By Lee Enochs
There is a “smoking gun” in Gary Johnson’s Presidential Campaign and it is his massive campaign debt…
This is a matter of central importance to Libertarians who advocate free market capitalism, financial prudence, and have concern about America’s staggering national debt. Former Congressman and 1988 Libertarian Presidential candidate Ron Paul has spent his career warning America about the coming economic meltdown and the unsustainable nature of the national debt.
The measure of the public debt is the value of the outstanding Treasury securities at a point of time that have been issued by the Treasury and other federal government agencies. This is how much money the federal government owes it lenders.
When the federal government spends more money then it collects, the result is additional debt. From the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 until the economic collapse of 2008, the United States of America accumulated slightly over $10 trillion dollars in debt.
During the disastrous deficit spending Presidency of Barack Obama, the national debt has nearly doubled to over $19 trillion dollars. By the year 2019, Forbes Magazine projects that the national debt will exceed $20.3 trillion dollars.
As of this writing, our national debate is now at $19.262,404, 304, 735 and mounting. That totals close to $60,000 per American and over $160,000 per actual tax payer. Needless to say, concern over America’s national debt and how to rectify it before it causes the economic collapse Ron Paul has foretold for over a generation is of paramount importance and a quintessential libertarian issue.
As the Libertarian Party draws close to picking a new presidential nominee, it is vitally important that we choose a candidate that models financial prudence and integrity in his or her own personal life and financial dealings.
For this reason, I believe every Libertarian in America should be informed about the financial and debt situation of 2012 Nominee Gary Johnson.
Perennial Libertarian presidential candidate Johnson’s campaign committee is $1.7 million dollars in debt and owes a refund to the Federal Elections Commission $332,191 for expenditures the FEC says did not qualify for “matching funds.”
A Libertarian Future points out that before the FEC ruled that Gary Johnson was to refund them over $300,000, he was $1.4 million dollars in debt!
Also, it must be noted that Gary Johnson’s campaign reports it has spent over $36,000 more than it has taken it.
I seriously question Gary Johnson’s viability as a presidential candidate since he has so much campaign debt. How can a Libertarian candidate who is supposed to stand for financial integrity be in so much debt? How can Gary Johnson speak with integrity on America’s national debt crisis when he has a debt crisis of his own?
I also would like to poke a hole in the myth that Gary Johnson is some sort of great businessman, since being close to $2 million dollars in debt does not constitute great business acumen by any calculation.
My sources tell me that during the 2012 presidential campaign, a very prominent Libertarian refused to be Gary Johnson’s Vice Presidential running mate due to the lack of money on hand in the Johnson campaign at that time.
Gary Johnson’s deep financial debt should be an item of concern for each delegate that will vote for the next nominee of the Libertarian Party. Is Gary Johnson really qualified to be our nominee and representative when he cannot manage his own financial matters?
I put a call into Governor Johnson’s Campaign, but my call was not returned at this time.
For the Federal Election Commissions statement on Gary Johnson, go here.
Lee Enochs is the Editor-In-Chief of the Libertarian Shaman and the Author of the books, “The Case for Rand Paul,” and “A Biblical Defense of Capitalism.” Lee also writes for the Liberty Conservative Magazine and his work has appeared in the Libertarian Republic and most recently was sited as an authority by Reason.com
