Several Miller County Candidates Drop Out of Republican Primary 2022

The primary election cycle is barely starting, and already several candidates have withdrawn from races across Miller County, Arkansas.  Justice of the Peace 3 and 7 have both seen withdrawals.  In addition, Constable 3 had a candidate withdraw early before the ballot draw was completed. 

Justice of the Peace 3 started with a contest between Ethan Eppinette and Danny Jewell.  Before the ballot draw in March, Jewell officially withdrew his name as a candidate.  As a result, he will not appear on the ballot for the primary.  Eppinette has now secured the Republican nomination, but he will face a Democrat opponent in the general election. 

Constable 3 had a primary race between Tom Morrisey and Mark Brown.  Before the ballot draw, Morrisey withdrew as a candidate, leaving Brown as the only Republican on the ballot.  Brown does not face an opponent for the general election, so he has secured the position of Constable 3. 

Justice of the Peace 7 was set for a three-way Republican Primary race.  Jeff Paige, Roy Pitt, and James Syler filed for the position.  Paige officially withdrew on March 31st.  Because the ballots have already been submitted, Paige will appear on ballots for the primary; however, he will not be counted as an official candidate.  The primary will be between Pitt and Syler.  The primary winner faces no challenger in the general election and will therefore secured the position. 

Miller County Secure as Republican for 2022 Elections

For the 2022 election cycle, Miller county, Arkansas, already has a Republican dominance, and the first vote has not even been cast yet.  In 2018, Miller county saw 27 Republicans take office at the end of the election cycle.  In 2020, the number of Republicans in Miller County increased by one for a total of 28 Republicans in office.  Before the election has even started, 21 Republicans are already guaranteed positions this year.  

The county has 34 elected positions, from Constable to State Senator and State Representative.  Currently, 21 Republicans have no opponents.  There are 6 positions with a Republican Primary race.  This means that the 21 Republicans will be joined by six additional people on the primary night.  Therefore, there will be 27 Republicans secure in their positions on the primary night with no opposition.  

Only two Justice of the Peace (JP) Races have challengers to the Republican position.  JP 1 will see Republican John Wilson facing off with an Independent.  JP 4 will see Republican Ethan Eppinette facing a Democrat challenger.  On the county level, there is currently only one Democrat on the ballot, and he is running for JP 4.  

State Representatives Carol Dalby, Danny Watson, and Lane Jean will all be secure in their Republican nominations, but they will face Libertarian opponents in the general election.  In addition, state Senator Jimmy Hickey will face an independent in the general election. 

Based on current projections, only two races present a viable challenge to the Republican Party, JP 1 and JP 4.  If Republicans can secure these two positions, Miller County could see a county with 34 Republicans in office starting on January 1, 2023.  While there are no guarantees in politics, it certainly looks like the county will have a Republican-controlled government into the foreseeable future. 

For more information and candidates, see the Miller County Election Cycle

To learn more about the Miller County Republican Committee, visit the Miller County Republican Committee

Republican Growth Continues in Miller County

The growth and influence of the Miller County Republican Committee has never been more evident than during the filings this year.  There was a time when Republicans were openly encouraged to run as a Democrat in Miller County.  A Republican would go to the courthouse to file for an office, and those helping would immediately say, “Oh, you don’t want to run as a Republican. You won’t get elected.  You need to run as a Democrat.”  Sadly, in some cases, those Republicans decided running as a Democrat was the only way to win; however, other Republicans stood firm.  Those Republicans may have lost the race, but they refused to give up their values.  Today, thanks to the work of a dedicated Republican Committee in Miller County, Republicans no longer need to fear hearing they should run as Democrats.  

Filing ended at noon on March 1, 2022.  At 12:01, the reports showed a clear and continued shift in the county.  It’s a shift that has been slowly growing as Americans wake up to the platform of the Republican Party.  Forty-five Republicans filed for the thirty-four open positions representing the citizens of Miller at a state and county level.  Three Libertarians filed, two independents filed, and only one Democrat filed.  After years of seeing Democrats across the ballots in Miller County, there is now only one left willing to run for office.  County Republicans secured twenty-one uncontested races at the end of the filing.  

The last committee count revealed a total of sixty-four members.  With the filing complete, seventy Republicans will take over the county committee at the County Convention this year.  Candidates and Committee Members will lead the way into the primary and general election of 2022.  The Miller County Republican Committee is a vibrant and overshadowing example of what Republicans can do when the message is clear and shared with citizens. The values are American. The mission is to help keep this great country great.  We work at the county level, but without a county committee, there is no district, no state, and no federal level- so keep working, Republicans, because your growth and influence are alive and well in Miller County, Arkansas.

Biden: Destroying the American Economy in The First Year

On May 19, 2019, Joe Biden spoke in Pennsylvania and said that President Trump “inherited a good economy” from the Obama Administration. So intent was Biden on expressing how Obama handed Trump a great economy,  that Biden stressed that people should pay attention to the “facts” he was presenting.   According to Biden, the economy, so enjoyed by Democrats and Republicans, under President Trump was actually the fruits of the hard work of the Obama Administration. So naturally, Joe failed to point out that this “good economy” he referred to was now three years into the Trump Administration.  

Now, as most Americans look around and wonder what happened to gas prices, food prices, and what the heck is going on with energy prices, Biden again has an answer. On April 28, 2021, four months into Biden’s presidency and as prices skyrocket and America starts into what is now viewed as the worst economy and the highest inflation rate since 1982, Biden has the answer. It’s all Trump’s fault. According to Biden, he “inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”  Well, perhaps that is a little overdramatic, but if you’re going to lie, why not just lie big? Lying appears to be Biden’s key weapon.   

Notwithstanding all the many promises Biden made and has since ignored, it’s hard to blame Trump for a lousy economy. If you look at the facts - as Biden so expresses -  these negative economic impacts did not happen until Biden took office and started implementing his policies. The Biden policies have stalled shipping of products, raised government minimum wage overnight without the gradual increase usually recommended, and pushed for increases in the minimum wage, which some companies adopted, again, without a monitored and planned rollout. These Economic Ignorant actions have directly harmed the economy.  

Now let’s be fair yes people working jobs deserve better wages, but let’s also understand something about minimum wage. First, the minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage. It was meant for high school kids, college students, and trade students. It was meant to be your first job wage while working toward something more significant and better. The concept is simple, you earn minimum wage until you’re skilled or degreed to a level of doing something else, or you advance in your job through the ranks. Unfortunately, this system is not working, and in many cases, people have chosen to continue to work minimum wage jobs instead of trying to find something better. Fast forward, and suddenly the guy at the coffee shop is making $18 an hour to fix your coffee; the guy flipping hamburgers is making $15 an hour to push a timer and flip a burger. The people stocking the shelves at your craft store make $18.50 an hour. But, as we do this, we have degreed people making $14 an hour, we have skilled medical people making $16 an hour, and those people, after years of hard work and education, have been left behind.  

With the boom in wages comes a boom in cost. This means that corporations have to raise the price of products and services to make money. Once they raise costs, even the people making $18 an hour will find it hard to make ends meet. Let’s not even talk about seniors on fixed incomes that anticipated a slow economic growth and slow wage increases…not an overnight doubling of wages. The answer to who started all this across the country…Joe Biden. 

So, Joe has a good idea - let’s get more money to the working people…let’s raise the minimum wage. That’s fine, but obviously, nobody in the White House understands basic economics…just listen to the press secretary for a minute, and you can figure that out…so if Joe raises wages - especially federal contractors and workers- and others follow the program, then you have an economy that can not help but suffer huge setbacks. The plan should have been set up like Arkansas set theirs up - slow and one step at a time. Arkansas has a plan to raise the minimum wage over several years…not overnight. But Arkansas has a Republican Governor and Republican-controlled legislature, so it’s not likely Joe was going to listen to him. While Republicans in Arkansas implemented a well-thought-out and coordinated plan presented to the people, Biden simply jumped forward without any thought to the consequences of his actions.   

No, Joe, you did not “inherit the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”  No, Joe, you started the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression by ignoring fundamental economic truths. But, to be fair,  what can we expect from a man confused about whether Trump inherited a great economy or gave Biden a bad one? Biden, you can’t have it both ways.

What Biden's Unrealized Capital Gains Tax Really Means to America

If you haven't heard about the proposed "Unrealized Capital Gains Tax," then get ready for a new concept from the old "Tax and Spend" Democrats.  The idea is simple.  Billionaires would now pay a tax on what they might earn.  In perhaps the simplest forms, the tax would be on what you might earn if you decided to sell or liquidate a business, property, stock, etc.   They currently talk about applying this plan to billionaires, but at least one Senator has already stated it could be floated to millionaires as well.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if Democrats take it to billionaires and eventually millionaires, someone will yell discrimination.  When Democrats realize they are discriminating by targeting billionaires (class discrimination - go on and look that up), they are going to discover the only answer they can...the Unrealized Capital Gains Tax must be applied to everyone.  Surprise!   

Now, you may be wondering what that means to you, and the answer can get complicated, so let's take a theoretical look: 

Unrealized Capital Gains tax would be implemented based on what you might earn, so if you bought stock worth $100 today, but next week, that same stock skyrocketed to $1000, you would stand to make $900 off your investment.  Sounds good, right?  Well, let's say you decide to keep the stock and not sell.  Now you don't make the $900 off the stock.  In the meantime, in comes the government, and they say, "Ah, you could have made $900 off that stock, but you did not, so it's 'Unrealized,' and now you owe taxes."  

Now there are various capital gains tax rates, and most depend on the amount made, how long the asset was held, etc., but since they range from 10% to about 37%, we'll just go with 25% for our little demonstration here.  

The government is now taxing your $900- remember you don't have it; you did not realize it (it's unrealized).   You will have 25% of that $900, and that will now be your tax owed of $225.  In the meantime, that stock drops back to $100 - yes, stocks can drop and don't even get started on cryptocurrency and how much it can climb and drop.  You now have a stock worth $100, for which you owe $225 in taxes for having it in your name or business name.  What are you going to do?  Simple, you're going to pay $225 regardless of the stock's current status.  You now have to sell your stock for $100, add $125 to that money and send a check to the IRS for $225.  You have to do this all because the stock had 'Unrealized Gains' on your $100 investment, even if it only went up for a day or a few hours.  Take that concept and apply it to everything - your 401K, your stock, cryptocurrency, land investments, rental properties, farms, small business, large business, inherited business or farms and land...get the picture yet?

So, in the end, the billionaire takes their money, leaves the country for a tax-friendly country, and lives the rest of their lives on a beach somewhere sipping soft drinks.  No longer do they invest in a business, start more business or build on current business because the last thing that billionaire is going to do is give up large sums of money on something they never realized.  The same will happen to the millionaire.  Finally, those in the middle class perhaps investing in small portfolios, will find their Domino's pizza stock throws them into a forced liquidation or bankrupt case with the IRS.  Many Americans will go bankrupt as many businesses simply fold.  This will then have a cascading outcome on the United States.  Business will close, goods and services will be hard to obtain, American unemployment will be unbelievable, and perhaps at higher rates than even the Great Depression and people will starve.  The small and large farms alike collapse and fold while trying desperately to sell grandpa's farm just to pay taxes.  

One final thought - you don't think this can happen?  You think they will only "stick it to" the rich...When the 16th Amendment was put in place, only 1% of the U.S. population paid income taxes.  Everyone believed the focus was,  surprise, the rich. So the rich began paying taxes.  The design was to focus on a certain income level in each state to support America.  Today, very few Americans pay 0 income tax.  Somehow that "rich only" view just worked its way right on down to...well, everyone.  Do you really think Unrealized Capital Gains Tax will only affect billionaires?  You may want to really think long and hard about that.