Towns, Union Democrats Hear from 9th District Chairman Josh McCall

Ninth District Democratic Party Chairman Josh McCall told Towns and Union County Democrats on Thursday, March 14, 2019, to have hope for better things ahead and keep fighting for their neighbors.

McCall, who was the Democratic candidate for Georgia’s Ninth Congressional District in 2018, cited the 55,000-plus Democratic votes cast in the 2018 race which far exceeded the 37,000 cast in 2014 as a sign the party is making progress in the Ninth District, which includes 17 counties in northeast Georgia.  The 55,000 votes were in stark contrast to 2016, when there was no Democratic candidate to challenge the incumbent U.S. representative.

McCall urged local Democrats to continue fighting for their neighbors’ Medicare and Social Security which are under attack in the proposed fiscal year 2020 federal budget submitted to Congress by President Trump last week.  He also noted that the family leave act introduced by Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Mike Lee (R-UT) would be paid for by transferring funds from the family member’s Social Security account.

McCall cautioned the group not to place too much hope in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and upcoming report, saying “The system is designed to be very kind and forgiving to billionaires.”  The U.S. House of Representatives voted 420-0 last week to make Mueller’s report public, he noted.

Regarding the 2020 presidential race, McCall noted that Russian bot activity (phony social media accounts) in 2016 focused mostly on candidates Trump and Clinton but is now infiltrating the political left in an effort to create bitter divisions among the Democratic presidential candidates and their supporters.  With such existential moral threats to the nation as immigrant children being detained in cages, McCall said Democrats cannot allow divisions to be sewn “or the next four-year presidential term will be even worse.”  He added that Democratic people of faith, such as himself, should start speaking out from within their churches on such issues.

Ninth District Democratic county leaders will hold a district-wide meeting on March 23 in Dahlonega.  McCall said he is developing plans for a district educational event on Medicaid eligibility as well as community-service events to aid the oppressed and marginalized residents of the district who were never covered by Roosevelt’s New Deal.  He urged the local Democrats to “canvass not for a candidate but for a cause” in the Ninth District’s three regions: the foothills near South Carolina, the Georgia mountains, and the suburbs closer to Atlanta.

He characterized the proposed Green New Deal as a way of redirecting energy investments into employment in emerging energy sources such as solar, wind, and other models that work without pollution-producing coal and oil, which he stated “is not operating in a free market.” “Don’t be afraid of using the term ‘climate change,’” McCall told the group.  As evidence of climate change’s impact, and the impact of tariffs, more farmers declared bankruptcy in 2018 than in the period since 2007, he said.

In closing, McCall noted the U.S. House is investigating Georgia’s voting issues, including the disenfranchisement of more than 800,000 voters prior to the 2018 election.  He said H.R. 1, which would “expand Americans' access to the ballot box” (including making Election Day a federal holiday), “reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants,” will not get a vote in the U.S. Senate where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has called it a Democratic power grab. The bill passed the U.S. House 234-193 on a strict party-line vote.

McCall advocated for ending the filibuster in the U.S. Senate which he said would stop the need for a super-majority of 60 votes to advance legislation and confirmations, and allow for a simple majority of 51 votes, and for statehood for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Towns County Democrats meet on the second Thursday of each month.  Their next meeting will be at 6 p.m. on April 11 in the Towns County Civic Center in Hiawassee.  In May, Towns and Union Democrats will hold another joint meeting at Unity Church in Blairsville at 6 p.m. to hear from Sarah Riggs Amico, the Democratic candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor in 2018.