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ICYMI: Democratic candidates aren’t listening to voters in South Carolina

Post and Courier
Op-Ed
Cindy Costa
July 4, 2019

https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/commentary-democratic-candidates-aren-t-listening-to-voters-in-south/article_9248afee-9da8-11e9-a88e-b3ab6fbec6b2.html

Last week, all South Carolinians who tuned into the Democratic debates got to see just how out of step today’s Democratic Party has become. As 20 radical candidates duked it out in hopes of standing out from the masses and landing just one zinger, their embrace of the extreme left took center stage.

The 20 contenders have all endorsed an agenda too radical and reckless for South Carolina. On issues of health care, climate change, immigration, late-term abortion, the economy and more, today’s Democratic Party has gone completely off the rails, choosing to give big government complete control over individuals and families.

On the important issue of health care, Medicare-for-all has become a vital litmus test for Democratic contenders. But this term is nothing but a Trojan horse for socialism. What this really means is giving government complete control of our health care decisions.

A government takeover of health care would mean higher taxes, longer wait times, low quality care and strip over 2.5 million South Carolinians of their private health insurance. Leave it to Bernie Sanders and his Democratic caucus to think the federal government should have more say over individuals’ health care decisions than the individuals themselves.

Let’s not forget that famous falsehood from former President Barack Obama: “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” It wasn’t true then and it really won’t be true if Democrats win the White House in 2020.

And if a worse level of care is not enough to sway South Carolinians away from this path, the price tag should be. The Democrats’ health care plan comes at a huge cost of over $32 trillion dollars. Yes, that’s trillion with a “t.” Experts agree that it would cause a massive upheaval to our economy and current health care system, and that is without the Democrats’ declaration the other night that all illegal immigrants should be given taxpayer-funded health care in what’s emerged as the latest litmus test in the Democratic Party.

What’s more, 2020 Democrats are eagerly attacking President Donald Trump’s roaring economy, promising to roll back the important progress we’ve made. But President Trump’s results speak for themselves.

Nationally, the unemployment rate hit its lowest point in 50 years. Here in South Carolina, we reached a historic low unemployment rate of 3.2%. Wages are finally growing as we’ve seen the 10th straight month that growth topped at least 3 percent. And since President Trump took office, he’s helped create about 6 million new jobs. Yet 2020 Democrats want to undo this historic success by repealing President Trump’s tax cuts and implementing new policies that would dramatically raise taxes and hinder our economic growth.

Last week’s Democratic debates made it clear that the days of your grandfather’s Democratic Party are long gone. Instead, the 2020 candidates vying to be president have endorsed a socialist agenda that would be disastrous for South Carolina and our nation.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” The Democratic Party should heed this advice if it ever hopes to win in South Carolina after primary day.

As 2020 Democratic candidates trip over themselves in their race to the left, they are leaving South Carolinians and our values in the rearview mirror.

Cindy Costa lives in Charleston and is South Carolina’s national committeewoman to the Republican National Committee.