Gary Johnson Reverses Course, Returns to Libertarian Position On “Carbon Fees”

Gary Johnson made no friends, and angered much of his base when he spoke with an Alaskan publication about protecting the environment. During the interview he said that he believed that climate change is real, is man made, and thus would place a fee – not a tax – on carbon.

Needless to say this drew an avalanche of criticism from Libertarians and various sites, including this one.

But Johnson has expressed in the past that he is a man who makes mistakes, and that when he does he’ll own up, and try to fix them. When it comes to the issue of carbon fees, that’s exactly what he did. During a campaign stop, Gary Johnson didn’t tiptoe around the subject, and addressed it directly.

“With regard to a carbon tax, if any of you heard me say I support a carbon tax. Look, I haven’t raised a penny of taxes in my entire political career, and neither has Bill. We were looking – I was looking – at what I heard was a carbon fee that potentially – from a free market standpoint – would actually address the issue, and cost less. I have determined that, ya know what, it’s a great theory, but I don’t think it can work, and I’ve worked my way through that.”

To many, it will be a relief to hear that Johnson is no longer in support of carbon fees, but to sweeten the pot, he doesn’t stop there. He goes on to address the other point of contention between he and much of his base. The fact that he’d make vaccinations mandatory.

“I support a person’s right to choose. So when it comes to vaccinations, alright, we should be able to make the decisions as to whether or not we want to vaccinate our kids or not. Now I choose to vaccinate my kids, and you never say never.”

“Look, in the case of a zombie apocalypse taking over the United States, and that there’s a vaccine for that, as president of the United States you may find me mandating that vaccine,” he joked. “I just want to do this in all transparency.”

Watch the video here.

No Carbon Tax and No Forced Vaccinations. Here is Gary Johnson explaining that he wants neither of these things. pic.twitter.com/5cHPFh6Z7n

— Illinois For Johnson (@ILForJohnson) August 26, 2016

While Johnson is definitely attempting to court both the Republican apostates, and the former Sanders vote on the Democrats side, Johnson leaning too far in the left’s direction is going to have a much more adverse effect for him. Thankfully, Johnson is able to reel himself back in to free market principles that are helping make him so popular.

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