[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 145 (Tuesday, November 12, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H8063-H8064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN

  (Mr. EHLERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

[[Page H8064]]

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, as we return and we begin session once 
again, I want to rise and express my appreciation for this country and 
for this institution.
  We all have experienced elections. What is interesting is that 
throughout the Nation, the elections have been remarkably close in many 
cases. I am proud of that, because I would not want to live in a 
country where we have a dictator that gets 99 percent of the vote in a 
rigged election. We are in a country where we present our ideas and 
ourselves to the country and to its people, and those people, on the 
basis of what we say and what we do, elect us. That is precisely the 
way the system is supposed to work. That is what the founders of this 
Nation wanted, and that is what they put in place 225 years ago.
  In addition to that, yesterday we celebrated Veteran's Day and 
recognized all those who have given the supreme sacrifice and those who 
have sacrificed parts of their lives to the service of this country. 
Once again, a date to remember, a date in which we honor people in our 
country.
  I am so proud to be an American. I am so very, very proud of our 
country, and I am delighted to be an American.

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