Gary Johnson pays unannounced visit to Wall Street protest — talks about jobs

October 19, 2011

October 19, 2011, New York, NY — Presidential candidate Gary Johnson paid an unannounced visit Tuesday night to the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York.

Commenting after seeing the protest first-hand, the former New Mexico governor said, “Like many Americans, I was curious about the motivations of these folks, and frankly, what they are protesting. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of different answers to those questions. I found one thing to be clear… these protests are one more symptom of the anger Americans, including me, feel about an outrageous jobless rate, a government that bails out people who don’t deserve to be bailed out, and policies that have us spending billions on wars we shouldn’t be fighting, especially when we have real needs right here at home.”

“I probably don’t agree with some of the solutions many of the protestors are advocating, but at some level we need to ask ourselves why thousands of people are taking to the streets as a way to express their frustrations. There is a lot of anger in America today, and there should be. I personally think that anger should be directed toward an administration that breeds distrust by picking winners and losers in the economy, while threatening the freedoms of individuals. I am mad about the Obama administration’s inability to deal with the unemployment rate. This administration is becoming a problem when it comes to jobs and the economy and not the solution.”

“While I was Governor of New Mexico I made it a point to listen to every citizen’s concern first hand. I held an open door to the Governor’s office every Thursday afternoon and invited anyone with an issue to bring their problem directly to my office. I, for one, believe everyone deserves to be heard, whether I agree with them or not. In that sense, it is a mistake to dismiss these protests, and I wanted to at least take the time to see what they are about.”