The Libertarian Party's Appeal to Entrepreneurs - Fortune - Jeremy Quittner:
July 7, 2016 - "Gary Johnson won only 1% of the vote when he ran as the Libertarian candidate for president in 2012. And while most people still haven’t heard of him, the former New Mexico governor is slowly gaining traction in this chaotic election season, particularly among business owners....
"He and his vice presidential running mate Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, are likely to appeal particularly to Republicans who are uncomfortable with the populist campaign Trump has mounted. Not only are Johnson and Weld social liberals and fiscal conservatives, they espouse views traditionally associated with moderate Republican candidates on the economy, such as favoring international trade agreements and reducing the national debt....
"Johnson was most recently the chief executive of a company called Cannabis Sativa, which produces pot-based oils for treatment of health issues. Weld had high favorability ratings from state businesses during his two terms as Massachusetts’s chief executive in the 1990s, for cutting taxes and pushing welfare recipients into work programs, among other things....
"Such experience matters to Clint Greenleaf, co-founder and chief executive of HomePlate Peanut Butter, a four-employee company based in Austin, Texas. Greenleaf, a serial entrepreneur, describes himself as a fiscal conservative who has tended to vote Republican over the years.... For Greenleaf, the policies put forth by Johnson and Weld, plus their collective experience governing their home states, are likely to win his vote. 'I think the biggest thing is their ability to work across the aisle,' he says. 'They were both Republican governors in blue states'....
"Johnson, the former governor of a state that bordered Mexico, a U.S. trading partner that Trump regularly maligns, favors a more open immigration policy that would allow undocumented immigrants to get work visas to fill jobs that U.S. workers don’t want.
"He would reduce the federal debt and deficit by cutting federal spending, nearly in half. On taxes, always a top concern for entrepreneurs, Johnson would abolish the Internal Revenue Service, and ultimately replace the progressive income tax with a 'fair tax,' or a tax on consumption. That would eliminate the corporate tax, which in turn could create millions of new jobs, Johnson says.
"That certainly rings true for Jeff Koenig, owner of the business consulting firm Open Four Business, in Manhattan, Kansas. A registered Republican who says he has also voted for centrist Democrats on occasion, he respects Trump’s business acumen, but he says he has no idea what Trump stands for politically. And that troubles him. He also won’t vote for Clinton, whom he says he views as a 'corrupt' career politician.
"Like Greenleaf, he’s leaning toward Johnson and Weld. 'I don’t entirely agree with the foundation of Libertarianism, which is very anti-government,' Koenig says. 'By voting for the Libertarian party [this year], I would be voting for more common sense level-headedness.'"
Read more: http://fortune.com/2016/07/07/small-business-libertarian/
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July 7, 2016 - "Gary Johnson won only 1% of the vote when he ran as the Libertarian candidate for president in 2012. And while most people still haven’t heard of him, the former New Mexico governor is slowly gaining traction in this chaotic election season, particularly among business owners....
"He and his vice presidential running mate Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, are likely to appeal particularly to Republicans who are uncomfortable with the populist campaign Trump has mounted. Not only are Johnson and Weld social liberals and fiscal conservatives, they espouse views traditionally associated with moderate Republican candidates on the economy, such as favoring international trade agreements and reducing the national debt....
"Johnson was most recently the chief executive of a company called Cannabis Sativa, which produces pot-based oils for treatment of health issues. Weld had high favorability ratings from state businesses during his two terms as Massachusetts’s chief executive in the 1990s, for cutting taxes and pushing welfare recipients into work programs, among other things....
"Such experience matters to Clint Greenleaf, co-founder and chief executive of HomePlate Peanut Butter, a four-employee company based in Austin, Texas. Greenleaf, a serial entrepreneur, describes himself as a fiscal conservative who has tended to vote Republican over the years.... For Greenleaf, the policies put forth by Johnson and Weld, plus their collective experience governing their home states, are likely to win his vote. 'I think the biggest thing is their ability to work across the aisle,' he says. 'They were both Republican governors in blue states'....
"Johnson, the former governor of a state that bordered Mexico, a U.S. trading partner that Trump regularly maligns, favors a more open immigration policy that would allow undocumented immigrants to get work visas to fill jobs that U.S. workers don’t want.
"He would reduce the federal debt and deficit by cutting federal spending, nearly in half. On taxes, always a top concern for entrepreneurs, Johnson would abolish the Internal Revenue Service, and ultimately replace the progressive income tax with a 'fair tax,' or a tax on consumption. That would eliminate the corporate tax, which in turn could create millions of new jobs, Johnson says.
"That certainly rings true for Jeff Koenig, owner of the business consulting firm Open Four Business, in Manhattan, Kansas. A registered Republican who says he has also voted for centrist Democrats on occasion, he respects Trump’s business acumen, but he says he has no idea what Trump stands for politically. And that troubles him. He also won’t vote for Clinton, whom he says he views as a 'corrupt' career politician.
"Like Greenleaf, he’s leaning toward Johnson and Weld. 'I don’t entirely agree with the foundation of Libertarianism, which is very anti-government,' Koenig says. 'By voting for the Libertarian party [this year], I would be voting for more common sense level-headedness.'"
Read more: http://fortune.com/2016/07/07/small-business-libertarian/
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