Derrick Grayson, On the Issues

Georgia Candidate for US Senate,

Politicians Killing the Economy

"There is no doubt that many Americans are struggling and hurting. Despite all the promises by our elected officials, career politicians, and so-called leaders, many people all across this great nation are finding it more and more difficult to cope with the various challenges brought about by out of touch politicians. The erosion of personal freedom and liberty as a result of federal policy and legislation is alarming. Instead of encouraging job creation, current policies promote a culture of dependence on big government and welfare programs. It is time we go back to the conservative values and the principles of limited government and individual responsibility that helped to make America a great nation. The days of self-serving politicians and those who seek enrichment by special interest are over. Americans are capable of making decision for ourselves. We don’t need more so-called leaders. We can determine our own destiny. What we need now are strong and principled voices that will stand and represent the will of ‘We the People’ and who will honor the oath to support and defend the Constitution.”

Immigration

On the issue of immigration

 I am staunch proponent of LEGAL Immigration. However, we must secure BOTH borders NOW. As your United States Senator, I will fight for comprehensive immigration reform, that not only protects the State of Georgia, but the people of the state. One of the main functions of the Federal Government is National Security. Immigration is a matter of National Security and should not be ignored.

• Absolutely NO amnesty; Get in line.
• Enforce current immigration laws. In doing so we move towards a more secure America, which will allow us to know who is and isn't coming into our country. As a nation of immigrants, we should encourage people to lawfully come to our country. This can be achieved by streamlining the process and prioritize those who follow the process for lawful entry.
• We MUST end all government subsidies for illegals (i.e. Housing, Food Stamps, Access to free public education, legal aid)
• We must end the "ANCHOR baby" system. Crossing the border illegally, for the sole purpose of giving your child an American birthright is a slap in the face of all those who fought for the Independence of this Great Nation.
  As for the amount of time that the border should be closed down, that depends solely on how long it would take to cut through the big government red tape. Again, streamlining the process doesn't mean opening the border to anyone and everyone. We need to encourage lawful immigration, for families who wish to come to our Nation and live the American Dream.
  Lastly, we should prosecute any employer who is found to be employing illegals. There are approximately 11 million people in our country at any given moment, who are here illegally. If we don't change the way we are currently doing business, that number WILL absolutely double in the next decade.

Education

When I was in grade school and in high school, in addition to the basics, we also learned how to make things. We learned how things worked. Teachers encouraged us to reach our full potential and they cared about us as individuals.

At grade school, when I was 11 years old, my father bought me a chemistry set. I learned how to make volcanoes using sulphur mounds. One morning,  my friend and I carried a car battery all the way to school - walking (tote and all the rest), and used it to ignite the solid fuel cell of my "Estes" rocket. My classmates were literally in awe as it blasted off and rocketed towards the sky, and then gently floated back down to earth on its parachute. 

In high school, I carved a panther out of wood. I painted it black, and mounted it in a hand-made frame that I lined with plush purple felt. It was a beautiful sight, and I had a tremendous sense of pride  to witness what my hands had wrought. 

At that time, school was something more than a government bureaucracy.  Teachers cared and parents were involved. Even though some of the parents were uneducated, or were unable to read and write themselves, they made sure that their children were going to have better opportunities to pursue their own destiny- their own path in life. But more than that, there was a real sense of community. Although I may not have made it known then, admittedly I remember times when  I was actually excited and eager to go to school and learn.

Today, with the Federal Government in charge of "educating" our children, our kids spend more time trying to figure out how to kill things, break things, and how to conform to the current system or status quo instead of building things, innovating,  making things better, or daring to start or build their own businesses. Schools are now funded based on how many bodies occupy a space in the classroom. Teachers are protected and their jobs are secured regardless of their successes or failures, and often it's the low performing teachers, administrators, and unions that benefit from the government's "investments". One thing is clear...Education has become a BIG business. 

The Obama Administration wants to grow and expand preschool services for children from birth through age five as part of  a “cradle-to-career” government-controlled education system. Just this year, the Administration proposed significantly increasing government spending on early childhood education and care to include;

1.    new federal spending to establish a “cost-sharing” model with states to expand public preschool programs;

2.    significant new spending on Early Head Start to serve infants, toddlers, and three-year-old children;

3.    an effort to “grow” the federal Head Start program; and

4.    an expansion of home-visitation programs. The White House deems this its Preschool for All initiative.[Source] 

I want the Federal Government out of education. 

I want education and schooling to be dealt with at a local level. This means more choice and access for the parents who are willing to make sacrifices in order that their kids can access schools and programs that will best meet their needs.

Not every parent wants to push their 3 or 4 year old's off to a government run daycare. Given the choice, many parents would elect for other options for care and education during the early years.

I want meaningful testing, performance evaluations, and higher pay for the caring and committed teachers and childcare workers based on their  performance and proven results. This will attract the best teachers and role models in our schools, and not just civil servants looking to collect a pay-check at the expense of our children's futures and their parent's tax dollars.

I want alternative educational tracks. They should include programs for military preparation, mechanics, civil service, and industrial production training. Everyone is not going to be successful in college or higher education, but everyone can be good at something. 

I would like to see every family given the choice to opt out of the public school system if they instead choose to home-school or privately educate their children. This should include a tax rebate or exemption from funding public schools that they do not utilize. 

Finally, and most importantly, I want policies that will encourage and require parents to parent first! Policies that effectively turn school systems into mere daycare centers must be abolished. Good teachers spend too much time disciplining instead of teaching. This is the role of parents, not educators.

I want the Federal Government out of the "Education Business" and parent's and local communities empowered with the right to choose what's best for their children.

Jobs

One of the things that made America great was the ability for individuals to follow their dreams and make them into reality. I could give you a laundry list of such people, but I wouldn't have the space to list even a mere fraction. So why am I here? I’m here to tell you what went wrong, and how we can fix it.

In the days of true Free Enterprise, we made things. We made things better. Many provided services and more found ways to serve more with greater efficiency. But alas, Government started getting in the way.

How did they do it? It started with Excessively restrictive regulations. Add to that, increasingly higher costs to even get into business; License fees, insurance fees, legal fees and the list can go on and on.

This restrictive interference drove many out of business and kept even more out. This effectively allowed the rich to get richer and fewer opportunities for the poor to rise above poverty.

I’ll Build It Myself, Get Out of The Way! Our government has been successful in nearly decimating the Black community with social programs that did not liberate (The New Deal, Civil Rights, The Great Society) but rather brought about generational dependency upon welfare.

That leaves only one group left, White Middle Class America. Hold on before you run. How do you create a two class society of the haves and have nots? Keep the rich, rich and make the middle class poor. How do you do that? Take away jobs.

There’s a new lie being told by politicians. That lie is, “I’m going to create jobs”. Here is the truth. The federal government does not create jobs, American people create jobs.

Granted, there are jobs in public service, but even those are paid for by the people, not the government. Constitutionally speaking, it’s not the governments role to create jobs.

So where have the jobs gone? Our government promotes policies that reward companies and huge corporations that export jobs overseas where they in turn, provide sub-standard services and products to Americans, all the while making huge profits (often hidden off shore) in return. Remember when I said we used to make things?

Take a widget maker for instance. He makes a widget and puts it to market. A second sources the materials. Another delivers them and yet another assembles the widgets to be sold by yet, even another.

We have multiple American jobs lost every time we close a plant, import from overseas what was once made here, or off-shore customer services.

Call Price Line’s customer service. They’re in Mexico. Cisco, India. American Express’ credit services, India as well. Those were once American Jobs. How do we fix this?

We eliminate all tax cuts for businesses being off-shored first. We then reward American and Foreign companies who hire Americans, by giving them the tax breaks.

I am not suggesting a business can’t  or shouldn't do business overseas. However, let the rewards of those hiring Americans be in profits and tax breaks, instead of funding massive government spending programs like “Cash for Klunkers”, at the American worker's and tax payer's expense.

 

Taxes - They hurt

TAXES, They Hurt. Election, after election, upon each additional election, we hear the same old political stomp speech rhetoric, “I will lower, eliminate or won’t create any more TAXES.”

The only time in my life where I’ve seen a singular issue on taxes cost a politician an election was George Sr's, “Read My Lips, No New Taxes” lie. For the most part, these politicians that keep getting re-elected are never held accountable for the lies or inaction. This results in the loss of Empowerment of the people.

What has happened? Special interests, corporate interests, and American dependency on Government programs have caused us to ignore the actions of the “Elected Elite” in spite of them doing absolutely nothing to reduce the budget deficit and national debt on the one hand, and increasing the tax burdens of hard working American citizens on the other.

TAXES They Hurt. What are the lines that “We, The People”, ignore? They tell us, "I will work to reform the IRS". How did that work out? Oops, the IRS seems to have a new "policy" on top of the mountainous regulations that already burden us. They now deny exemptions based on political ideology. If you think the White House didn't know, then incompetence rather than corruption is the order of the day. The room needs to change in either case.

Many Republicans campaign on Tax Reform. However, once elected, there is no substantive movement towards reigning in government spending, let alone reducing taxation. Beside that, how can there be any real change or reform with all of the massive spending programs?

I’ve said this before; the Government has no money of its own. It sells us into the slavery of debt by printing worthless paper, backed by nothing but the blood, sweat and tears of working Americans. This is the disastrous result of monetary policy based on fiat currency.

TAXES, They Hurt. How can “We, The People”, stop it?

That’s easy. A simple and fair tax, a Consumption Tax . You earn it, you keep it. You spend it to consume products or services; you pay one tax and one tax only to the Federal Government.

Secondly, abolish the 16^th Amendment that made IRS’s Individual Tax Return System a permanent fixture in America.

TAXES, They Hurt. Caution: It will only happen if “We, The People”, demand that it be so.

It will then take real conversation AND actions necessary to introduce and pass the legislation, as well as a willingness to expose those who resist, and have them held accountable by their constituency. It’s that easy. TAXES, They Hurt.

 

This is what will set Derrick Grayson for U.S. Senate apart from our opponent in the 2016 election cycle. 

 

To learn how you can help elect a Constitutional Conservative to the United States Senate, please visit www.grayson2016.com or email: info@graysoncommittee.com

Atlanta, Georgia – Minister Derrick E. Grayson, a Republican and Georgia native has announced that he is running for the U.S. Senate representing the people of the Great State of Georgia.