Freshman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) said that while government is necessary, it is also “something to fear.”

“It’s pretty easy to describe what ails this country because far too many Americans have forgotten the basic premise of what our founders knew,” Johnson said in a speech on Friday at the Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s “Defending the American Dream Summit” in Washington, D.C.

“What’s even more sad is far too many Americans were never taught the basic premise, and it was that government isn’t something here to solve our problems,” Johnson said.

“Government--we need it,” Johnson said. “But, by and large, government is something to fear because as government grows, our freedoms recede.