Gary Johnson's "Seven Principles of Good Government"

Over a year ago, I think, I donated $100 to Libertarian party presidential candidate Gary Johnson's "Our America Initiative" for the promise of receiving a copy of his forthcoming book when it was published.  It was slated to be released in the summer of 2011.  I was beginning to feel like I would never see it when a small, nondescript package arrived at my door a couple weeks ago bearing the Our America Initiative logo.  I opened it up and found not just a copy of Gary Johnson's book, but a signed copy of his book.  Yay!

The book itself is very short, 152 small pages with large type and dozens of pictures.  The first six chapters explain Johnson's life story, and the final seven are each short essays on one of his principles of good government.  The book is filled with anecdotes from his time in business, government, and competing as an athlete.  If you've ever listened to one of Gary's speeches, or heard any extended interviews with him, you've probably heard at least a few of them already.  (Very few were new to me, but I devour pretty much all the news on him and his campaign that's out there.)

Gary Johnson was the governor of New Mexico for 8 years.  He ran a self-funded campaign as a complete outsider to politics, only having introduced himself to the Republican party a few weeks before entering the race for governor.  He ended up winning the very close primary, and then went on to win the general election to become New Mexico's 29th governor.

During his time in office, Governor Johnson was wildly successful at keeping the state's budget under control, and at keeping state bureaucrats out of the way of the private sector.  He vetoed 750 bills during his time in office (more than all the other governors in the country combined during that time) and ended up leaving New Mexico with a budget surplus.  During his time in office the state's public sector workforce shrank by about 1,200 jobs, while the private sector workforce grew by more than 20,000 jobs.  He cut taxes 14 times and never allowed a single tax to be increased during his 8 years as governor.  

Prior to his time as governor, Johnson was a construction entrepreneur who started a one-man handyman business and grew it into one of the largest construction firms in his state.  He gives several anecdotes in his book about how hard work paid off for him, how just showing up on time and doing what you're asked to do (or maybe a little bit more than what you're asked to do) was the key to his success in business.

These are Gary Johnson's seven principles of good government, which the last half of his book explains:

• become reality based
• always be honest and tell the truth
• always do what is right and fair
• determine a goal and set a plan for reaching it
• make sure everyone who should know your goal, does
• acknowledge mistakes immediately
• love what you're doing; if you don't, find something else to do

In my opinion, these aren't just principles for good government, they're principles for a good and productive life.

The principle that I think had the biggest impact on me, as Gary explained it, was his principle of always being honest and telling the truth.  He explains how he was not always honest with his wife, Dee, when he was governor (and even before that).  Not that he kept huge secrets from her, but he told her "white lies" sometimes because it was easier than telling the truth.  Eventually he and his wife had grown far apart because he had not been totally honest and because the "white lies" compounded.  They ended up getting a divorce, and not long after that his now ex-wife died suddenly from hypertensive cardiovascular disease.  He still says he's guilt-ridden because of his actions that, in part, led to the divorce.  It's a great warning for all of us who might think that telling a little "white lie" today might be easier than telling the truth.  In the end, it probably won't be.

Overall, I found this book to be a good, quick read.  It clearly doesn't have the meat of books written by previous libertarian presidential (and vice-presidential) candidates, probably because Gary Johnson is not a philosophical and rhetorical heavyweight, but it's packed with the life experiences of someone who has been to the promised land and fought hard to implement libertarian ideas.  In the unlikely event that Gary Johnson actually makes it into the White House, I think it would be like the second (third?) coming of Grover Cleveland: An honest, incorruptible President who believes firmly in the rights of the individual.