Hello everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read our response. My name is Joe Garcia, and I am the Chair of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina. It is my humble honor to be addressing you, my fellow North Carolinians, in response to Governor Cooper and Lieutenant Governor Robinson's State of the State Addresses. Because of the will and work of the people of this state, North Carolina is in a better position than so many other states in our country.

But there are forces in motion that seek to weaken us; as individuals, as families, as citizens, and as a people, attacking our values and trying to impose their own, stifling your businesses, chipping away at your paycheck, and infringing on your basic right to live.

Governor Cooper spoke of prosperity on the heels of his administration's draconian covid restrictions that went far beyond what was realistically practical, crushing business, setting children back in ways we will not understand for decades, and ignoring any basic concept of rights, granted to us as humans and guaranteed by our constitution.

Governor Cooper wants to highlight economic progress while touting environmental initiatives that do nothing to protect the environment but instead enforce arbitrary and growth crushing limitations. He protects polluters from action by the people they harm, in favor of his special interest backers. The Libertarian solution removes those protections for polluters that were built into the laws by lobbyists with deep pockets who fund political campaigns.

Under our plan, those polluters would be legally accountable to you, the people who suffer from toxic emissions, who saw coal ash spills in your waterways and were told to trust the ones who spilled it to clean it up. Our solutions would empower you, who watch ecosystems destroyed in your backyard with no plan to preserve the natural beauty of our great state's mountain, rivers, plains, forests, and beaches. With a Libertarian solution, instead of relying on officials to monitor polluters when those official's campaigns are funded by those polluters, you, the people who are harmed, would be empowered to hold liable in the courts those who promulgate environmental irresponsibility.

Governor Cooper speaks of increased state investments toward education from "cradle to career," ignoring the poor and declining quality of public schools in our state, as though government interventions are the path to success. As childcare and college costs continue to increase, driven largely by the tax of hyperinflation, these investments also come with strings attached that lead to bureaucratic, top-down requirements, causing teacher burnout and producing sub-par results. Yet Governor Cooper advocates for even more government intervention, asking for gasoline to put out a fire.

In the Republican response, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson tells us that he's not a politician, he's just another average working citizen like you and me. Moments later, without irony, he tells us what teachers should be teaching. The Libertarian Party believes that you, the parents, should be the voice for your child's morals and education instead of the government. We know that you are best positioned to decide and promote what is best for your child's life and future. We advocate for real educational choice, letting parents choose the avenue that best serves their children. If we must have tax revenue fund education, then we also must eliminate any state interest or influence on what teachers teach.

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