The “militant left” has gained control of virtually every one of the nation’s institutions, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said Thursday, arguing that Republicans have to be more than a “speed bump on the road to America’s socialism and collapse.”
“I’m a business guy,” Scott said in outlining an 11-point planSpeech at The Heritage Foundation, parent organisation of The Daily Signal, calling for conservative governance
“If you want to turn something around,” he said, “you make a plan, you make big changes, and you don’t do it in five years. You do it today, so you can go rescue America.”
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts also introduced the conservative think tank’s own agenda for 2023, titled “Fighting for America’s Future.” The Heritage plan focuses on expanding school choice, securing the border and reducing crime, ensuring free and fair elections, reversing the growth of government spending and inflation, countering China, holding Big Tech accountable, and protecting the unborn.
“A vast majority of Americans know that if you want to get something done, you need to have a plan,” Roberts said, adding: “The reason we’re doing this event is to celebrate any member of the United States Congress who wants to put out a plan, as Sen. Scott has done.”
Scott’s address at Heritage came amid a reported rift among Senate Republicans regarding strategy as the nation faces problems such as surging inflation, continuing underemployment, an unsustainable national debt, and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Florida Republican, is calling for an affirmative strategy, with specifics. However, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., contends that Republicans primarily should oppose the Biden administration and Democrats’ majorities in the House and Senate.
In March, OnMessage surveyed 1,500 Republican primary voters across the nation and found that 68% said they want the GOP to have a plan, 9% said the party should just run against Biden, and 23% said they either didn’t know or had no opinion.
“Whether it’s on Big Tech, whether it’s on China, whether it is on the worst form of taxation, which is the rate of spending that’s happening in the city, conservatives are expecting change,” Roberts said.
Scott’s 11 points in his “Rescue America” plan are broad but include 120 specific policy proposals, which he summarized in his remarks at Heritage’s Capitol Hill headquarters.
Scott’s plan calls for every child in every school to say the Pledge of Allegiance. He also said that he wanted to get rid of what he called racial political rhetoric.
“The plan calls for a complete end to racial politics. The government shouldn’t be asking us what our skin color is, or race, on any government form,” Scott said. “We’re all made in the image of God. To judge a person on the color of their skin is absolutely immoral.”
Scott stated that his plan includes removing the United States’ economic dependence on China.
“It will take a while, but just because something will take awhile doesn’t mean we don’t get started,” Scott told The Daily Signal during a press conference after the speech, adding:
We saw what happened in Ukraine. Right? Americans expected this, and American businesses responded and they stopped doing business with Russia. That’s easier than it would be in China. So I think what we have to say to ourselves is … that we should expect we’re going to have to do the same thing with China.
Scott stated that just like Russia made clear its intention to invade Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled his intent to invade Taiwan.
“We have to start today and work every day to make ourselves less dependent [on China],” Scott said.
He said American corporations and citizens can’t simply rely on the U.S. government regarding China.
“Stop buying anything made in Communist China,” Scott said. “I’m not against the people of China. I’m against the government of Communist China. We buy their stuff, we help their government.”
Scott’s plan also calls for election reform measures such as voter ID requirements and a ban on the practice of ballot harvesting to combat Democrat proposals such as the legislation known as HR 1. The Senate’s bill was stalled and would have banned state voter ID laws in the country, expanded ballot harvesting, mandated mail-in voting, and required that local governments provide Election Day voter register.
Scott told The Daily Signal that he wants to protect state election reforms from Democrats’ national legislation to quash them, saying:
I believe we should have voter ID. I believe we should make sure that all ballot harvesting is illegal. It shouldn’t happen. It was eliminated, I believe, in Florida in 2011. Most of these things to ensure election integrity will be done at the local level.
Here, right now, what we’re doing is preventing the Democrats from trying to rig the election by saying you can’t have an ID, you can’t ask for an ID, you have to have ballot harvesting. I think most of it will take place at the state and local level.
After reporters questioned whether his plan would mean imposing taxes on low-income earners, Scott said it’s about having skin in the game.
“All Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game, even if a small amount,” he told reporters, adding:
Currently, more than half of Americans don’t pay income tax. This is precisely why I put it there. I am a tax cutter, but I believe that we all have to be part of what we’re doing. … My focus is on people that either take advantage of a system that are billionaires that can hire lobbyists and figure out all the loopholes or the person that could go to work, decides not to, and they want to live off the government.
Scott’s plan also calls for term limits for members of Congress and for unelected federal bureaucrats.
“We’re going to eliminate the permanent ruling class of Washington that thinks that our government belongs to them,” Scott said during his speech.
He added: “The plan makes some kind of terribly controversial point, such as men are men, women are women. There are two genders, and science confirms that unborn babies are human beings.”
Scott’s plan also supports fully funding police agencies and securing the southern border, in part by completing a wall.
“We’re going to name it after Donald J. Trump,” he said.
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