Living Wages

Any adult working full-time should not have to rely on government assistance. The wealth gap continues to widen as corporations are given tax benefits while being allowed to underpay their employees. Although there is a current misconception that Americans do not want to work anymore, the truth is, Americans do not want to be exploited anymore. Georgians deserve to be paid what they are worth. Minimum wages for working adults need to be indexed to local housing costs so that working people can keep a roof over their heads without relying on taxpayers.

People have been misguided to believe the minimum wage is for “high school workers” or for adults who lack certain skills; this is not true. According to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who signed the federal minimum wage into law, the purpose was to ensure adults working full-time in the wealthiest nation were not living in poverty: "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By 'business' I mean the whole of commerce as well as the
whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white-collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living."

Environment

Over 100 years ago, the US government introduced oil and gas subsidies to help foster the emerging automotive industry. Those subsidies never went away, which means that taxpayers are subsidizing the destruction of our planet while oil and gas companies are reaping record profits. Ending oil subsidies and encouraging the emerging green energy through clean energy subsidies can have a monumental impact on the fight against climate change.

There is only so much an individual can do it combat climate change. If we want to make an actual difference, we have to deal with things on a macro level.

• We have to stop putting corporate profits above human lives.

• We have to pass policies that hold companies accountable for their impact on our environment.

Universal Healthcare

America is the ONLY wealthy, industrialized nation in the world where citizens have to worry about being financially ruined due to seeking healthcare. In the US, people die because they have to choose between affording basic medications like insulin or being able to pay rent or buy food. Georgia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, and with recent rural hospital shutdowns, that will only get worse. The US has some of the highest healthcare spending yet some of the worst healthcare outcomes in the world among comparable nations.

We can't claim to be the greatest country in the world while our citizens’ basic needs are not covered. We need universal healthcare.

Taxes

Before the 1980s, top marginal tax rates were as high as 70 - 94%. President Reagan promised that cutting those tax rates drastically would lead to better, higher paying jobs: trickle-down economics. Of course, this promise remains unfulfilled. Instead, the lower tax rates incentivized the skyrocketing CEO pay that we see today, where billion-dollar companies pay hundreds of millions in CEO bonuses while their employees look to government assistance to make ends meet. The promise of “trickle-down” became “corporate welfare.”

We need to create a multi-tier top marginal tax rate in which lower tax rates are explicitly tied to the creation of domestic living wage jobs. If you're paying poverty wages, shipping jobs overseas, and expecting your workers to obtain taxpayer funded public assistance to make ends meet, you're going to pay higher taxes. If corporations want the lowest available tax rate, then they must prove they deserve it.

Guns

I enjoy target shooting and come from a family of gun owners and military veterans. I support responsible gun ownership. "Responsible" means safety and proficiency training for licensed carry, thorough background checks for purchases, and ensuring one's firearms are stored properly so that they don't fall into the hands of someone who should not have access.

We need to do a much better job of keeping guns out of the hands of people who demonstrate elevated risk factors for violence to themselves or others, including people with a credible history of domestic violence, people making active threats of violence, and people who have had a recent mental health crisis. It is far past time to implement common sense measures like red flag laws, as well as fund gun safety research just like we do for other public safety issues in order to adopt data-based practices that save lives.

Abortion

Progressive policies like sex education and free contraceptives accomplish a far lower abortion rate than alleged pro-life policies that prosecute women. The U.S. maternal mortality rate, which is roughly double that of most other wealthy nations, drops when reproductive healthcare providers and their patients are free to make medical decisions without government interference.

The procedure is an incredibly difficult and emotional medical decision to be made by a woman and her doctor. The government should be limited in their ability to interfere in our healthcare decisions. Based on elective abortion numbers and maternal mortality rates, the most pro-life and small-government vote anyone can cast on this issue is for a Democrat.