Richard Robertson (Georgia)
Richard Robertson (Republican Party) (also known as Rich) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Georgia's 2nd Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on May 24, 2022.
Robertson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Richard Robertson served in the U.S. Air Force from 1999 to 2021. Robertson earned a bachelor's degree from Georgia State University in 1996 and a law degree from the Widener University School of Law in 2009. His career experience includes working as an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel attorney (JAG), a high school teacher, and a wrestling coach.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Georgia's 2nd Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Georgia District 2
Incumbent Sanford Bishop Jr. defeated Chris West in the general election for U.S. House Georgia District 2 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sanford Bishop Jr. (D) | 55.0 | 132,675 |
 | Chris West (R) | 45.0 | 108,665 | |
| Total votes: 241,340 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Georgia District 2
Chris West defeated Jeremy Hunt in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Georgia District 2 on June 21, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Chris West | 51.3 | 14,622 |
 | Jeremy Hunt | 48.7 | 13,875 | |
| Total votes: 28,497 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 2
Incumbent Sanford Bishop Jr. defeated Joseph O'Hara in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Georgia District 2 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sanford Bishop Jr. | 93.5 | 54,991 |
| Joseph O'Hara | 6.5 | 3,814 | ||
| Total votes: 58,805 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 2
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Georgia District 2 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jeremy Hunt | 37.0 | 22,923 |
| ✔ | | Chris West | 30.1 | 18,658 |
 | A. Wayne Johnson | 18.7 | 11,574 | |
 | Vivian Childs | 6.4 | 3,986 | |
 | Richard Robertson | 4.6 | 2,832 | |
 | Paul Whitehead | 3.3 | 2,037 | |
| Total votes: 62,010 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Tracy Taylor (R)
- Chris Benoit (R)
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Richard Robertson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Robertson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- The Constitution does not need to be re-written, it needs to be re-read and applied! Freedom of religion and free speech are under attack. Big Tech censorship with Biden admin "flagging" must be stopped. The DOJ calling parents "Domestic Terrorists" for speaking out at school boards must be fully investigated and stopped. So called "anti-discrimination" laws that threaten the free exercise of religion must be stopped. And vaccine mandates and passports have to go; people should have the right to decide what medicines go into their body. I will fight to restore the bill of rights.
- I will support pro-family and pro-life policies. The indoctrination in our schools must be stopped and endlessly failing schools with no options for parents can no longer be tolerated. I 100% support federal vouchers to be given to parents to let them choose the public, private, religious, charter or home school of their choice that best meets their child’s needs and aligns with the parent’s values.
- The Biden administration and Democrat Party controlled Congress are wrecking the economy. We need to stop the out of control spending and crippling energy polices that are causing astronomical increases in prices for Georgian families for basics such as food, gas, heating and housing.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Robertson's campaign website stated the following:
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Upholding The Constitution The Constitution does not need to be re-written, it needs to be re-read and applied! Our form of government is unique in history in that our rights come from God and not the government; and the ultimate authority belongs to the people. Those whom are elected work for the people, not the other way around. I will never forget that. The bill of rights guarantees individual liberties that are to be protected from Government intrusion and over-reach. These rights are protected by a system of checks and balances that are built into the Constitution. Some say these checks and balances are inefficient, outdated and there is too much gridlock; but that gridlock is exactly what protects our individual liberties and prevents our government from turning into a tyranny. Recommended video: [SCALIA on American exceptionalism video] We have seen recent attempts by the Democrat party to undermine our nation’s Constitution, which has endured for almost 250 years. There have been unilateral efforts to implement actual packing of the Supreme Court by adding to the total number of Justices, adding additional states that would guarantee additional Democrat Senators and legislators, federalizing elections including banning ID requirements in all 50 states, eliminating the electoral college, and ending the filibuster. And the latest desperate attempt by those in the Democrat party is to try to ban conservative lawmakers from even being on the ballot; this is another attempt to undermine the will of the people in a given district or state. All of this is an effort to institute one-party rule by the Democrat Party and do away with the checks and balances that protect individual freedoms and the bill of rights. I will fight to protect the Constitution and for a limited Federal Government, while pushing all other authority down to the state and local level where government officials are more easily held accountable to the people. As an example, it is much easier for parents to change school policy when it is handed down from a local school board rather than being dictated from on high at the federal level.
I support School Choice because every child should have the opportunity to have a quality education and it shouldn’t be based on their zip code or their family’s financial situation. Parents should be the ultimate decision maker when it comes to their child’s education, not the government. I strongly support federal vouchers to be given to parents so they can choose the public, private, religious, charter or home school of their choice that best meets their child’s needs and aligns with the their values. We have many great teachers in our public schools that do wonderful work, but we also have public school districts around the country that are serving as indoctrination centers rather than focusing on the basics of math, reading, and science. While I am absolutely in favor of teaching an unvarnished history so we hopefully do not repeat the mistakes and the sins of the past, I am adamantly opposed to the false and Marxist based teachings of the United States as a “rotten to its core” country that has only sought to oppress, and a teaching that is now trying to divide us into the oppressed vs. the oppressor based on the skin color we were born with. I will seek to use the legislative power of the purse to restrict federal funding for any states that permit the Marxist based critical race, gender and queer theories being taught to our children at all grade levels. These teachings are damaging and I consider them child abuse, and an attempt towards undermining our Constitutional Republic. This is all the more reason it is imperative that parents have school choice despite former Democrat Virginia Governor and recent candidate Terry McAuliffe’s shocking statement of “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” There are also public school philosophies that put good teachers in almost no-win situations. I taught high school at an inner-city school in the late 1990’s and had classes with 35 students, which is way too many students. As an example of what is wrong in many of our public schools, I had a 17-year-old boy placed in my freshmen class consisting of 14-year-olds. This 17-year-old was failing every class because he did not try whatsoever and he served as a huge distraction in my class and the classes of other teachers. I was told he was in school because his probation required it. He should have been in an alternative school and not in a classroom with 34 other students three years younger than him. He was finally removed from the school after he physically assaulted and further threatened a female teacher. Many school boards and administrators that have either never been in the classroom or have long since been removed from teaching, impose policies on good teachers that put the focus on deliberately underachieving and disruptive students over the learning of the vast majority of students who want to learn and are not disruptive. We need other school choices where more of the money can go directly to teacher salaries and smaller class sizes with reduced administrative overhead, rather than the current public school model where too much of the funding goes to the top layers of administration, bureaucracy and teachers unions. On the academic side, I think it borders on criminal that we have vast numbers of public schools that are completely failing the parents and children they are supposed to be serving while representatives in the Democrat Party adamantly try to block any attempts at alternatives to the public school model. The Democrat Party does this largely at the direction of the self-serving and powerful national teachers’ unions that are funding the very politicians that deny parents the right to choose. The incumbent Congressman, Sanford Bishop is one such politician who has received tens of thousands of dollars in political donations from national teachers’ unions and he has not voted to support school choice in his last 20 years in Congress. He voted “no” on allowing school choice vouchers for low-income children in D.C. and he voted “no” on school choice vouchers for low-income families to be able to send their children to private and religious school. It’s no wonder he has a 100% approval rating from the National Education Association (NEA). The parents of Georgia’s District 2 and across the nation deserve better. Every child is entitled to an opportunity for a good education. If you are looking to buy a car, where will you get the better deal and service—the town that only has one car dealership or the town that has five car dealerships all competing for your business? A good education is one of the primary ways to achieve upward mobility in this country. School choice and open competition will result in better options for parents and their children, and will also create better teaching options for teachers. I will fight to put federal vouchers into the hands of parents so they can pick the school that is best for them.
Agriculture is the number one industry in Georgia and contributes nearly $75 billion annually to the state’s economy. From peanuts to pecans, to cotton and grain, Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District is home to a wide range of thriving crops and livestock. I will be committed to strengthening our agricultural industries and support responsible federal policies that give our farmers the tools, the continuity, and the freedom they need without growing federal bureaucracies in the process. Additionally, from a strategic standpoint, I am alarmed by the fact that the Chinese Communist government has purchased over 200,000 acres of U.S. farmland and bought the former U.S. company Smithfield, the largest pork producing company in the world, while China does not allow foreign purchase of its farmland. This arrangement needs to change. I will also seek to open up markets for U.S. farmers by working to ensure American farmers don’t face high tariffs when exporting their products to other countries while those same countries can import their goods to the United States tariff free. In light of all the supply chain issues under the Biden administration, I am committed to ensuring we have U.S. owned, and especially family owned, farms to ensure we have a privately owned and operated U.S. food supply that is sufficient to meet America’s needs. To this end, I will oppose inheritance taxes on working family owned farms. I will also work to remove any burdensome, costly and unnecessary restrictions or hurdles placed on farmers by the current federal bureaucracy. I look forward to talking with more farmers in Georgia’s District 2 to get their opinions on where we might be able to cut some of the unnecessary government hurdles.
A radical LGBTQ “anti-discrimination” bill called the “Equality Act” came extremely close to becoming law for the entire country last year. If this bill were to become law, it would eliminate a church or religious institution’s ability to hire personnel and practice their religion in accordance with their moral code and religious doctrine. Additionally, with regard to counseling on LGBTQ issues, the stage is being set for laws that would make it criminal for a pastor, therapist or counselor to provide counseling in any way except for the affirmation of LGBTQ ideations. The act would also require schools nationwide to allow biological boys identifying as transgender to play girls sports and use girls locker rooms and bathrooms. If elected, I will vigorously fight for religious liberty, the protection of children, and the rights of women and parents. Based on my Christian faith, I firmly believe that we are all created in God’s image and every human has intrinsic value and worth in the eyes of God. And no individual should be mistreated because of their sexual-orientation or for identifying as transgender. The Christian Church in particular is to treat all, including those who identify as LGBTQ, with grace and love. This, however, does not mean the church is to affirm conduct, choices or ideations that are unbiblical. Additionally, a differing viewpoint does not amount to hate or mistreatment. The Bible provides instructions to Christians on life and salvation, to include boundaries on human sexuality and human creation as male and female. Ultimately, the issue here is not what Christian or other religious doctrines say regarding sex and gender; nor is it with individuals who are homosexual or those who identify as transgender. The issue here is with those who seek to use the force of government to impose restrictive and anti-biblical edicts upon churches and religious institutions in a manner that removes the ability for churches and religious institutions to freely practice their religion in this country. Religious freedom was very close to being severely infringed upon last February 2021 with the unanimous passage by Democrats in the House of Representatives of the so called “Equality Act.” Georgia’s Congressional District 2 incumbent, Sanford Bishop, not only voted to pass this bill into law, he and all other Democrats in the House were co-sponsors of the bill. Now if you ask most Americans if they are for equality, most if not all would say “yes!” But this bill’s name is deceptive. If this so called ‘Equality Act’ becomes law, it will be one step closer to stamping out religious freedom in this country. Laws like this are not intended to create a “live and let live” environment. These laws will be used as weapons to target Christian and other religious faiths businesses and churches through lawsuits to make religious organizations either conform and affirm unbiblical LGBTQ ideology or be shut down. Currently many churches and religious institutions, such as religious schools, hire staff with employment conditioned on an agreed adherence to religious principles and doctrine so that any sex outside of the biblically defined marriage boundaries, whether it be heterosexual or homosexual sex, is not permitted and would serve as a bar to employment. If the “Equality Act,” that Sanford Bishop co-sponsored and voted in favor of, were to become law, it would expressly strip away any religious exemptions for churches, religious schools, and organizations with regard to hiring of LGBTQ. Any church or religious institution with a professed biblical view of marriage or gender, that hires in accordance with that view, could now be targeted and sued by militant LGBTQ activists and radical secularists when a church does not hire LGBTQ members who are living a lifestyle that is counter to biblical teachings. I need to clarify that when I use the term “militant LGBTQ activists,” I am not referring to all LGBTQ people. Many LGBTQ people have no problem with people being able to freely practice their deeply held religious beliefs. Rather, I am referring to a small activist subset of the LGBTQ community who are hostile to religion and want to force religion out of the public sphere altogether. I realize that many people do not hold the same views as many Christian churches and other religious institutions regarding biblical views of sexuality and gender. The great thing is, this is America! And in America, at least up until now, people are free to worship as they see fit, to include creating their own religious or other institutions that welcome non-biblical views on sexuality, homosexuality, and transgender ideology. There is nothing stopping anyone from forming their own religious or other organizations that conform to their own worldview. But the people pushing this bill don’t want that kind of freedom; they want to use the force of government to force Christian churches and other religious institutions to reject centuries old religious doctrine and conform to their secular views of the world. This concept is anti-American and anti-freedom of religion. A similar thing happened to the Boy Scouts. For approximately 100 years, the Boy Scouts served as a Christian based organization with the purpose of instilling traditional and Christian values into young men. Then they started getting sued by the ACLU. First, they were sued for alleged violations of the establishment clause, then to allow homosexual scouts, then homosexual scout leaders, then girls. Instead of creating their own youth organizations that embraced homosexuality or uni-sex membership as anyone was free to do in America, some sought instead to transform the Christian based Boy Scouts into their view of the world one lawsuit at time; and secular judges were happy to comply. At a time when young men, in particular, are suffering in this country, and in need of Godly male mentorship, the “Scouts” organization is now a shell of its former self and no longer serving that function in our country. I believe this is the aim regarding churches, to make them a shell of their former selves one lawsuit at a time. It begs the question, what good faith purpose would there be in striking a religious exemption to this “Equality Act” bill, thus making it applicable to churches and religious institutions? Why would an LGBTQ person even want to get hired at a church that professes a biblical view of marriage and a biblical view that God created man and woman according to their assigned sex at birth? There is no good reason other than to create an opportunity to sue and use the force of government to make churches and religious institutions fundamentally transform and comply with anti-biblical LGBTQ ideology. This anti-biblical and anti-freedom of religion “Equality Act” was passed in the House of Representatives with 100% Democrat support and the only reason it is not law now is because of two Senate Democrats. Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Cinema have so far refused to break the filibuster rule in the Senate, which currently requires 60 votes in the Senate to make a bill become law. People of faith, and especially Christians, must wake up to these efforts and put people in office that will have a backbone and stand up against such measures. We must not elect people who will allow the chipping away of religious freedom and who will actually co-sponsor such anti-biblical and anti-religious bills as Sanford Bishop did in this case. This “Equality Act” would also be used to try to force Christian business owners who wish to adhere to their Christian beliefs, out of business. LGBTQ “anti-discrimination” laws have already been wielded against Christians at the local and state level. The “Equality Act” will make it nationwide. As an example, Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakes bakery in Colorado had his religious freedom infringed upon by the full power of state and local officials through LGBTQ “anti-discrimination laws.” Jack Phillips had no problem selling any number of cakes and baked goods to anyone regardless of their sexual orientation or how they identified regarding gender; he just drew the line with wedding cakes. For him, making a wedding cake for a homosexual wedding would have been a violation of his sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage should be between a man and woman. A homosexual couple filed a complaint with the Colorado “Civil Rights Commission” when Jack informed them of his position on wedding cakes. A judge ordered Jack to begin making wedding cakes for homosexual couples or stop making wedding cakes altogether, which were 40% of his business. Jack struggled to keep his business open and had to layoff half of his employees. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which found in Jack’s favor on the very narrow grounds that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission was so openly hostile to Jack Phillips’ religious beliefs that his religious rights were violated. On the very day the Supreme Court took up his case, Jack Phillips was targeted again by a militant activist who then wanted to force Jack Phillips to make a transgender transition cake. Three weeks after the Supreme Court found in Jack’s favor in the previous case, the same “Civil Rights” Commission again found against Jack Phillips, only this time they were sure to not show their open hostility towards religion on the record. These LGTBQ “equality” and “anti-discrimination” laws are not about “live and let live”; they are designed as tools by militant activists to force Christians into affirming their LGBTQ agenda against biblical doctrine, or the full force and power of the government will be used as a weapon against un-capitulating Christians. Importantly, it is not Christians and other religious faith groups who are attempting to use the full force of the government to wield and compel other groups to follow Christian or religious doctrine, rather it is militant LGBTQ activists, radical secularists, and the Democrat Party that are seeking to force Christians into affirming LGBTQ ideology or be forced to shut down or be silenced. In other words, it is militant LGBTQ activists, radical secularists, and lawmakers in the Democrat Party who are being intolerant towards Christianity and religion in general, not the other way around. Protecting Women’s Rights and Our Children Additionally, this “Equality Act” law would place biological men who claim to be women into female prisons and women’s domestic abuse shelters. This law would also require schools nationwide to allow biological boys identifying as transgender or trans-fluid to play girls sports and use girls locker rooms and bathrooms. The state of Connecticut allows biological boys who identify as girls to compete in girls sports; and now two biological boys who identify as girls hold 12 female state track records that were previously held by nine different girls. In college swimming, a biological man, who competed for three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team, now goes by the name of Lia Thomas and is competing as a woman; not surprisingly, this individual is smashing female swimming records. A teammate of Lia Thomas reported that “She compares herself to Jackie Robinson. She said she is like the Jackie Robinson of trans sports.” Lia Thomas is no Jackie Robinson. Lia Thomas, who is a biological man, is taking a spot on the roster and presumably taking a female swimming scholarship that otherwise would have gone to a biological female. One of the primary purposes of Title IX legislation from 1972 was to give women an equal opportunity and access when it came to athletic scholarships. Ironically, now that is being stripped away from women in the name of “Equality.” In Loudoun County, Virginia, a “trans-fluid” biological male wearing a dress, went into a female bathroom and raped a girl. The school board moved him to another school where he sexually assaulted another girl. And the school board, which favored transgender policies allowing students to use the bathroom matching their “gender identity,” shamefully tried to cover up the rape. These policies are wrong, and they fail to protect women and girls. Sanford Bishop, along with all other Democrats in the House of Representatives, tried to make these polices the law of the land for the entire United States, which all schools and all prisons would legally be forced to comply with. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who was a prisoner in the Soviet Union Gulags for many years, warned the West to “live not by lies.” He warned that one of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming totalitarianism can’t happen in their country. Solzhenitsyn warned that totalitarianism is allowed to take over when good people go along with lies they know to be false in order to get by and not be targeted. I do not say this to be hurtful, but as an example, it is simply not true as we are being told, that men can have babies or men can menstruate. If you can convince people to go along with the idea that men can have babies then you can convince people to go along with any lie. Good people are going along with this lie and other similar lies out of fear of being called racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, transphobic or some other character attack; and they are being silenced out of a real fear of losing their jobs, getting bad grades, being ostracized, or appearing uncompassionate. Our nation’s children are being harmed by radical secularists who are pushing this poisonous ideology through indoctrination in our schools and online media. It is time for good people to stand up against these lies and stand up for the truth. The truth is, no matter how many surgeries or how many drugs one takes, you cannot change the DNA God gave you. An adult who identifies as transgender is free to do whatever they want to their body, and no one is trying to stop them. And, again, no one should be mistreated for how they choose to peacefully live their lives, but children are a different story. The indoctrination of children in public schools must come to an end. If it is considered inappropriate, and in fact illegal, to proselytize to a captive audience of public school children that Jesus is Lord and Savior, then it is equally, if not more inappropriate, to be proselytizing to this same captive audience with teachings of gender ideology, “queer theories,” and drag queen story hours. Teach children in a public school setting to be kind and respectful to one another no matter their race, religion, ethnicity or any other differences, then just focus on reading, writing, math and science. Children’s brains are not fully developed until they are adults. They should be protected from irreversible procedures on their bodies until they reach a proper age of consent, which we have long recognized as being adulthood. To those who say it is not loving or it is harmful to not affirm that a boy who identifies as a girl is indeed a girl, I ask this question. If an anorexic woman who weighs 80 lbs. believes in her mind that she is too overweight and as a result does harm to her body by starving herself, is it loving and Christian to affirm her beliefs by saying, “yes, you are too overweight and you should continue not eating?” No, the loving thing would be to tell her the truth in a loving way by telling her she is not overweight, and with humility, get to the heart of why she believes this in her mind. Likewise, there is nothing loving about encouraging a child that he or she was born into the “wrong body” and allowing them to take puberty blocking drugs with irreversible effects to include possible sterilization. There are studies indicating 80-90% of pre-pubescent children with transgender ideations, grow out of those ideations by the time they reach adolescence. And there is nothing loving about encouraging a young girl to slice off her breasts as a 13-year-old can now do in the state of Washington, WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT. Astoundingly, in Washington State, a child can consent to having life altering body mutilation at the age of 13, without the parent’s knowledge, but that same child must be 21-years-old to buy a pack of cigarettes. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” — Isaiah 5:20. The indoctrination in our public schools and the irreversible drugs and surgeries being foisted upon our children is both harmful and destructive. It wasn’t that long ago that Western countries found it appalling to hear that 12-year-old girls were being genitally mutilated in Muslim countries around the world. Now a similar practice is being celebrated with the “transgender movement” and you are considered a hateful and harmful bigot if you do not fully embrace the irreversible physical “transition” of children through drugs and surgery. The Next Steps on Taking Away Freedom of Religion and Parental Rights This is also just the first step. In the findings sections of the “Equality Act,” the bill mentions the dangers of “Conversion Therapy.” The drafters of this bill of course don’t define Conversion Therapy, they just say it “harms.” Canada just banned so called Conversion Therapy with Bill C-4. The “Conversion Therapy” law in Canada makes it CRIMINAL with a penalty of up to 5 years in prison for any pastor, medical professional or any other form of counselor, to “cause another person” to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual, or change a person’s gender identity or expression so it conforms to the sex assigned to the person at birth. This ban includes consenting adults, meaning it would be illegal to counsel someone who wants the counseling and is considering turning away from the homosexual or transgender lifestyle. Claiming the truthful statement that men cannot have babies could put a person in jeopardy of violating this law in Canada. And we’re not talking about a ban on electro-shock therapy here; this law is so broad that it could include mere counseling or potentially even sermons on biblical sexuality if the discussions or sermons have the effect of making one reconsider their homosexual or transgender ideations. Of note, there is no such penalty for indoctrination or “counseling” to affirm homosexual feelings or transgender ideations. This is dangerous and a direct attack on truth and on God. Here is what the U.S. House of Representative “Equality Act” says on Conversion Therapy: “The discredited practice known as “conversion therapy” [Notice – this is not defined] is a form of discrimination that harms LGBTQ people…” This is all being implemented incrementally and the next step after the “Equality Act” will be a ban on Conversion Therapy in the United States to criminally prohibit pastors or therapists from counseling on this subject. And parents who don’t affirm their child’s new gender after their child has been indoctrinated in state run schools, will have their child taken away from them by the state due to the “harm” the non-affirming parents are causing to their own child. Note – according to a recent Gallup poll, an astounding 21% of of Gen-Z (those born from 1997-2012) identify as LGBTQ; in a Barna poll the numbers were even more shocking with 39% of Gen-Z and 30% of Gen-Z “Christian” respondents identifying as LGBTQ; so the indoctrination in our schools, internet and “entertainment” media is proving very effective. Again, this is happening because good people are not standing up against the lies. The next step will be to legally ban any efforts to counter this indoctrination and there will be “hate speech” laws as there currently are in Canada and some European countries that make it a crime to even utter anything from the pulpit or otherwise, that runs counter to the LGBTQ agenda and propaganda. Sanford Bishop and other members of the Democrat Party are voting to usher this in. It is wrong and these are not the values of southwest Georgia. The sleepy American church needs to wake up and defend Religious Liberty and our God given rights in this country before they are permanently replaced by a Godless attempt to usher in a secular progressive view of “utopia.” Freedom of Religion must be protected and I will fight to ensure that people of all religions are free to practice their faith without undue interference from government officials who have shown demonstrable hostility towards religion.
I believe that life begins at conception. Jeremiah 1:5 tells us that God knew us before He formed us in the womb. Psalm 139:13 says “you knit me together in my mother’s womb” and Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body.” I am unapologetically Pro-life and I will support legislation that protects the unborn and work to eliminate any federal funding that either directly or indirectly funds abortion. The incumbent, Sanford Bishop, votes in lock-step with Nancy Pelosi on abortion by voting “no” on any legislation to protect the unborn and he votes “no” to limit federal funding for abortion. He even voted “no” for protections for babies born alive following an attempted abortion. Amazingly, the Democrat Party platform is for a woman’s “right” to choose to end the life of an unborn baby (that’s what it is) but they are not for a woman’s right to choose where her born son or daughter can go to school. I will fight to protect and defend the sanctity of life. I will also support legislation that employs ultrasound technology to save lives by offering women the opportunity to see their babies and encouraging them to pursue adoption as an alternative to abortion. I will seek to end all funding for Planned Parenthood and instead funnel that money to Pregnancy Care Centers that provide free medical services and pregnancy support to vulnerable women without lethal and dismembering operations to kill unborn babies in the womb. Young women are lied to regarding abortion. They are fed deceitful slogans such as calling abortion “women’s healthcare,” “women’s reproductive rights,” or a “women’s right to choose,” when the reality is abortion is the deliberate killing of a usually healthy and developing human baby in the womb, for profit. God offers complete forgiveness for any woman who seeks God’s forgiveness after having one or more abortions in the past, following being deceived by the lies of the pro-abortion industry. I have no shred of doubt on which side of this issue God is on. Over 60 million unborn babies have been killed in our country since the passage of Roe V. Wade in 1973. For those who profess to be in favor of human rights, those who think we should be protecting the innocent and the most vulnerable, and especially for those who call themselves Christians, I implore you to vote in accordance with your values on this issue and protect the God given lives of babies in the womb. I will support legislation that promotes women keeping their babies, that supports adoption as a viable option for young women who are not ready for the responsibility of motherhood, and that promotes the institution of marriage and family.
The 2nd amendment guarantees Americans the individual right “to keep and bear arms” without infringement from the government. The 2nd amendment is not merely a right to hunt or a right to self-defense, although I will vigorously defend the right of self-defense; the 2nd amendment was intended by our Founders as a hedge against tyranny. The Founders were aware of the fragility of liberty after having just fought a war of independence from a tyrannical monarchy not too long before the signing of the Constitution and addition of the Bill of Rights. Given the purpose of the 2nd amendment, I will fight any attempts to levy additional taxes on guns and ammunition and I will fight overt or covert attempts of creating federal gun registries for law abiding citizens. I will support efforts to expand gun rights for law abiding citizens.
It is vitally important that all citizens, whether Republican or Democrat, have confidence that our election system is fair and secure. The Democrat controlled Congress, including Sanford Bishop, is doing its best to federalize elections nationwide. They are seeking to do away with voter ID requirements for all 50 states and institute third party “ballot harvesting” nationwide. Not only does this undermine the will of voters in states like Georgia, this would destroy any credibility in federal elections going forward and is a gross violation of our Constitutional system of government especially given that the Constitution expressly gives states the authority to determine election laws in each of their given states. Georgia recently passed the Election Integrity Act (SB 202) to ensure voter integrity. This law primarily creates an ID requirement for mail-in ballots to match the ID requirement that already existed for in-person voting and Georgia will provide a voting ID for FREE to anyone who does not possess a driver’s license or other valid form of ID under the law. The law also attempts to stiffen penalties for the illegal practice of third party “ballot harvesting.” Joe Biden and others have characterized this law as “Jim Crow 2.0.” This is an outright lie and a gross mischaracterization of the law, not to mention an insulting diminishment of the actual dehumanizing Jim Crow laws, which ironically were instituted by southern democrats in Joe Biden’s Democrat party. Again, ironically, Joe Biden compared those who do not support his plan to get rid of voter ID requirements nationwide as Democrats Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis. For anyone who is doubtful of Georgia’s new voting law based on what they have heard, I challenge that person to actually read the law for themselves and tell me where the alleged racism is. The most controversial part of the bill is a provision that prevents partisan groups from handing out water or food to voters in a last attempt to influence votes. The rule applies equally to everybody of all races and people are free to bring their own water or the polling station officials can provide water. The Democrat controlled Congress, including Sanford Bishop, is doing its best to make it easier to cheat in elections by attempting to eliminate state voter ID requirements and implement third party ballot harvesting, which invites the practice of someone being paid to collect votes for a certain party. This is wrong and a complete undermining of Democracy. To ensure election integrity and credibility, I personally believe that voting should be in person and with ID for the vast majority of Americans, and with exceptions only for the severely disabled, infirm, or active-duty military. This is the model for most of Europe because they know mass mail-in ballots significantly increase the potential for fraud. Although very unlikely to have enough support, I would support a Constitutional amendment to this effect. Until then, I will fight to keep election law authority with the states as is written in the Constitution.
Ronald Reagan once said, “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” We must stop the flow of illegal immigration. Our border with Mexico is a disaster. At a time when our nation is already struggling to provide quality education, health care and good paying jobs for its citizens, the Biden administration is deliberately allowing our border to remain open to illegal immigrants leading to a record two million immigrants crossing our border just last year. This brings down wages for American citizens and illegal drug trafficking of the deadly drug fentanyl has increased 1000%. The evil human and sex trafficking industries have increased as well. I will support policies to finish a border wall, increase the number of border patrol agents, fund additional advanced technologies, fix our asylum laws, end chain migration, and end sanctuary cities. The Biden Administration refuses to finish the border wall at key entry points that were already under contract to be constructed and already paid for under the prior administration. Through his words and deliberate inaction, Biden is inviting people to come here illegally in masses. This is a naked attempt at a power grab by progressive activists to try and add illegal immigrants to the Democrat party voter rolls. This must stop. We would not want someone to just enter our house uninvited and then help themselves to our refrigerator. Likewise, people that come to our country must be invited; people should not just violate our laws and allow themselves into our country uninvited with the expectation of free provision from the taxpaying citizens of America. We have an opioid and fentanyl crisis in our country that is in large part a result of our open borders. We had over 100,000 Americans die of drug overdose last year alone, due in part, to illegal drug trafficking across our border. Human and sex trafficking is also a huge and tragic problem due to drug cartels taking advantage of our open borders; this amounts to modern day slavery existing in our country today. Most victims enter sex trafficking as young teenagers. We must dedicate more resources to putting traffickers in prison and freeing those who have been enslaved by this dark industry. There is also the issue of terrorist organizations having easier undetected entry into our country with intent to do harm to American citizens, facilitated by this administration’s dereliction of duty at the border. We need to completely end illegal immigration using every tool at our disposal: reinstate the remain in Mexico policy for pending asylum applications, erect physical walls, increase surveillance technology, and add thousands more border patrol agents. And we need to rework our legal immigration system too. When so many already existing Americans are struggling, it’s not clear that we need a million new legal immigrants every year, much less the approximately two million illegal immigrants that entered our country in Joe Biden’s first year in office. We must reform our heavily abused asylum system, which has incentivized Mexican gang human smugglers to re-use the same children over and over in smuggling efforts to present as a “family” at the border. I will seek to end federal funding for states like California that thumb their nose at our federal immigration laws by allowing “sanctuary cities.” We must also rethink our foreign worker visa programs entirely, to make sure that every American can lead a good life in a safe and secure country.
Student debt is a problem in our country. College tuition has gone up disproportionately to the rate of inflation over the last 30 years and the primary reason is guaranteed federally backed student loans for college. We need to get the federal government out of the student loan business so colleges will be forced to cut the fat and lower their costs. I’ve got a few suggestions where they can start. Congressional District 2 Republican candidate Wayne Johnson ran a previous campaign for a Georgia U.S. Senate seat in which he proposed ending federally backed student loans (good), but his plan also includes a plan of government backed student loan debt “forgiveness” across the board for anyone with student debt up to $50,000 (this would have the AOC and Elizabeth Warren stamp of approval). Student loan cancellation, through taking from some and giving to others, is wrong. Johnson’s plan would also use government confiscation to take from some and reallocate those funds to the tune of $50,000 for anyone to attend college. This would do nothing to lower cost for college and it would result in continued funding of Marxist indoctrination of young college students by bloated colleges and universities, and would continue to fund worthless college degrees such as gender studies. Johnson proposes to get the money from corporations, but this expense would result in corporations either raising prices that get passed onto consumers, cutting investments that otherwise could have resulted in more jobs, or some businesses already barely breaking even, may be forced to shut down altogether. This is a terrible idea and it is unfair to make 1) working class people, 2) people that paid for and worked their way through college, or 3) parents that saved for and paid for their own children’s college, to be required to have to pay for other people’s college costs to include children of the wealthy. Thankfully, Georgia has the Hope Scholarship which requires a relatively achievable 3.0 GPA to get free tuition in Georgia. There are also military options where someone has to give back to the country for something in return. There are free grants for those in the lower economic sphere. There is good old-fashioned getting a job and working your way through college as I did. There are all kinds of scholarships available to those who apply themselves in obtaining them. And there are less “fun” but more affordable options for college, such as, living at home and commuting, or starting out in a community college. Forcing the working class, either through taxes or increased consumer prices, to pay for the student loan debt that other individuals voluntarily agreed to accept and now want to back out of their promise to pay it back, is morally wrong. Georgia voters should reject the AOC, Elizabeth Warren and Johnson plans of redistribution through confiscation at the hands of the federal government for student debt cancellation.
Energy independence is critical to safeguarding our national security and our economy. We actually achieved energy independence under the prior administration and this meant cheaper costs to fuel our cars, heat our homes and also lower food prices because it was cheaper for truckers to move goods, all of which disproportionately helped those at the lower end of the economic scale. Joe Biden ended our energy independence on day one of his Presidency by closing the Keystone pipeline, which killed thousands of good paying jobs and weakened America’s energy standing in the world. I will support policies to make America energy independent again and lower costs for the people of Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District. Not only did Joe Biden kill the Keystone pipeline on day one of his administration, he also tried to raise leasing prices paid by oil and gas companies on federal lands and end new leases only to be temporarily stopped by a federal judge. Biden is signaling to the oil and gas industry that they would be unwise to invest further capital in oil and gas exploration at the risk of future adverse government policy for more “green” technologies. All of this has the effect of rising fuel costs and soaring consumer prices for the American people. It also increases our dependence on nations in the middle east and Russia that do not share American interests. The Democrat party wants to implement a “Green New Deal” that will have a severe economic impact on our country by restricting access to cheaper fuels like oil, gas and clean-coal at a time when renewable energies are not nearly developed enough to replace traditional fuel and energy sources. Biden and the Democrat Party are signing Americans up to a Globalist environmental agenda that will hurt the American middle and lower economic classes all while China is adding new coal plants on a weekly basis. China is using stolen U.S. solar technology, unclean coal energy, and reported slave labor to build solar panels that they will then sell to the American taxpayer at much higher prices. All of this while we have abundant energy that is available, but out of reach, due to the radical secularist green policies of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party. We should be good stewards of the earth, but for the sake of our national security and economy we need to continue to use clean extraction methods of traditional fuel sources, while allowing more time for technology to advance to a point where green renewables are actually cheaper and just as reliable as traditional sources of energy. I believe the fastest way for America to lead in green technology is to get government out of the way and let the most brilliant innovators on earth come up with green and affordable alternatives using the free market. Elon Musk, the inventor and CEO of Tesla, summed it up best when he said, ”It doesn’t make sense to take the job of capital allocation away from people who have demonstrated great skill at capital allocation and give it to an entity that has demonstrated very poor skill in capital allocation, which is the government.” Get the government out of the way, unleash the free-market system, and slowly transition to greener fuel sources when they are just as cheap and reliable as traditional sources. When this happens, consumers will naturally go with the greener energy and you will not need the force of government to make this happen. Environmental radicals in many blue states and blue cities around the country have outlawed plastic straws, enacted radical fuel efficiency standards creating extra costs in the manufacture of cars, banned gas stoves, provided large subsidies for inefficient solar panels increasing costs for housing and taxes, etc. When voting, consider whether you want a federal government dictating what kind of stove you use; what kind of car you drive; what kind of straw you drink out of; and what kind of house you are allowed to live in. We need to reject the radical and heavy-handed policies of the left that are supported by the Democrat Party platform.
You have my commitment to pursue fiscally-responsible budgetary policy. We are now over 30 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT! This represents over $91,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in America and over $241,000 of debt per taxpayer. America cannot continue its path of uncontrolled taxing and spending at the expense of the next generation, and endless money printing which serves a massive hidden tax on the middle class by devaluing the purchasing power of the dollar and savings. Congress must stop voting on 1,000 plus page bills that are filled with pork and giveaways to the connected, and that no one but lobbyists have had time to read before it is voted on. We have to stop bailing out blue states by ending tax credits and bailouts targeted towards blue states at the expense of Georgia’s tax payers. Legislators need to understand that there is no such thing as government money, there is only taxpayer money. They must stop being reckless with other people’s hard-earned money that government obtained through confiscation. Margaret Thatcher once said, “socialism is great until you run out of other people’s money.” If blue states want to enact socialistic and anti-law enforcement policies in their states, then they should have to fully pay for their policy decisions. They should not get bailed out by Georgia’s and other red state taxpayers, when their state’s businesses flee and they can’t pay their bills. I intend to read every page of every bill before I cast a vote to pass it. I pledge to take a scalpel approach to ensure the tax dollars spent are actually in the best interest of the American people and not quid pro quo payoffs to unions and corporations for campaign contributions.
Freedom of speech is under attack in our country and this must be stopped now or it will only get worse. At a time when tensions are at an all-time high, free speech can serve as a necessary pressure release. Instead, the Democrat Party and Joe Biden are calling on social media and media companies to censor more speech that they deem “misinformation” or “disinformation.” We must have a return of true free speech in this country. I do not want a future where my daughter and other children of the next generation are only allowed to see, say and hear what a few billionaires from Silicon Valley or some government office of “approved speech” says they can say, see and hear. If Social Media giants want to act as publishers by censoring speech, rather than serving as open market places for ideas, then they need to be subject to liability lawsuits like every other publisher. I will push to de-monopolize these companies and/ or strike Section 230 making them liable for their censorship. Just prior to the 2020 election, the social media giants influenced the election in favor of Joe Biden by censoring a potentially very damaging and credible story by the New York Post involving the President’s son Hunter Biden, which also had implications of wrongdoing by Joe Biden. Practicing doctors from Stanford, Harvard and Oxford are being censored on social media for saying anything that steps out of line with what the Communist China influenced World Health Organization or what Anthony Fauci says on COVID. This is dangerous and I believe Big Tech censorship on things like early treatments for COVID have literally killed thousands of Americans who were not permitted to hear that information by these Silicon Valley authoritarians. Unbelievably, Biden’s Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, admitted the quiet part out loud when she stated last July that, ”We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.” The people are apparently too stupid in the esteem of the administration and the Silicon Valley czars to think for themselves. Frederick Douglas warned that “liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the one right which they first of all strike down.” Jordan Peterson stated, “free speech is the process by which we stop everything from degenerating into hell.” This country does not belong to a few Silicon Valley tyrants or to the Biden administration, it belongs to the people of the United States of America and we have a God given right to free speech that I will vigorously fight to protect.
I believe we should allow all businesses to remain open. The current government overreach has done nothing but kill thousands of small businesses and jobs. We need to allow all businesses the opportunity to succeed, especially small businesses as they are the lifeblood of America. Also, as the Biden supply chain crisis has shown, we need to rethink relying on foreign manufacturing for critical supplies including medical, computer chips, steel, etc. We need to deeply rethink and reconsider our trade relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, which is aggressively acting against America’s best interests. I will support ways to bring critical manufacturing jobs back to America and especially to bring them to Southwest Georgia. Many blue states kept long-term lock downs in place which destroyed small business while red states like Georgia remained open for the most part. The result in many blue states was devastating economic impact due to poor government policy. What did the Democrats do when they took the House, Senate and Presidency? They unilaterally passed the so called “American Rescue Plan,” with support from Sanford Bishop, which very disproportionately bailed out blue states with federal taxpayer funds. So this resulted in taxpayers in states like Georgia, Alabama and Florida paying for the bad decisions of blue state governors. We need to end blue state bailouts and blue state tax credits that come at the expense of Georgia and other red state taxpayers. I will also seek legislation to expressly state that OSHA has no authority to impose vaccine mandates on businesses of any size.
I strongly believe in peace through strength. I will support a strong military defense and seek to ensure we are taking care of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen who serve so we can be free. We need to be laser focused on an ever increasingly aggressive China. They have made it their express goal to overtake the U.S. as the world’s dominant power. China has an aggressive program of espionage against the U.S. and is engaged in military escalation, economic warfare, and intellectual property theft. We must be prepared to confront China’s aggression. Additionally, through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will seek to strip the military of the “woke” agenda that has made its way into the military in the last several years. The job of the military is to be the most lethal force on earth and not serve as a social change experiment for radical secularists. In this vein, I will oppose any efforts to compel our daughters from having to sign up for a military draft. I am all for women who want to voluntarily serve to be able to do so, so long as they meet qualifications; but we should not be forcing our daughters to fight in our country’s wars. Finally, I will pursue changes to the NDAA to oppose Biden mandated experimental COVID vaccines without any regard to natural immunity or religious exemption. I will seek legislation to allow any military members back into the military if the sole reason they were kicked out of the military was for refusal to take the experimental COVID vaccines. I would extend the reinstatement to federal workers as well.
Healthcare must be focused on the patient, and based on a free and open market. We need to get the government out of health care, not involve it more. A takeover of healthcare by the government would lead to rationing of health care and much longer wait times for both lifesaving and non-lifesaving care and treatments. I strongly support efforts to create transparent pricing and to open up competition across state lines which will lower healthcare costs for Georgians and encourage new providers to operate in our small towns. Creating a single-payer government run healthcare system would be a disaster; it would be both highly inefficient and costly. As an example of government inefficiency, of the billions collected and spent on welfare programs, only about 15% makes it to the actual intended welfare recipients. Let’s not create a bureaucratic government healthcare monster that costs taxpayers trillions of dollars with only 15% of the dollars actually being used to treat the intended patients. On COVID vaccine mandates, I proudly support medical freedom. No more mandates, period. Your healthcare choices are for you and your doctor to make, not the government. I will seek legislation to expressly state that OSHA has no authority to impose vaccine mandates on individuals or businesses or for hospitals that receive federal money.[2] |
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| —Richard Robertson's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 14, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Richard Robertson, “Issues,” accessed March 30, 2022
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