Georgians Must Vote to Keep, Not ‘Remake,’ America

“First we take Georgia,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last month about the Peach State’s January 5th Senate runoff election. “Then we change America.”

Stopping Chuck Schumer’s radical remake of America is why Georgians must vote for incumbent Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue next month. Winning these races is the only thing preventing one-party Democratic rule. To keep America America, Loeffler and Perdue must win.

Democrats hold the House of Representatives and will retake the White House after the presidential inauguration next month. If Georgia Democratic Senate candidates — filmmaker John Ossoff and preacher Raphael Warnock — are victorious, then Democrats will also control the Senate. In that case, nothing will prevent Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s far-left vision from becoming a reality.

This fight is personal for us. Through hard work and America’s economic opportunity, we both rose from modest beginnings to become business executives. Many Americans have lived the American dream going from poverty to financial freedom, and we are touring Georgia by bus this month representing them and encouraging them to vote. Unchecked Democratic power would usher in a nightmare of taxes and regulations that would crush the job-creating small business economy and prevent future generations from following in our footsteps.

Under one-party rule, Democrats can immediately pursue their desired massive tax hikes through a process known as budget reconciliation. President-elect Biden and Democratic congressional leaders want to reverse President Trump’s tax cuts, which included historic relief for small businesses. Biden plans to raise taxes on small businesses structured as corporations by 33 percent.

Without checks and balances, Biden could also achieve his plan of eliminating the income cap on Social Security taxes, transforming the contribution program into another left-wing income redistribution scheme. Because his proposal doesn’t adjust for inflation, eventually all earnings would be subject to the 6.2 percent Social Security flat tax, making it one of the biggest middle-class tax increases in U.S. history.

Congressional Democrats claim that they only want to tax the rich. But upper-income individuals provide job opportunities for the rest of us. Many of these jobs will disappear if Democrats’ punitive taxes redirect job creators’ earnings from paychecks to Washington, D.C.

With 50 seats in the Senate, Democrats could also succeed in packing the Supreme Court, something that neither Warnock nor Biden said they’d oppose when asked at their respective debates. “I’m not really focused on it,” said a sidestepping Warnock last week.

To advance their broader radical healthcare and green energy agenda, Senate Democrats would have to eliminate the legislative filibuster that requires 60 Senate votes for legislation to pass. Many Senate Democrats, including Schumer, have indicated they are in favor of spiking it.

Eliminating the filibuster would allow Biden and Congressional Democrats to pass their desired public option in healthcare. This policy is just a weigh station on the road to single-payer healthcare. Young and healthy Americans would sign up for this “free” option, depriving employer-sponsored insurance plans, which cover most Americans, of less-expensive policyholders. Premiums would rise for those who remain in private insurance, burdening small businesses and creating a death spiral that would result in a single-payer system and the destruction of American healthcare.

Democrats could also pass crushing energy regulations to advance their Green New Deal, of which Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is an original cosponsor. These green mandates would significantly raise energy prices, which are a major input cost for small businesses, especially those in the restaurant and hospitality sectors that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Windmills and solar panels would also reduce energy reliability. For a vision of this bleak energy future, look to California, which has some of the country’s most expensive and unreliable energy, including recent rolling blackouts and $4 gas, due to green taxes and regulations.

Georgians must vote against this unAmerican future on January 5th. One-party rule is the last thing a divided country needs right now. Votes for Loeffler and Perdue are votes in favor of the bipartisan consensus-building that’s needed to address the problems America faces. Let’s not “remake” the country but build upon it.

Alfredo Ortiz is the president and CEO of the Job Creators Network. Cathy Sanchez Genty is a Georgia business leader and was named Georgia Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year in 2009.