I was raised in Roswell, which was then a small Dixicrat town, run by Yellow Dog Democrats. I am the only Republican my mother ever voted for. My mother and father traveled to New Hampshire with the Peanut Brigade to campaign for Jimmy Carter, and President Carter appointed my father to serve as assistant to the Secretary of Interior during his administration.

I majored in economics at the University of Georgia and learned how our free market economy works. My favorite author was Thoreau, and I adopted his philosophy that “government is best which governs least” and big government is the enemy of individual rights and personal liberty.

When I was 29, I ran for Roswell City Council as an Independent on the promise to stop the widening of a road through my neighborhood.  I was gaining momentum until Mayor Pug Mabry pulled the plug by my budding candidacy by canceling the City’s plans to widen the road.  Afterwards, I remained active in Roswell politics, but I did not join any political party.     

Twenty years later, when I was trying to decide whether to run against Mayor Mabry, a 31-year incumbent Democrat, I heard Senator Paul Coverdale speak about his political beliefs.  He said he was a Republican because he believed in the free market system, individual rights, and personal liberty.  I have been a member of the Republican Party ever since.

The difference between the Republican and the Democratic Parties has never been clearer than in the debate over health care.  U.S. Rep. Tom Price, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson and most Republicans favor a free market health care system in which patients make health care choices and everyone is able to obtain coverage. Under President Obama’s plan, government would choose what health care we receive, who pays for it and how much it costs.

President Obama says that what is at stake is not just details of policy, but also the fundamental principals and character of our country.  On this, I agree with him.

We are not just debating health-care; we are debating whether America will continue to have a free market economy.

Our nation is at a tipping point. Forty-five percent of America’s gross domestic product (GDP) has already been taken over by government. Healthcare makes up 16 percent of our GDP. If big government takes over health care, the Federal government will account for more than half of the national economy.

The free market system has proven to be the most efficient way to produce and distribute goods and services in history.  Our free market system has made us the strongest country in the world.  We defeated communism in the market place, not on the field of battle or through politics.

If America ceases to have a free market economy, we will cease to be free.

The United States is the strongest nation in history.  The biggest threat we are facing today is not from more terrorist attacks, it is from a big government economic take over.  Our biggest enemy is not al Qaida, it is people who are willing to trade our free market system for a government-run national healthcare system.

Just as Jacob offered his brother Esau a bowl of lentil stew for his birthright, the Democrats are offering us government run healthcare in exchange for our individual rights and liberty. Not even Esau would accept the Democrats’ offer. 

The Democrats want big government to replace the free market and thus dominate America’s economy.

The Republicans want America to remain free.

It is time for us to take back America.

Mayor Jere Wood,
Roswell