Sumter County resident reacts to Wayne Johnson’s speech at Republican Rally

Published 11:52 am Tuesday, October 29, 2024

The Republican Rally and Low Country Boil was held in Pelham Georgia on October 26. Several Republican representatives of conservative organizations, as well as politicians, made speeches, including Congressman Doug Collins.

For Sumter County resident Ben Sosby, Dr. Wayne Johnson stood out. “I liked him. I just think we’re going to have a hard time beating Sanford, because Sanford has been there forever.”

Sosby earlier asked Johnson for an autograph. He shared his motivation. “He’s my candidate, and I’m going to keep it.”

When asked if he thought Johnson could win, he replied; “I hope. I voted for him.”

Johnson also gave an interview after speaking at the event, telling how the Second Congressional Seat has been Democratic for over 150 years, and his opponent, Sanford Bishop, has been in office for 32 years. He commenting on the feasibility of winning, he noted his experience. “I’ve been a businessman for 40 years. Sanford has been a career politician for 40 years.”

Johnson also stated he was part of the Trump Executive Branch. “I was brought from business over and I saw how powerful a congressional voice can be when it interfaces with an agency like the Department of Ed or like the Department of Homeland Security or like the Department of Agriculture, and to cause resources to be brought to bear.”

He stated his support for the Farm Bill, but also noted an initiative of his own. “It’s a paid apprenticeship program.” Johnson gave examples. “We’re going to pay people between $18 and $20 an hour to learn a trade, learn a job.”

He detailed another program. “I figured out how to put people into a brand new three bedroom, two bath house, no down payment, okay, no credit check for $1,000. So if you’ve got somebody that’s got an 18 to $20 an hour job, they got a $200 brand new car, they got $1,000 house, they’re well on their way to being part of the American dream.” Both payments would be monthly.

When asked how the initiative could be financed, he replied; “When I was at the Department of Education, I was responsible for the entirety of the federal student loan program.”

Johnson made a conclusion. “So if we can give a student, you know, 100 or 200 or even a half a million dollar loan to go to school, under a direct loan program, we could have a federal direct loan program for cars and a federal direct loan program for housing. That changes the game.”

He asked if it wouldn’t still be a loan, Johnson replied; “It’s a loan. It’s not a grant, it’s not a gift, but it’s a loan.”

Johnson argued that it could still be affordable. “We can work the payment terms such that it’s affordable.” He also defended the feasibility of providing cheap housing. “Part of the way we are able to pull this off on the housing side is we’re working with local communities to take over blighted property and then use that as a place to actually construct homes.”

He gave plans for the car program. “The way we do the cars is we use the purchasing power of the United States government to contract with USA car makers to say that, yes, they will produce this kind of a car for like $18,000 which I know can be done.”

He told his take on student loan debt relief. “The way we do it is we get 10 hours of community or public service for every $1,000 of student loan debt, so then that way, they’re working off their student loan debt at the same time, they’re giving back to the community.”

Johnson also stated capping student loans would prevent students from suffering from crippling debt. “We’re not going to let the schools price however they want to knowing the federal government will induce that student to make a loan for that amount.”