Bush & Romney warn they may vote Libertarian for Gary Johnson, recent CEO of Cannabis Sativa, Inc.

UPDATE: (July 23, 2016) Rumors swirling today that Jeb Bush may announce that he will vote for Gary Johnson, joining the smoking car on the Libertarian train to nowhere  No word yet from Bush the elder, Bush the brother or mama Bush.

Former Republican Presidential nominee Willard Mitt Romney said recently he would not vote for presumptive nominee Donald Trump in the general election in November and would consider voting for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.

Romney’s running mate in 2012, Paul Ryan, has also been described as a Libertarian, although he votes as a Republican. His consideration to vote for Johnson, Romney explained, is because he doesn’t regard Donald Trump as a true conservative. Johnson ran against Romney in 2012 for the nomination.

Here’s what “true conservative” Gary Johnson believes, gleaned from press interviews:

• Abortion -“I support women’s rights to choose up until viability of the fetus (ed. note: 90% survival rate is not reached until 27 weeks). I’ve supported the notion of parental notification. I’ve supported counseling and I’ve supported the notion that public funds not be used for abortions. But I don’t want for a second to pretend that I have a better idea of how a woman should choose when it comes to this situation.” Johnson added that only states should regulate abortion, not the federal government. 6/15/2011
• Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security – “Republicans should be more aggressive than they’ve been in cutting federal spending. They should take on entitlement programs, too; Medicare and Medicaid could be slashed by 43% and turned into grant programs for the states to distribute... I think we should balance the federal budget tomorrow,” Johnson said. “I’m optimistic. I think Americans are optimistic. We went to the moon, we can balance the federal budget. We can fix this. We’re not addressing the problems that we face, and that starts with Medicaid, Medicare, reforming Social Security and Defense. And I mean cutting those areas.” 4/22/2011
• Prostitution – I have no intention of enlisting the services of a prostitute. But if I were, where would I want to do that? Well, I’d want to do that I think in Nevada where it’s legal and regulated. I think I would be safer in enlisting those services. I would have the least chance of contracting HIV or Hepatitis C or any communicable disease in Nevada” 6/15/2011
• Taxes – “The US tax system imposes an enormous toll on productivity through high marginal rates, absurd complexity, loopholes for the well-connected, and incentives for wasteful decisions. The government must lower the tax burden to stimulate the economy.” Johnson wants a National Sales Tax, but no income tax or corporate tax. 5/2/2011
• Legalizing Heroin – “…it is going to reduce the problem, which is a start. We have to look at the other users, too. We should start with the drug addicts and then explore the problem posed by the other users. For drug addicts, we should look at all the tools in the box. One of the ideas I proposed is that methadone should be available from drugstores, not just from clinics. One of the criticisms of methadone clinics is their clientele. Why don’t we just allow people to go to drugstores and get their methadone with a prescription? Heroin maintenance is another idea I proposed. It’s a harm-reduction strategy. Instead of pretending that drugs are going to go away, we should do everything we can to minimize the negative impact of drugs.” 1/1/2001
• Legalizing Marijuana – “Bad personal decisions should not be criminal if they don’t harm anyone else. It is and should always be illegal to drive while you’re impaired or to commit crimes. But people will always use drugs. We can’t change that. Our real focus should be on reducing death, disease, crime and corruption. These problems are all related to drug prohibition, not drug use. But what I’ve found is that most people base their position on this issue on emotion instead of facts. The truth is that marijuana is safer than alcohol. I’ll be the first to tell you that the world would be a better place if no one drank or did drugs. But that will never be the case.” 8/1/2012
• Federal Government – “There are currently two (departments) that I advocate abolishing: the Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development (HUD).” 8/21/2001
• Student Loans – “My plans don’t include doing anything when it comes to student loans. The reason for the higher cost in higher education rests with the fact that there are those student loans available.” 2/11/2011
• Campaign Finance Reform – “If you’re talking about reform where you want to do away with soft money, yeah, I think that’s good. If RJR wants to give me $100,000 for my campaign, it can’t. But it can give it to the Republican Party and then the Republican Party will write a check to me. It’s not directly from the cigarette manufacturer and all I have to say is that I got it from the party. So I think that should be reformed. The public should know exactly where every penny comes from. But I don’t think there should be limits on contributions.” 1/1/2001
• Defense – “I think the biggest threat to our national security is the fact that we’re bankrupt, so I am promising to submit a balanced budget to Congress in the year 2013, and included in that is a 43% reduction in military spending. I think it’s crazy that we have foreign aid to countries when we’re borrowing 43 cents out of every dollar to do that. Military alliances are really key to other countries taking up the slack.” 9/22/2011
• TSA – “I would abolish the TSA.” 8/21/2011
• Open Borders – “My vision of the border with Mexico is that a truck from the United States going into Mexico and a truck coming from Mexico into the United States will pass each other at the border going 60 miles an hour. Yes, we should have open borders.” 1/1/2001
• Minimum Wage – Club for Growth noted: “In 1999, Johnson vetoed a bill which would have raised the minimum wage from $4.25 per hour to $5.65. He also signed a law deregulating New Mexico’s electricity market that allowed residential, small-business customers and schools to start shopping for their electricity supplier. He’s argued that when a Democrat negotiates with labor unions through collective bargaining it’s a “giveaway” instead of a negotiation.” 7/21/2011
• Retirement Age – Citing a story in USA Today which reported that a rash of retirements in 2009 is pushing Social Security to the brink, Johnson said the retirement age needs to be raised perhaps to 70 or 72. “This is the reality, we’re broke,” said Johnson. “We’re broke.” 8/1/2012
  “I would cut Social Security by raising the retirement age and have common sense means testing that’s fair. I would scrap the entire federal tax system and replace it with the Fair Tax–a one-time consumption tax, with no more Medicare and unemployment payroll deductions–so we’d replace all federal taxes, abolishing the IRS.” 8/21/2001
• Support Israel – “No, cut all support and aid.” 5/18/2012

A Fox News survey published on Thursday, last week,  showed Johnson polling in the double digits, with 12 percent of support, Clinton at 39% and Trump 36%.

Johnson is the former CEO and President of Cannabis Sativa, Inc. Cannabis is a fancy name for marijuana.

He announced his candidacy on Neil Cavuto’s Fox show. He later boasted that this saved him from running ads. There is some confusion, however, about when he initially announced.

The Sativa website has an item from Sept. 9 announcing that CEO Johnson “has become the second U.S. presidential candidate accepting bitcoin.” If accurate, that would indicate he declared his candidacy at least nine months ago. Bitcoin is a new monetary system, and most (90%+) of its currency is held by investors in China.

Johnson’s new website, http://www.garyjohnson2016, doesn’t mention his executive leadership of cannabis brand “hi” or Cannabis Sativa Inc.

In any event, the cannabis industry’s candidate is here and near-endorsed by the losing GOP candidate in 2012.

Romney apparently prefers Johnson to be our President, along with 12% of voters polled, who probably know nothing about the Libertarian Party.

Democrats now have the opportunity to elect: a slasher of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a man who despises the minimum wage, who wants to end the Departments of Education and HUD, urges retirement age hike to 72, seeks progressive taxes replaced with a national sales tax and who would eliminate the TSA.

Republicans can now choose: a Romney pseudo-endorsed advocate of abortion on demand, who would cut all aid and support of Israel, legalize heroin, cut defense spending 43% and remove all border barriers and border checkpoints.

Of interest to both parties, but no surprise, Johnson also wants to legalize marijuana, a drug that apparently may cause Presidential delusions and the desire to be all things to all people, while satisfying none. In short, pipe dreams.

James Weeks, a candidate for chairman of the Libertarian Party, used his time at the podium during the convention on May 31 to strip. At least two people ran on stage and appeared to put money into Weeks’ underwear. Romney was not at the event.