Right Down the Middle: Gary Johnson Sticks to The Issues

While presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton continue to engage in a  war of words,  Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson says he’s “right down the middle,” of his opponents. He joined the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday to discuss his plan for America.

The former New Mexico governor said he supports a smaller government and fewer military interventions.

“Count on me to sign legislation that will simplify our tax system, that will lower taxes,” he said. “If I could wave a magic wand, I would abolish income tax, corporate tax, the IRS and I would replace all of it with one federal consumption tax. If that doesn’t create tens of millions of jobs in this country I don’t know what will.”

While fiscally conservative, Johnson said he believes “socially, we should be able to make choices in our own lives that only affect our own lives as long as those choices don’t adversely affect others.”

To fix the $19 trillion U.S. debt crisis, Johnson said he would raise the retirement age and embrace immigration in addition to reforming the tax system.

“We’re headed to a fiscal cliff here that when it comes to the major party candidates all they’re talking about is Trump and his business practice, Hillary and her time in government, as opposed to the issues,” he said. “Immigration is really a good thing. We’re going to need tens of millions of immigrants to fill the jobs that will exist if we have a zero corporate tax rate.”

Johnson hovers around 8% in the polls, and while he acknowledged his name is currently just an afterthought, he said he thinks he’s pulling voters away from both the Trump and Clinton campaigns.

“I think people right now really are looking for another alternative,” he said. “A two-party system is really just not representative at all of the electorate when 50% of new voters right now are saying that they’re independent.”