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A candidate for governor of North Carolina made a stop Saturday in Stanly County to discuss his ideals and ideas for the state.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, along with close to 20 other candidates for state offices, spoke to voters at the Tuscan Ridge Event Venue just south of Oakboro.

Robinson asked voters what they might be doing if they lived in China rather than the United States.

“Would you be able to be here and voice your opinion to stand up for a political candidate?” Robinson said. “You probably would be at work drudging along in some coal mine or factory, unable to speak your mind, unable to practice your religion.”

Robinson said people should give thanks to God “for what we have in this country…oh my goodness. If there is any place where people should be on their knees, saying, ‘Thank you, God,’ It’s the United States of America. So we give Him thanks first and foremost.”

He said no matter who wins the primary for U.S. House District 8, Republicans should support the winner of the primary because “these Democrats are going to come out and attack them like a pack of dogs. Why? Because they despise what we love. We love freedom.”

Before Robinson could continue, a person in the back of the room disrupted his speech. She and several others were escorted out by deputies of the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office.

Robinson, about the disruption, said he learned in church when growing up, “God wants things right and in order. That lady was out of order. This venue is not hers; this venue is not yours. It’s not even mine…she’s like those folks on the left. She’s out of order.”

Robinson said people have brought up issues to him regarding abortion and transgender people, but he said the state legislature “has already spoken on those issues.” He noted last year’s ruling of the legislature limiting abortion, moving the limit from 20 weeks to 12, and added he would “continue to fight” to move the limit further.

Robinson said North Carolina before 2010 owed the federal government more than $3.5 billion. According to his campaign’s communications director, the number was $3.762 billion, including $2.8 billion in unemployment compensation debt and $962 million in penalties and interest from the debt.

Thirteen years after Republicans took control of the legislature, Robinson said, the state is no longer in debt and has a $5 billion surplus.

He said his goal is to expand the state’s economy “from Murphy to Manteo, so that no matter where you are in the state, wherever you do business, you have an equal opportunity to have a great business and great success.” He said North Carolina “is the number one business destination two years running.”

Regarding education, Robinson said what is being taught and how it is taught, including books in schools, are “all on the table. But from where I sit, the number one problem in education in North Carolina is this: zero accountability at the top.”

Robinson said “the power of education lies to the left members of a state school board who are appointed by the governor to eight-year terms, and they’re not accountable to you or your children. That’s got to change.”

He said he wants to bring back “classical education,” saying elementary students in first grade through fifth grade “should focus on reading, writing and mathematics.”

He later said, “why are we trying to teach history to people who can’t read? Why would we be trying to teach people scientific principles who can’t do mathematics?”

Robinson said he is against common core in schools, saying it is “common, and it is rotten to the core.” He said he was for a different form of the acronym DEI.

“I’m not for this diversity, equity and inclusion. I’m for discipline, education and intelligence,” Robinson said.

He said he was for getting children “career-ready.”

“We need to get our children to understand something: you don’t have to go to a four-year university to have a great career. Not a job, a career.”

“Look at the way North Carolina is being run, even with Roy Cooper, look how well things are going with a Republican legislature,” he said. “Our policies work because they are full of principles.”