Gary Johnson is not a typical Republican. While rivals like Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum were signing on to a pledge to oppose gay marriage, Gary Johnson put out a press release calling the move "offensive and un-Republican." His campaign didn't mince words: "While the Family Leader pledge covers just about every other so-called virtue they can think of, the one that is conspicuously missing is tolerance."

So why is he in the Republican presidential primary at all? Johnson served as the Republican governor of New Mexico for two terms, from 1995 to 2003. In office, he developed a reputation as a fiscal conservative. He likes to brag that he vetoed 750 bills during his time in office—"about equal to all the combined vetoes of the other 49 Governors in the country at the time." He says that if he is elected president, he would balance the budget by dramatically cutting spending while also cutting taxes.

In other words, Johnson represents the libertarian wing of the Republican party. On some issues, like gay marriage and immigration, he makes even his more famously libertarian rival Ron Paul look like a conventional conservative.

The former governor's libertarian streak is evident in his tech policy positions (read his general tech policy principles). He believes that the government is too big, too expensive, and too intrusive. He opposes laws that infringe on personal freedom, like the Patriot Act, Internet gambling regulations, and the PROTECT IP Act. He's also a skeptic of taxes and regulations on tech-related businesses, and he opposes network neutrality regulations, Internet taxes, and the aggressive use of antitrust law.

We spoke to him about his tech policy positions earlier this month.

"It just doesn't seem to end"

Gov. Johnson is at his most animated when denouncing the surveillance state. "Government is becoming more and more intrusive, and I don't believe we're any more or less safe as a result," he said. He wants to "sunset" the Patriot Act and revisit the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, which dramatically expanded the government's spying powers.

"It just doesn't seem to end," he said. "It's something that continues to creep along, and all of a sudden we find ourselves under the guise of surveillance in every aspect of our lives."

He wants the government to butt out in other ways, too. He's a critic of FCC regulations of profanity on the airwaves, arguing that "broadcasters should be allowed to have free speech." He wants to repeal the Internet gambling ban Congress passed in 2006, and he recently spent 3 days in Las Vegas seeking the votes and campaign contributions of poker players.

Johnson's strident tone softens when we talked about copyright law, however. "I've always thought copyright laws have a place," he said. "They protect yours and my thoughts, should they be original." However, he says, he's been hearing "more and more on the other side of that argument."

But he's not shy about denouncing the recent string of ICE domain name seizures, which he says is "just another example of how government acts first with no accountability at all." Nor is he a fan of the PROTECT IP Act, which he says is "the kind of legislation that favors those with deep pockets" to the detriment of startups.

A hands-off competition policy

Indeed, the theme that government regulation hurts the little guy came up over and over again in our conversation. Asked what a Johnson FCC would focus on, he recounted an incident when, as governor, he found himself at odds with Qwest, New Mexico's Baby Bell.

"I saw pieces of legislation that were labeled 'competitive telecommunications bills,'" he said. He vetoed one Qwest-sponsored bill "because I just felt like it was anything but competitive. In fact, it was very protectionist and gave advantage to those already in the space as opposed to legislation that would genuinely open it up for competition."

It just doesn't seem to end, all of a sudden we find ourselves under the guise of surveillance in every aspect of our lives.

Indeed, Johnson believes that government attempts to promote competition are usually counterproductive. He's against network neutrality regulation, which he describes as "the notion that the government is going to make the Internet more accessible, when the reality would probably be to do just the opposite."

A Johnson administration would also likely take a hands-off approach to antitrust enforcement. Though he admits he hasn't studied the issue in detail, Johnson said he wasn't concerned about the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. Nor was he enthusiastic about the government's rumored antitrust investigation of Google.

Johnson believes that market forces usually prevent companies from becoming too powerful without government intervention. "What always strikes me historically are that companies that get too big end up failing. Companies start acquiring and acquiring, but they lose sight of their core business, and they suffer as a result."

Still, Johnson is quick to emphasize that it's important for government to enforce laws against unethical behavior by businesses. "I did see bad actors in the business arena," Johnson said of his time as governor. "But for government crackdowns on what I'll call bad actors, you know what, they'd continue" to prey on consumers.

Advisors needed?

On some tech policy issues, Johnson admitted he hasn't worked out all the details. He said he might change his mind on issues like AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile once he has time to dig into the details. He told us that "my verdict is out on copyright laws." And admitted he has nothing at all to say about spectrum policy.

So we asked the obvious question: who will help him flesh out his tech policy agenda? Presidential candidates commonly assemble a panel of policy experts to advise them on the many complex issues for which they would be responsible as president.

But Johnson is taking a different approach. When he ran for governor, "I never had appointments in mind ahead of time," he said. "It was really an application process." He believes he can learn what he needs to know about these issues during the application process for positions like FCC commissioner. "Within a couple of interviews," he says, "I become much more knowledgeable about what the issues are and how they can and can't be affected."

That strategy might have worked for a governor, but we're skeptical it will work well in the Oval Office. Presidents deal with a wider range of issues and make many more appointments than governors do. If Johnson beats President Obama in the 2012 election, he's going to be extremely busy in the 11 weeks leading up to his inauguration. He'll need to interview hundreds of candidates for dozens of open positions. He's unlikely to have the luxury of in-depth philosophical conversations with each candidate. So it's important that he does at least some of his homework in advance.

Naming a tech policy advisor wouldn't just help Johnson develop his own views, it would also give voters an idea of what they're voting for. If Johnson chose as an advisor a copyright maximalist or a strong supporter of spectrum auctions, that's a clue about the kinds of policies he would pursue in office.

Johnson's views make him an awkward fit for America's two-party system. On many issues, including free speech, government surveillance, and gay rights, he is well to the left of President Obama. On others, including network neutrality, antitrust regulation, taxes, and spending, he is solidly in the conservative camp. As a Republican, his current challenge is to convince primary voters that his liberal views on social issues have a place in the Republican party. So far, he hasn't broken through into the top tier of the Republican field. But his candidacy is a useful reminder that American politics don't always fit neatly on a left-right spectrum.