Gary Johnson

In this Sept. 3, 2016 file photo, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson speaks during a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Scott Morgan, File)

By Gary Johnson

The rule of law means more than "law and order," and self-government means more than federal government programs.

That the Republicans have embraced an authoritarian nationalist is shocking. That the Democrats are running with a progressive statist is less surprising, but still an affront to the principles of self-government that Americans believe in. Voters need something different.

They need the rule of law to be bolstered, not undercut. This is about empowering citizens to live their business and personal lives with certainly, and without fear of disturbance by the whim of one man.

A self-government ethos of free people is mocked by Hillary Clinton's 37-point laundry list of special interest campaign issues.

Americans need another choice, and that's why I'm running for president as the nominee of the Libertarian Party.

I was governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003. I ran as a Republican in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans -- and I won re-election by a comfortable margin. Ditto for my running mate Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts.

We did this by governing as fiscal conservatives and social liberals. That's where most Americans want their government to be: Leadership that is neither bullying nor self-indulgent.

Hillary has no real reason to seek the White House other than a quest for personal power. She's never run a business, so she doesn't appreciate what it takes to create jobs and grow the economy.

I was an entrepreneur. I started a construction firm in New Mexico and grew it to where it employed more than 1,000 workers.

And she's never run a state government, like Bill Weld and myself. She's never been responsible for crafting a state budget, or for seeking compromise with another political party.

In a Democratic Party debate last year, when asked which "enemy" she was most proud of, she said: "Probably the Republicans."

Worse than Hillary's contempt for Republicans is her contempt for the Constitution.

In July, she said she would introduce a 28th Amendment to overturn the First Amendment. That's the one barring Congress from abridge the freedom of speech or the press.

Offended by a Supreme Court decision that campaign contributions are a form of speech, she'd now tinker with our nation's sacred bill of rights!

Hillary has the same distaste for the Second Amendment. She doesn't believe in the right of citizens to keep and bear arms, saying that she disagreed with the Supreme Court's upholding that right in D.C. v. Heller.

Yet she falsely claimed that the decision prohibited states from making "common sense laws to keep their residents safe" when, in fact, the majority opinion specifically permitted "laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms."

Besides her approach to government - that a progressive state is all-powerful -- part of the reason for the country's distaste of Hillary is her lack of attachment to principle.

She's travelled far from opposing the Vietnam War in the 1970s. She endorsed George W. Bush's disastrous war in Iraq. As Secretary of State, she was responsible for promoting counter-productive policies in Libya, Egypt and Syria. These should not be America's wars.

Instead, our nation need the confidence that it has a commander-in-chief will act predictably and responsibly to defend America -- and not to aggress elsewhere in our name.

We need a prudent and proven skeptic like myself and Gov. Weld, not someone whose only ambition is power.

Democrats and Republicans have put extremely unpopular figures at the tops of their presidential tickets.

"I find the VP candidates -- Governor Mike Pence and Senator Tim Kaine -- more palatable than the presidential nominees," said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham around the time of the selection.

There's some truth to that. But Tim Kaine represents nothing if not more government taxing and spending. As governor of Virginia, Kaine received a grade of "D" from the Cato Institute. Contrast that with my VP pick, Bill Weld, who got an "A" on his report card (and Mike Pence, who has also received "A" grades).

But Bill Weld and I aren't aiming to sow political and social divisions to score points about morals, like Pence.

And that's why Americans are warming to our message of getting government out of personal lives, and limiting its role in daily life. We would do this by cutting federal budgets and programs, by decentralizing decision-making to states, local governments and the private sector.

Unlike Hillary Clinton, we will respect the rule of law and our civic traditions of self-government.

And that's why my platform, experience and character is closer to what most voters want than either of the candidates of the previously mainstream political parties.

Gov. Gary Johnson (@GovGaryJohnson) is the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee. His running mate is former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld. Learn more at http://www.johnsonweld.com.