medical Society for the County of Santa Barbara after the Refugio Spill. The paid employees had been given quality respirators. The cheap labor got those flimsy white masks. Why the difference, huh?
http://ecoalerts.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_8.html
Watch some videos.
Or read the report compiled by Sciencecorps. http://www.sciencecorps.org/crudeoilhazards.htm
Ask the folks at Porter Ranch.
Exxon, Shell, Valero, they bought a company, Santa Clara Waste Water Disposal, and set it up to dump their toxic waste in Santa Paula, California. http://www.vcstar.com/news/local/santa-paula/two-top-santa-clara-waste-water-officials-arrested-again-on-new-charges-26a6d416-b01b-0b99-e053-0100-361638751.html
Cute. Probably sorry you did not think of it as a way to make a buck. Now, tell us about anything you have actually done as an activist. I was one of the people who ran the Roberti Recall. I ran 24 Libertarian campaigns, ran myself, and established and funded an office – with no help from the LPC on Westwood Blvd for four years. What have you done? Which reminds me of one of my favorite Kipling poems, turned into music by Leslie Fish.
Tomlinson
Adapted by the Poem by Rudyard Kipling
Music arranged by Leslie Fish
Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost
in his house in Berkeley Square
And a spirit came to his bedside
and dragged him by the hair
Till he heard the roar of the Milky way
die down and drone and cease
and they came to the gate within the walls
where Peter holds the keys.
“Stand up, stand up now Thomlinson
and answer loud and high-
The Good that’cha did for the sake of men
before you came to die”
“Oh, I had a friend on earth”, he said
“who was my preist and guide,
And I know he would answer well for me
if he were at my side.”
“Because you strove in neighboor love
it shall be written fair,
But now you wait at heaven’s gate
and not in Berkeley Square.
Though we called your friend
from his bed tonight
he could not speak for you-
For the race is run by one and one,
never by two and two”
The wind that blows between the worlds-
it cut him like a knife-
So Thomlinson took up the tale
and he spoke of his good in life
“Oh this I’ve read in a book” he said
“And that was told to me”
“And this I’ve thought that another man thought
of a prince in Muskovee”
“You’ve read, you’ve heard, you’ve thought -good god-
and the tail is yet to run-
By the worth of the body that once you had
give answer; What have you done?”
“Oh this I’ve felt and this I’ve guessed
and this I’ve heard men say,
And this I wrote that another man wrote
of a Carl in Noroway.”
“You’ve read, you’ve felt, you’ve guessed -good god-
You’ve hampered heaven’s gate-
We’ve better fare between the stars
than you lay on our plate.
Get out. Go down to the lord of wrong,
your due is yet to run
And the fate you share with Berkeley Square
Go with you, Thomlinson.”
So the spirit dragged him by the hair
as sun by sun they fell
Till they came to the rings of evil stars
that rim the mouth of hell.
The first star red with pride and wrath
The second white with pain,
But the third are black with clinkered sin
That cannot burn again.
The wind that blows between the worlds
It chilled him to the bone
And he yearned to the glare of hell mouth there
as he would to his own hearthstone.
The devil he sat behind the bars
where the desperate legions drew
And he caught the hurriing Thomlinson
and wouldn’t let him through.
“Do you know the price of good pit coal
That I must pay” said he
“That’cha rank yourself so fit for hell
and ask no leave of me?”
“Sit down, sit down upon the slag
and answer loud and high-
The harm you did to the sons of men
before you came to die.”
“Oh, I had a love on earth” he said
“Who kissed me to my fall-
And if you’d call my love to me
I know she would answer all.”
“Oh, that’cha did in love forbid
It shall be written fair,
But now you wait at hell mouth gate
and not in Berkeley Square.
Though she whissiled your love
from her bed tonight
I vow she would not run
For the sin that’cha do by two and two
you must pay for one by one.
“Well once I laughed at the power of love,
twice at the grip of the grave
And three times patted my god on the head
-that men might call me brave”
The devil breathed on a branded sole
and set it aside to cool-
“Do you think I’d waiste my coal” he said
“On the hide of a brain-sick fool?
I see no worth in the hob-nailed mirth
or the jolted jest you did
That I sould awaken my gentlemen
who are sleeping three to a grid”
“Oh this I’ve heard…” said Thomlinson
“And that was noise to broad
and this I took from a Belgin book
on the word of a dead French lord.”
“You’ve heard, you’ve read, you’ve got good lack
and the tail begins afresh;
Have you sined one sin for the pride of the eye
or sinful lust of the flesh?”
Then Thomlinson, he gripped the bars
and he yammered, “Let me in!
I remember I borrowed my neighboor’s wife
to sin a deadly sin!”
The devil, he grinned behind the bars
and he banked the fires high-
“Did’ja read that sin in a book?” he said
and Thomlinson said, “Aye..”
The devil, he blew upon his nails
and the little demons ran
and he said, “Go husk this wimpering theif
that comes in the guise of a man.
Go will him out from star to star
and seive his proper worth-
There’s sore decline in Adam’s line
if this is the spawn of earth.”
When the demons came back with the tattered thing
like children after play
They said “A sole he got from god
he’s bartered clean away.
We’ve thrashed out a mint of book and print
and a chattering wind for a mind
And many a sole from which he stole
but his own we cannot find.
We’ve handled him, we’ve dandled him,
we’ve sered him to the bone,
But sire if tooth and nail show truth
he has no sole of his own.
The devil, he looked at the mangled thing
that prayed to feel the flame
and he thought of holy charity
but he thought of his own good name.
“Now you would haiste my coal to waiste
and sit’cha down to fry-
“Did’ja think of that sin for yourself?” he asked
and Thomlinson said, “Aye.”
The devil, he breathed an outward sigh
for his heart from free from care
“You’ve scarce the sole of a louse,” he said
“But the roots of sin are there.”
“Now for that sin you should come in
If I were lord here alone
But it’s sinful pride has rule inside
mightier than my own.
You’re neither spirit nor spark” he said
“You neither book nor bruit
So get’cha back to the flesh again
For the sake of man’s repute
I’m overlord to Adam’s breed
that I should mock your pain-
But see that’cha win to a better sin
before you come back again.”
“Get out! The hurse is at your door
and the grim black stallions wait.
They carry your clay to the grave today-
Move, or you’ll come too late!
Go back to earth with a lip unseeled
Go back with an open eye
And carry this word to the spawn of earth
before they come to die.
That the sins they do by two and two
They must pay for one by one,
And the god you took from a printed book
be with you, Thomlinson.
I never accepted anything without proof. But when it was provided I owned up, did my own research and corrected course.
Grow up.
Ron Paul is a thoroughly nice person. However, he was never a very effective Congressman. Go take a look at his record for building coalitions to get freedom-affirming legislation passed or rescind bad law.
We need to use this election to end the divide between Red and Blue and see the whole of what it means to be a Libertarian.
Everyone tends to see freedom issues through their own eyes and needs. But all of us should be empathic enough to want freedom for others who face different challenges and dangers.
As Americans we are living in a world which our nation’s lies has destroyed lives, trust, families and a future which will never be. Millions have died for oil. Our government had no right to invade Iraq. In the aftermath I began writing for the Lone Star Iconoclast. You may remember that was the hometown paper for BushCo which endorsed Kerry in 2004. Their editorial outlining the reasons for their endorsement was picked up and became the through line in the Presidential Debate that year.
Leon, the editor, was subjected to multiple attacks and harassment.
The LoneStar published the fact we were using DU in Iraq.
Now everyone knows the point was oil. Cheney had begun divvying up Iraq’s oil fields within weeks of the Bush’s inauguration. The image which haunts me was not the hideous deaths, the sound of guns and the images from hospitals. It was a quote from one young boy about his school in Baghdad.
“BAGHDAD, 29 Jan 2007 (IRIN) – “I’m 11 years old and an only son. I’m a pupil at Mansour Primary School in Baghdad. Lately, I have been feeling very lonely in my class. This week, I was the only student in class because all my classmates didn’t come to school for various reasons.
Since last September, three of my classmates have been kidnapped and two have been killed. One was murdered with his family at home and the other was a victim of a bomb explosion a month ago.”
I could never find out if he survived. He lost his world, as did millions of other people. If he is still alive, what is his life like? The cost of war cannot be measured without accounting for the destruction of these lives and the ordinary moments of happiness forever lost.
In the wake of 9/11 the world opened its arms to us with overflowing compassion. How did our nation respond?
I’m not anti-war I am pro peace. But peace starts with accepting responsibility for what happened to all of us.
Yeah, so let’s get all bent out of shape over a wedge issue just like all the other guys and like all the other guys want us to.
To me this sounds less like GJ isn’t “libertarian enough” and more that he’s not “conservative enough” for the paleocon/libertarian faction who believes Ron Paul is Jesus and wanted Pat Buchanan to be president, in addition to lovely things like writing high profile op-eds applauding the beating of Rodney king and calling for public policy of increased police brutality while pretending to be anarchists, and then spending the next 25 years saying everyone isn’t anarchist enough if they aren’t Neoconfederates.
*are not ate
Weld my Johnson!
I worship my Welded Johnson. When I demand a Johnson cake to be modeled exactly on my Johnson, the baker must allow me to expose my Johnson so that I am satisfied. Otherwise you ate violating my religious liberty.
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster:
It seems you have fallen hard for a handful of popular myths spread mostly by socialists and those seeking more powerful, expansive and intrusive government.
Oil and coal are as natural as wind or solar energy. Yes of course they are harmful if absorbed in concentrated form (just as solar, and I assume, wind). The claims made about environmental harm from the BP Gulf spill never panned out. I am not aware of a single major successful lawsuit alleging human illness from the event that was ever successful. This despite the fact that BP was bullied by the Obama Administration into establishing a $20 BILLION trust fund to pay off alleged harms that never surfaced.
(That amount is several times the annual state budget of my home State of Montana.)
Exxon, Koch Industries, Conoco, Peobody Coal, etc., have actually spent very little on climate-change skepticism research. They have actually spent more to promote the government’s climate-change theories—doubtlessly motivated by political expediency.
The government’s theory of catastrophic-manmade-global-warming-by-carbon-dioxide, by contrast, has been heavily promoted by corporate America, and funded to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars taken by force from the taxpayers. (Perhaps over a trillion dollars.)
And the government’s theory is mostly exaggeration. I could direct you to hundreds of sources, but you might try watching this lecture by Swiss scientist Dr. Fred Goldberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEcnJFTxQcU
or possibly https://www.facebook.com/George.Phillies/posts/10153465181321556
facebook is strange
try instead https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153465119766556&set=gm.1608232066158933&type=1&theater
tk, the money passage is here:
“In the highly unlikely event that a Nazi would demand that a Jewish baker decorate a cake with a Nazi symbol, the courts, common sense, and common decency — not to mention the First Amendment — all combine to protect that baker from having to do so. It’s not an issue, except when distorted for purposes of gotcha politics.
“Does a public bakery have to sell a cake to a Nazi? Probably so. Does that bakery have to draw a swastika on it? Absolutely not. And that’s the way it should be.”
He’s not really addressing what I believe the NAPster would want, which is to challenge the public accommodation laws on the books. The NAP adherent would want a L candidate to hold high the banner against those — and all — laws written and enforced by the monopoly state. GJ doesn’t go there. That IMO is wise, since it’s really unripe and evokes whites-only lunch counters, some of which were voluntary decisions by the business owners.
Johnson’s antilibertarian stands on abortion
As compiled by a Johnson supporter
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153465119766556&set=gm.1608232066158933
The issue of corporate deceit and public endangerment is not a victimless crime. The issue of ‘Climate Change,’ and the denial this existed, was a strategy placed in motion by Exxon after their management, all receiving multi-millions of yearly compensation, realized the studies they had funded spelled out the fact they were impacting not just the environment but public health.
The reason the senior management of Exxon carried this out was to ensure their compensation upon retirement would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Covering up the damage done to people was also essential. This is why the long stall on such incidents as the Exxon Valdez. Victims conveniently die if you just wait long enough.
Today, no none of us who have looked can find a living victim of the 10,000 clean-up workers from the Valdez. Petroleum poisoning appears to be a cold or sinus infection initially. Physicians without experience provide what seems to be appropriate. In a while the patient is back complaining of bronchitis. The poisons have migrated to the lungs. From there, they attack the organs which filter poisons out of the system. The final cause of death shows up in many different ways. But the oil company knew and lied.
I’ve had wrenching conversations with victims who were perfectly healthy and believed it when the oil company told them being able to smell the oil could not harm them.
Oil companies carefully fail to keep records of the names of clean-up workers so there is nothing to subpoena.
It is not just the oil companies, though they are some of the worst. Military bases are very often Superfund sites. And you don’t know how close you are unless you check. Bernie lives within a couple of miles of a Superfund site, himself.
The environmental movement has failed to do what must be done to protect people and property. Libertarians should have owned this issue because this has been a gross and continuous violation of our rights along with damage to our property.
Will the Libertarian candidates step up and do so? We will see. They should. The Environmental Movement would rather collect paychecks and picket. What is needed is to examine the body of evidence and indict. Check out our site on the medical impact of oil, if you are interested.
TODAY I SENT THIS TO 22 REPORTERS AND EDITORS OF THE GUARDIAN {US}>>
What Do Jill Stein & Gary Johnson have in Common?
The Guardian and other media all but ignore that they are running for president, too. How about more coverage of the two minor parties that will probably be on the ballot in all fifty states?
The two major parties are about to nominate the two most disliked candidates in polling history. Many people will go to the polls in November trying to chose between the lesser of two evils.
A Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld {two former GOP governors} has more executive experience than Trump and Clinton has together and Jill Stein of the Green Party speaks to the most important issue of this century. What good is a tax cut if your home is underwater {Literally, not figuratively}.
The American vote has a right to know more about how their presidential options extend beyond the two major parties.
The presidential debate commission run by the two parties since the League of Woman Voters gave up trying to run fair debates have set an almost impossible standard for minor party candidates to achieve for a podium at the debates – 15% in five different national polls to be chosen by the debate commission.
Most news organizations have gone along with this standard as an excuse not to give a reasonable amount of coverage to minor party candidate thereby assuring that it is all but impossible to achieve that polling number.
Two former governors challenging a reality TV star for the presidency is certainly a story that should be covered by the media on at least a weekly basis.
And a champion of the environment and foe of global warming has to be at least as newsworthy as the obstructionist and naysayers who declare that the jury is still out on global warming.
I URGE EVERY READER OF IPR TO SEND SIMILAR NOTES TO EVERY MEDIA SITE THAT THEY FREQUENT.
It will be interesting to see who gives nominating speeches for Johnson and Weld.
Weld is particularly bad. I can’t see why any Libertarian would want him on the ticket. The guy has not been Governor of Massachusetts in 19 years. That was a long time ago, and I would be willing to bet a lot of people do not know who he is, and it is not like he had a big following. Weld endorsed Jeb Bush and John Kasich in the last 8 months, and he has already screwed over the LP with that incident in New York 10 years ago.
Is Gary Johnson so out of touch with the libertarian base that he thinks that the libertarian base is really going to get excited about Weld?
Apparently so.
Gee, and I thought the Libertarian position was, “Why don’t you bake your own cake?” Or, “Try the shop down the street.” But as long as they don’t throw the cakes this is a cute little quibble when right now we are confronting issues of much greater import.
Suing people who won’t decorate a cake for you is outrageous.
Bob,
You might want to read what he wrote. He clarified that what he said on the spot was accurate and is his view. He just used so many words to say it that it’s hard to notice unless you actually read it carefully. It’s a cool trick if you can get away with it. But you can’t get away with it while I’m around.
Hoo boy, TK. He’s saying it was a gotcha question and he’s clarifying that what he said on the spot was inaccurate and not his view. He’s laid out his actual view in this statement.
Don’t you ever say something that comes out wrong?
I think that the image of a cake with a swastika on it is an unfair representation of what Gov. Johnson was stating. I believe the question Johnson thought he was answering was should a Jewish Baker have to sell one of his wedding cakes to a Nazi? Not, Should a Jewish Baker have to make a Nazi Symbol Emblazoned Cake for a Nazi?
This seems to have been written by the same staffer who wrote Weld’s bit. Same strategy — lie about what you actually said (“I responded to that question in the legal context”), then throw in some razzle-dazzle to let you say that you still think exactly what everybody thought you meant without most people being willing to read closely enough to understand that you said nothing of substance.
Here’s what he ACTUALLY said.
So much for “legal context.” This close to the convention, the “lie my ass off and hope nobody notices” approach just might work.
Then again, Johnson and Weld aren’t the only ones with last-minute stuff to roll out.