January 12, 2016, Santa Fe, NM – Former New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate Gary Johnson released the following statement following President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

“I applaud the President’s optimism. I too am an optimist. But I have a real problem with basing that optimism on what government has done over the past 7 years and what President Obama wants it to do in the future.

He says that anyone who says the economy is in decline is peddling fiction. We can quibble over economists’ numbers, but it doesn’t take an economist to know that continuing to add to the national debt is bankrupting us – and that debt has doubled on his watch, aided and abetted by Congress.

He talks about medical advances, after having done everything in his power to kill medical innovation with new taxes and layers of bureaucracy. His signature promise of better care and lower cost simply isn’t happening.

He speaks of civil rights and those who have resisted expanding them. This from a President whose Administration continues at every turn to dismantle the 4th Amendment, spy on American citizens and plant the government in every aspect of society.

To be fair, there have been steps in the right direction. Meaningful criminal justice reform is taking hold across the nation. More and more governments at all levels are finally seeing the failure of the War on Drugs. But far too many Americans are still being victimized by militarized police and heavy-handed laws.

My assessment of the State of the Union is quite different than President Obama’s, and much simpler. I see a national debt that will hit $20 trillion by the time he leaves office. I see a government that was too big and too overreaching when he took office, and has gotten more so under his watch. And I challenge anyone to show that we are today safer after years of war, failed nation-building abroad and foreign policy chaos.

I’m optimistic, but not because of anything the government is going to do for us. I’m optimistic because it is clear America is tired of too much government and too little freedom, and appears poised to demand change – a different kind of change than we have gotten over the past 7 years.”

Gary Johnson served as Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003, and ran for President in 2012 as the candidate of The Libertarian Party. Gov. Johnson is a candidate for the nomination of The Libertarian Party for President in 2016. More information on the Gary Johnson campaign can be found @ https://www.garyjohnson2016.com/