Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Elections 2012 - The Candidates - Narrowed



A few years ago we started tracking all major candidates and their records, particularly Republican, in order to present the public with a view of just who these candidates are, what their character is and perhaps most importantly, who they represent. Seeing as how the primary season is long since over, I've had a request to update the list and include Libertarian Gary Johnson. Rather than alter the original post, I've simply ported over the relevant data, cleaned it up and added Mr. Johnson.

Republican
Libertarian
  • Gary Johnson
    • Former Governor of New Mexico
      • Created a bigger government while Governor
        • The budget rose 5% per year during his time in office. (That's a roughly 50% increase in the size of the State Government during those eight years.)
          • When indexed for inflation -  Spending in New Mexico rose at approximately 240% the rate of inflation -- or about double and a half as fast as prices rose.
      • A major debt issue
        • The amount of debt the State Government had outstanding nearly doubled (A gross $2.78 billion increase)
        • The population of the state was (as of 2003) 1.87 million, so Governor Johnson added about $1,500 in debt to the financial responsibility of every man, woman and child in New Mexico during his administration and that's only for the state itself -- municipal governments added another billion, so the total was well over $2,000 per person. 
          •  The population of New Mexico in 1995 was ~1.7 million. In 2003 it was 1.9 million, or 12% higher, an approximately 1.4% annual expansion.
        • His campaign was $200,000 in debt
    • Wants a return to the gold standard
    • Wants to cut the federal government spending by 43%.
    • Wants to institute a Fair Tax
      • Believes in Free Trade
    • Has claimed that the bankers have not committed any crimes.
    • Libertarian leaning 
    • Supports gay marriage
    • Heavy on vetoes
    • Stood up against the TSA machines
    • Wants to revise entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Democrat

The Issues
  • The Debt (National, State)
  • Foreign policy (4 concurrent wars - Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya)
  • Property Rights

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