December 31, 2020

Georgia on My Mind

By Trish Regan

Now we take Georgia!” yelled Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senator from New York, as he signed autographs and posed for pictures with supporters… As the television cameras rolled, he added, “Then we change the world!”

Affirming shouts could be heard in the background and it was clear… this senator – ever the politician – was playing to his base.

But Schumer’s words were more than just a rallying call for the progressive wing of his party… They could come true.

Because if the Democrats are successful in Georgia, they will have succeeded in gaining control in all parts of our federal government… and the world better watch out.

The Liberal Agenda Is a Dangerous One… Economically, Politically, and Socially

Packing the courts, raising taxes, offering free programs our country can’t afford – it’s all part of the Liberal agenda… an agenda that has increasingly become radicalized over the last 12 years. First, through President Obama’s tenure and then as the Left doubled down on its initiatives during the Trump administration, we saw all kinds of crazy talk become the norm. Free college, free health care, free living stipend, free housing – you name it. With the Squad leading the charge, nothing was out of bounds.

And these sentiments are echoed by the man most likely to become the 46th president of the United States this January 20.

In an interview with the New York Times this month, Joe Biden promised to raise taxes on individuals and businesses. He told the Times that one of his biggest priorities is getting more stimulus spending… so long as “Everybody pays their share, for God’s sake.”

For God’s sake?

Is everyone not paying their fair share already, Joe? Would you prefer we all work for Uncle Sam exclusively?

Biden, who wants to raise federal individual income taxes to nearly 40%, seems to forget that half the country pays no federal tax at all, while the “wealthy” or top 10% of earners in America pay 70% of the tax burden.

But it’s never enough for insatiable bureaucrats determined to expand their power by growing the government’s purse at the expense of those trying to earn a living.

Politically, for the Left, it all makes sense. If they can reinforce the idea that Americans must be dependent on the government for their very survival, then those Americans will vote for them.

Consider what we’re experiencing now… The American economy is struggling because of self-induced problems. As a result of government-imposed lockdowns, we are barely maintaining employment levels and growth. (Our performance has still been impressive under the circumstances… 33.1% gross domestic product growth in the third quarter and the most rapid decline in unemployment in modern times.)

But rather than allow our economy to continue on this trajectory of growth, a cabal of political leaders in Democratic states are taking over again – making the ability of average Americans to earn a living or run their businesses a near impossible activity.

Cue the stimulus…

Spending Spree

Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, and even a handful of Republicans want another $1 trillion in stimulus. (It’s a “down payment,” Biden tells us.)

Congress even released a $900-billion-plus plan that includes more airline bailouts, more school funding (for schools that are CLOSED!) and a $200 billion Blue state bailout. (It’s unclear if the $100 million for the National Endowment for the Arts is part of this deal… But I’m sure that if the Left has anything to say about it, it indeed will be.)

There’s also an additional $300-per-week unemployment bonus in Maryland, on top of normal benefits, for 18 weeks.

Would you be surprised to hear that there’s presently an estimated 6.5 million open jobs in America today which could go unfulfilled to the tune of at least 4 million jobs, according to University of Chicago economics professor Casey Mulligan?

Effectively, the stimulus bill will have the unintended (or perhaps intended, for those that believe the Democrats are truly Machiavellian) consequence of stimulating more unemployment.

And where, you might ask, is the money going to come from to pay for all this?

Well, apparently, it will all work “only if everyone pays their fair share,” says Biden.

To borrow Biden’s phrase, for God’s sake, can we just admit what is actually going on?

If the Dems take Georgia, we can kiss our freedoms – including our freedom of speech, our freedom to protect ourselves, and our freedom to prosper – goodbye.

How is it that Dems think they can shut us down, refuse to allow our businesses to open, tell us where we can dine (and whether it’s inside or out), tell us to wear masks inside our own homes (as they have in Pennsylvania)… all while THEY go to fancy-schmancy French restaurants out in Napa Valley?!

This hypocrisy is off the charts…

•  Consider the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who went out to The French Laundry to enjoy a lunch with friends – unmasked – while telling everyone else in his state to stay home…

• A day later, the mayor of San Francisco also dined indoors at The French Laundry (where according to the Napa Tourist Guide, a meal for two costs $350) before deciding to ban all indoor dining just three days later…

• Or how about the Democrat lawmaker in Los Angeles who voted to ban all outdoor dining, in Los Angeles… and then promptly goes to an outdoor lunch?

• Then there’s the San Jose, California Mayor who told people not to get together, even outside, with others for Thanksgiving. But what did he do? He got together with five other households, including his elderly parents, for Thanksgiving.

These politicians are making a bunch of rules for the masses… but are refusing to live by them themselves.

Defund the Police: A ‘Policy Demand’

And it’s not just where they eat and how they gather… The most extreme elements of the Democrat party are even attempting to, quite literally, defund the police and take away your right to safety.

Even President Obama found himself at odds with one of the Dem’s new superstars, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, after he said on a Snapchat show, Good Luck America, that “snappy” slogans like “defund the police” lose people.

“You lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done,” Obama explained.

Oman lost no time in firing back… “It’s not a slogan, but a policy demand. We lose people in the hands of police. And centering the demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country gets us progress and safety.”

But the fear is that as the Democrat party becomes increasingly held hostage by the Left-wing extremists like Omar, there will be fewer and fewer adults left in the room.

The Power of Unions Matters More Than Our Kids

Meanwhile, can someone tell me why we’re willing to risk our most precious national resource – our children – at a time like this?

Almost half of our nation’s K-12 students are currently not attending in-person learning, and there’s increasing evidence of how much it will cost our kids… A recent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association indicated that the effects of not attending school will be far worse than any COVID-19-related issues resulting from being in school. It predicted that more than 5 million years could be lost in life as a result of the school shutdowns.

Meanwhile, Washington Post columnist Helaine Olen recently looked at the effects on children, writing…

In Houston, Texas, the number of students getting F’s is soaring. In St. Paul, Minn., a high school student is almost as likely to be on track to fail a class as to pass it. In the junior high and high schools of Virginia’s Fairfax County – one of the wealthiest counties in the United States – 1 out of 10 students flunked at least two classes, and the number was almost double that for those with disabilities.”

This ongoing travesty – this scandal of epic proportions – is indefensible. Ten months into the pandemic with a mountain of incontrovertible evidence that opening up schools is safe and imperative for child development – and politicians and teacher unions are still holding children hostage. The damage done will not last months or years, but decades.

She’s right… But does anyone care? Certainly not the teachers’ unions, who are campaigning for school closures while simultaneously asking for more federal money. Even President Obama had the good sense to stand up to the teachers’ unions, but not Biden who is fully indebted to them for their support.

It’s an interesting point in time in our political discussions where I increasingly find myself agreeing with our former president – but it’s clear the current crop of Democrats is being manipulated by extremists who want to send our great nation in the direction of socialism.

Georgia could very well turn Blue…

Georgia on My Mind

In just a few weeks, on January 5, Georgia will hold its runoff elections for two Senate seats. And the stakes couldn’t be higher…

It’s clear the Left wants to move increasingly in a progressive-economic direction with money our nation doesn’t have. More power will be awarded to the federal government if they’re in charge, and America will suffer from a form of tyranny that could be equal to when the British controlled our colonies.

Raphael Warnock, according to one Atlanta poll, holds a 52% to 45% lead over GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler. Warnock is a progressive member of the Left who has spent time cultivating his message as a preacher and has been criticized for his church’s appreciation of, and his unwillingness to criticize, Fidel Castro. He’s also under fire for the voter registration group he once led, a group founded by failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, for improper voter-registration activities.

The poll also shows that Democrat Jon Ossoff is narrowly leading Senator David Perdue with 50% to Ossoff and 48% to Perdue.

If either Republican wins, the GOP will retain control of the Senate. However, if both Democratic candidates win, then the parties will be evenly split in the upper chamber, which would make Vice President Kamala Harris very, very important… She would cast the deciding, tie-breaking vote on all legislation.

The Stacey Abrams Machine

She may have failed in her gubernatorial bid, but Abrams has created a political machine in Georgia that helped lead Biden to victory and is now instrumental in the Democrats’ attempt to sweep the state.

Abrams is touting the number of absentee ballot requests in Georgia – which now stands at more than 1 million. The hope among Democrats is that the overwhelming majority of those ballots are votes for Democrats.

However, it’s not over yet – according to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, several voter-registration groups, including The New Georgia Project, founded by Abrams and tied to Senate candidate Raphael Warnock, along with three other progressive voter-registration groups in Georgia, are all under investigation for improper registration activities.

According to Raffensperger, The New Georgia Project (led by Warnock until January, when he announced his candidacy for Senate) allegedly “sent voter-registration applications to New York City.”

“Voting in Georgia when you are not a resident of Georgia is a felony,” Raffensperger reminded the world at a recent press conference. “These third-party groups have a responsibility to not encourage illegal voting. If they do so, they will be held responsible,” he continued.

The New Georgia Project was also investigated in 2014 over allegations of forged voter-registration applications. The group has denied the charges, as have all the groups under investigation.

But the timing is a critical one… Already, many members of the Republican base are rejecting the results of the election. Hillary Clinton had said Biden should “not concede no matter what,” and it increasingly seems that Donald Trump is now taking that advice.

As of this print, he has still not conceded, and I suspect that although he will leave office, he may never formally concede.

This will cause his base to increasingly distrust the results. Couple that fundamental fear of mistrust in the system with a doomed sense that Democrats may “steal” the election through fraudulent absentee ballots, and you have the makings of a big Democratic win… Republican voters are at risk of taking their ball and going home.

It’s happened before – albeit in a Socialist, Latin American country. After the 2004 referendum that enable Socialist Hugo Chávez to remain in power (despite overwhelming polls indicating he was about to be voted out), the opposition – led by former Venezuelan presidential candidate, the Conservative Politician María Corina Machado – insisted the voting machines (made by Smartmatic) were rigged. As a result, many Venezuelan conservative voters boycotted future elections, enabling the late Hugo Chávez, and then Nicolás Maduro, to strengthen their hold on the country.

The concern now is that discredited fears of tampering may disenfranchise and demotivate the Conservative base. Attorney Sidney Powell, who is no longer working with the Trump team, has alleged fraud similar to what took place in Venezuela in 2004. And, unsurprisingly, Georgian Conservatives are reacting much like their Venezuelan counterparts – with many asking, “Why should we vote if our vote will not be counted?”

This is why the integrity of the system, and the belief in the system, is so critical.

Breitbart News reported last week that the president is urging Sidney Powell and Lin Wood to refrain from pushing an election boycott and to stop attacking Republican officials.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who is from Georgia, tweeted:

Lin Wood and Sidney Powell are totally destructive. Their don’t-vote strategy will cripple America.

And he’s right…

At a “Stop the Steal” rally in Georgia earlier this month, attorneys Powell and Wood said the election process was so corrupt that no one should participate. “Why would you go back and vote in another rigged election for God’s sake? Fix it. You gotta fix it before we’ll do it again,” Wood exhorted the crowd.

A Los Angeles Times reporter commented that “In decades covering politics, this is the first Don’t-Get-Out-The-Vote rally I’ve ever heard of.”

Apparently, that reporter had never seen what happened to Venezuela.

Venezuelan-U.S. Political Similarities

I asked Machado about this danger on my weekly podcast, American Consequences With Trish Regan, and she admitted that it was difficult to get people to the polls initially. Nonetheless, creating trust in the system is critical. Machado told me,

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance… And we ought to be much more active in terms of defending those institutions, such as the vote and such as justice and such as the truth. And I am sure that the truth will prevail. And I’m sure that the people of the United States will manage to settle their differences and set an example for the rest of the Western world.

It’s important to remember that we are an example for the rest of the world. If there is one thing we ought to be able to ensure, as the world’s largest, most successful democracy, it is the sanctity of our votes. This is paramount.

So I encourage Georgia’s investigations into any fraudulent registration activity… But I also caution against urging anyone to boycott these elections.

I’d also suggest we find a way to better authenticate mail-in ballots, and I’d even urge a return to stricter guidelines for absentee ballots in general. Why even have them? If it’s important enough to vote, people should do so in person… with a license check while we’re at it.

We’re innovative enough as a country that we ought to be able to figure this out… Distance people 12 feet apart instead of six… Hold voting outside… Use heat lamps… Keep the polls open all week if need be to cut down on crowds. We can manage to do this safely.

_______________

When I was 18 years old, I remember going to the town hall in my little New Hampshire community and registering to vote. It was a powerful moment for me… I had spent years going with my parents to the polls, helping them campaign for their favorite (most often Democratic) candidates, and finally I had the opportunity to engage in the process itself.

I mention this because our right to vote is never something that should be taken for granted or abused…

There is too much at stake.

Episode 16: Greedy Government Could Be Our Downfall 

• Our spendthrift Congress continues to up the refund value in the hopes to pass more legislature without anyone noticing. 

• Neil Grossman returns to dissect the government’s spending as a systemic risk to the future.
• Stimulus is not improving the actual economy… It’s only affecting the markets. 

• Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment, explains why government mandates aren’t stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

Read our latest issues of American Consequences by clicking here. 

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Regards,

Trish Regan
Executive Editor, American Consequences
December 31, 2020