[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H438-H442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICAN HERITAGE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Davis of Kentucky). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Price) is recognized for half the time remaining until midnight,
approximately 42 minutes.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to
come and chat with the House and to maybe set the record straight a
little bit.
As a freshman Member of the House, we have 24, 25 freshmen on our
side of the aisle, and over the past 13 months we have grown a little
weary with what we see as the amount of misinformation and
disinformation that we so oftentimes see brought by the other side, so
we have developed what we call the Official Truth Squad. And so I am
here to bring you some messages with some of my colleagues from the
Official Truth Squad, which is an effort to try to embrace the American
Dream, to embrace the American vision, and to present to the American
people and our colleagues the story that Congress is working in a
positive manner, that we are optimistic about the Nation's future in
spite of some things that you hear from some of our friends on the
other side of the aisle.
When I go home and I talk to constituents, I oftentimes hear them
say, What is going on up there? Why all the negativity? Why all the
pessimism? Why all the misinformation that we appear to hear all the
time? And I commiserate with them. So this Official Truth Squad is an
attempt to try to bring some light to truth, to some of the information
that we believe the American people ought to have in contrast to some
of the things that you have heard, even here tonight.
I am pleased to hear the Blue Dogs present a proposal or two. They
talk about being fiscally conservative. They talk about being fiscal
hawks. But my recollection is a little bit to the contrary of that.
There is a wonderful quote that I like from Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a
former United States Senator from New York, Democrat. And he was such a
cogent individual. He was one of those individuals who worked for the
truth regardless of where it led. And he had this wonderful quote. He
said, ``Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own
facts.'' Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own
facts. And I really think that that kind of crystallizes what we have
heard in this Chamber over the past few minutes.
You have heard the other side talk about deficit spending and how we
ought not be spending into the deficit, and they are right. They are
right. But when they had an opportunity to decrease spending by nearly
$40 billion just a few short weeks ago, not a single one of them, not
one of them, voted for it. A $39.8 billion decrease in spending and not
a single one voted in favor of it.
You heard them talk about the alternative minimum tax and how it is
an unjust tax and it needs to go away, and they are right. They are
right. A colleague of mine, Congressman English, has a bill, H.R. 1186,
that would repeal the alternative minimum tax. Not a single Democrat on
that bill, not a single cosponsor from that side of the aisle.
You hear them talk about the need to balance the budget and not spend
so much money, and they are right. They are absolutely right. But when
the proposals are put on the table to do away with programs that are
wasteful or do away with programs that have significant abuse, where
are they? Nowhere to be found.
So you are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to
your own facts. And to crystallize that a little more because the
disinformation that we heard over and over about budgetary cuts really
does a disservice to the debate, does a disservice to the discussion,
does a disservice to the American people, because when you look at the
numbers, when you look at the truth, that is not what is going on.
And this evening you have heard the other side talk about budgetary
cuts in the area of defense spending and spending on veterans. So, at
home, if I were sitting there listening, I would say, well, my
goodness, they must have addressed the amount of money that was going
to the military or decreased the amount of money going to veterans.
Mr. Speaker, is that not what you would think? That is what I would
think if I heard that. But here we have the Defense Department
appropriation, budgetary authority from Congress from the year 2000
projected through 2007. In 2000 it was $287 billion. In 2001 it was
$303 billion. That does not sound like a cut to me. In 2002, $328
billion. That is real money. That does not sound like a cut to me. In
2003, $365 billion.
Remember, down here in 2000 we were at $287 billion.
So these are the actual numbers. Fiscal year 2006, $411 billion of
budgetary authority for the Department of Defense. Mr. Speaker, that is
not a cut. That is responsible spending on the part of the United
States Congress. And I am proud of the support that we have given to
our military. And I am proud of the support that we continue to give to
veterans.
You have heard this evening that veterans' budgets were cut. Here are
the numbers, the actual numbers, from 1984 through 2005, and I want to
draw your attention to what has happened in the last 10 years. In 1994
discretionary spending for veterans: $17.2 billion; 1995, $17.6
billion; 2005, $30.7 billion.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know what arithmetic they are using. I do not
know where they went to school, but I do know that that is not a cut in
anybody's book.
So when we get this kind of misinformation, this kind of
disinformation, it does not contribute to the public debate. It is not
honest. It is not truthful. So the Official Truth Squad is here to try
to bring some truth to the situation.
This is veterans' medical care, and you heard it talked about this
evening, how we have these incredible cuts in medical care for
veterans. Mr. Speaker, here are the numbers: 1994, $15.6 billion; 2005,
$29.9 billion. Mr. Speaker, that is not a cut. It is an appropriate,
responsible move by Congress to take care of those who are protecting
our freedoms.
So remember what Mr. Moynihan said, You are welcome to your own
opinions but you are not welcome to your own facts.
So I would like to highlight this evening what is called the politics
of division that seems to be practiced by so many here in Washington,
and it is disheartening and it does a disservice to all of us. We are
going to talk tonight in a positive way about America. We are going to
talk in a positive way about our future. We are going to talk in a
positive way about our Founding Fathers and about our history and about
our heritage.
[[Page H439]]
And just to identify the destruction of the politics of division that
is so often practiced here, I have got a quote from Abraham Lincoln
that I would like to share with you and it is kind of his philosophy on
the social fabric. He said: ``You cannot bring about prosperity by
discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the
strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot encourage the brotherhood of man by encouraging class
hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot
keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build
character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could do
for themselves.''
Mr. Speaker, the politics of division has no place in the public
arena. It does a disservice to our Nation. It does a disservice to the
debate. Frankly, it is an embarrassment for the individuals that
practice it.
So I encourage all Members of Congress, Republican, Democrat, all of
my colleagues, to go about our debates and the discussions that we have
and the challenges that we face in this Nation in a positive and honest
and truthful manner. Then we can get to the right solutions.
As I mentioned, the Official Truth Squad comes almost every evening
since we began the first of the year and talks about some positive
aspects of America, talks about the importance of honesty and
truthfulness in the debate. And tonight we are going to concentrate on
our heritage, our American heritage, our wonderful American heritage.
{time} 2245
I have been joined by a number of colleagues tonight, and they are
going to share a story or two about maybe the Founding Fathers, some
heritage that we have. I hope that what that will do is inspire some of
our colleagues to remember the principles that brought our Nation about
and remember, remember, the ideals that we are bound to uphold.
With that, I am honored to yield to my good friend Louie Gohmert from
the great State of Texas. He is a judge by profession and is a member
of the freshman class as well, and has just a wealth of knowledge about
American history and our heritage. Congressman Gohmert, please share a
few words with us.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my good friend from Georgia,
the eminent physician, healing not only bodies in the past, but coming
in and healing with the good elixir of truth. We appreciate that
tonight, Mr. Speaker, and we appreciate the opportunity to be here.
You are talking about truth, and you have the poster that says the
Official Truth Squad. Something that has been neglected for far too
long is the truth about our history. You look back, there was a school
I read not too long ago that was going to change their name away from
George Washington, and I thought how tragic. They do not know history.
You go back, and above the Speaker's head up here, we see ``In God We
Trust.'' George Washington, there was a time when he was in desperate
need, and he prayed to that God in whom we trust.
Going back to 1755, a young man in his early twenties, Washington was
headed up toward Fort Duquesne with about 100 American soldiers and
about 1,300 British soldiers. As they proceeded up through
Pennsylvania, they had to go through a wooded area, a large wooded
area, and there was a ravine that they marched through. There were 85
soldiers on horseback, those were the officers, and that included
George Washington.
As they made their way through, the Indians and French were lying in
wait, this was the French and Indian War, and here this young man with
boldness, gallantry, was on horseback, he led his soldiers. When the
ambush started, it was horrible. Bodies were flying everywhere, bullets
taking them out.
After about 2 hours, there were over 700 who had died. There were 84
of the 85 officers that had been shot off their horses. Only one
remained. That was George Washington. Finally, after a couple of hours,
the remaining British and Americans retreated from the woods, and when
they got a good distance away, they reformed and retreated, I believe
it was back to Maryland.
There was a letter that Washington wrote back to his mother and
brother accounting what happened. There are other accounts that seem to
all tell the same story. But Washington wrote that when he took off his
hat and shook his head, bullet fragments fell out of his hair, but
there wasn't a scratch on him. He said when he took off his vest, there
were bullet holes in his investigate, but not a scratch on him. As he
wrote to his mother and brother, he said, ``Truly God was with me,''
that God in whom we trust.
Fast forward 15 years later. Washington and a friend of his named Dr.
Craig were going up through Pennsylvania. Washington was going to go by
and show him this place where this horrible thing happened, where so
many people died.
As they approached the woods, they were met by a group of Indians,
and it turned out an old Indian chief was with them. They had a council
fire, and during that time the chief disclosed that 15 years earlier,
he too had been in that wood, and that he had heard Washington was
coming to that area so he journeyed to meet him.
He said, ``I gave the order to my braves to shoot at you, because we
could see you coming from a distance and I knew if we shot you, that
your men would flee in fear. We could just tell the way you rode.'' He
said, ``I personally shot at you around 17 times. I traveled this
distance to meet the man that God would not let die.''
This was a man who was prepared for that. Through it all, through
that horror of that event, you look back and see how that was worked
together for good. He saw how the British reacted when they were under
fire. He saw effective tactics. But, even more so, all those people saw
him. They saw his gallantry, his bravery, his courage, his leadership.
They knew this was a guy that they could trust, even in his early
twenties.
So as we move toward the 1776 time, in the days when he would lead
this country, a lot of people don't realize, but he was just the man
for just such a time.
Mr. Speaker, I was talking to a group of youth from Grace Community
School there in Tyler. Those kids know so much about our history. They
know. But not every school teaches the history. I am proud to have a
school like that in my city in Tyler where they know those kinds of
things.
But after 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was signed,
things looked so grim that the signers of the Declaration of
Independence knew that if their troops failed, they were all dead
people. Their families were dead, everything they owned would be taken,
their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor, everything would be
gone. Yet they put their trust in George Washington, along with the God
that we trust.
On December 27, 1776, when things looked so bleak and they knew that
shortly, just a matter of a week or so, the enlistment of these men
would be up, they knew if they headed home as they were intending to
do, all was lost. So they passed a resolution as a Continental Congress
that basically gave Washington all the power that they had, power to
pay money, to make orders, to tell people to do whatever. Then,
interestingly, the letter that accompanied that resolution that they
sent to Washington included this line. It said, ``Happy it is for this
country that the general of their forces could be safely entrusted with
the most unlimited power, and neither personal security, liberty nor
property be in the least degree endangered thereby.''
Mr. Speaker, I know my good friend from Georgia feels the same way. I
trust so many people, but I don't know of a single person in this
country right now I would trust with that kind of power. But that is
what George Washington had.
One of my favorite paintings, as I was telling the group from Tyler
earlier today, from Grace Community Church, is the painting of
Washington coming back in to the Continental Congress saying here is
all the power back. Nobody had ever done that before.
This was a guy that had won the war. He had won the day. He was
entitled to be called czar, emperor, dictator, pharaoh, whatever he
wanted to be called.
[[Page H440]]
Yet he came back in and, just as the resolution and the cover letter
said, they knew he could be trusted. He came back in and said here is
all the power back. It is yours. I am going back to Mount Vernon, and
he did.
Some people don't realize just how brave he was. At the battle of
Princeton, January 3, 1777, a young soldier wrote, and it is a recorded
part of our history, ``The sight of Washington set an example of
courage such as I have never seen. I shall never forget what I felt
when I saw him brave all the dangers of the field and his important
life hanging as if it were by a single hair with a thousand deaths
flying around him. Believe me, I thought not of myself.'' That is not a
picture we see much these days.
Nathaniel Green wrote, ``He will be the deliverer of his own
country.''
The Pennsylvania Journal wrote of Washington in 1777 as the
revolution went on, ``If Washington had been born in the days of
idolatry, he would be worshipped as a god. If there are spots on his
character, they are like the spots on the sun, only discernible by the
magnifying powers of a telescope.''
As David McCollough wrote, ``Without Washington's leadership and
unrelenting persistence, the Revolution almost certainly would have
failed.''
That is the kind of heritage we have. That is the kind of truthful,
honest, courageous man that helped start this country and to whom we
owe so much.
In conclusion, as our good friend and fellow Republican, we didn't
know him personally, but God rest his soul, what a legacy, Abraham
Lincoln, said in his second inaugural, ``With malice toward none, with
charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the
right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the
Nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and
for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a
just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.''
God has blessed America. Mr. Speaker, it is my prayer that will
continue.
I thank my good friend from Georgia for yielding to allow me to
address those comments.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you so much, Congressman Gohmert, for
bringing us those words and the inspiring stories of American history.
You have highlighted one of my absolute favorites with Washington
withstanding the onslaught of the attack and then meeting the Indian
chief years later and the Indian chief telling him that he understood
and knew and it was clear that Washington had been touched by the hand
of God. That just is so inspiring when we hear those words.
Washington himself talked a lot about our Nation. He talked a lot
about what it took to preserve the Nation. He was concerned that the
Nation might have difficulty in the future, and he felt that the only
way to keep our Nation strong was on what he called teaching the
science of government. He said a primary object should be the education
of our youth in the science of government. By that he meant learning
about government, learning about our republic.
He went on to say, ``In a republic, what species of knowledge can be
equally important and what duty more pressing than communicating or
teaching it to those who are to be the future guardians of the
liberties of our country?''
That is why it is important that I think we come here this evening
and talk about our heritage, talk about our history, talk about the
wonder of America.
It has been said if you want to see the future of a nation and what
it will be, look at what the children are being taught. So we hope by
some small measure to assist in the education of all of us and to
remind us about the wonder and the beauty and the awe of our Nation and
its heritage.
I am joined now by Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. Congresswoman Schmidt
is a fellow freshman and an active participant in the Official Truth
Squad. We are so pleased to have her join us this evening and bring
some comments about our heritage and about the principles of our
wonderful Republic.
Mrs. SCHMIDT. Thank you so much.
Tonight, I really want to talk about what I believe freedom is all
about. As we sit in this beautiful Chamber, we must be mindful that we
are the luckiest people in the world to live in the greatest Nation in
the universe.
So I stand here tonight on the floor of this great Chamber like
thousands of Representatives before me as living proof that democracy
works. I share the same love for my country as my 37 predecessors from
the Ohio Second Congressional District. I am the 38th Member of
Congress from my district and the first woman. And I may be the first
to wear high heels, but I am not alone in my support of this great
country and for all that it stands.
Our country was founded on the principles of freedom: freedom to
pursue life, liberty and happiness; freedom to bear arms; freedom to
voice your opinion in the market square, or in this very Chamber;
freedom to print what you decide to be printed is fit to be printed.
Freedom is a wonderful thing. It is an infectious thing. Millions of
the oppressed around the world yearn for this very thing called
freedom: free from oppression, free from terror, free from tyranny.
Freedom is a powerful drink. It spills 1 million people into the
streets of downtown Beirut demanding to be free from the rule of Syria
and its dictator. It causes men to take up arms against their
oppressors on the streets of Baghdad and Kabul. Just the dream of
freedom caused men and women to risk their lives by organizing
opposition in places like Beijing and Havana.
{time} 2300
Far too often we Americans take our freedom for granted. We forget
about the heroes before us that gave us this right, this privilege,
this ability.
Thomas Jefferson said, ``The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.''
He knew, even as freedom was being brought to our new country, that our
very freedom would be constantly at risk.
``Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men,
undergo the fatigue of supporting it,'' said Thomas Paine. As we stand
here tonight, the Official Truth Squad, surrounded by the glorious
testament of our democracy and freedom, we must be mindful, mindful
that democracy is on the march, mindful that 50 million people are
newly free thanks to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Let me repeat that. Fifty million people have the same opportunity
that we have to taste and drink freedom, but most importantly, mindful
that much more needs to be done. Tonight, the oppressed are dying at
the hands of evil in far too many places around the world, in the camps
of Darfur, in the jails of Havana, in political prisons in Asia.
Dwight David Eisenhower once said, ``History does not long entrust
the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We did not chose to lead
this fight, history has chosen us. Only we have the power needed to
spread freedom. We indeed have been given the responsibility.''
Our forefathers knew that when they were participating in this grand
experiment so many years ago. We have been handed that torch. History
will judge not what we say, but what we do.
I am honored to be here tonight to speak about this very important
principle, because if we do not continue to lead this march, someone
will come and take that torch from us.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak my mind in the
greatest Nation, in the greatest chamber.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you, Congresswoman Schmidt. It is just a
pleasure to hear your words and the very inspiring words.
You talk about freedom being infectious. It truly is. But you also
talked about freedom not being free, and that the price of freedom, the
price of liberty, is eternal vigilance.
I am proud to stand with you this evening and continue, continue to
try to assist others to appreciate the fact that that eternal vigilance
is necessary now, as never before frankly.
So we appreciate so much your words this evening and your
participation.
Mr. Speaker, I am also joined this evening by another fellow
freshman, Congresswoman Foxx from North Carolina, just a great, great
member of the freshman class, an individual whom I respect highly, who
spent a number of years in the education community, understands what it
means to impart the importance of our heritage, of American principles
and fundamentals.
[[Page H441]]
I welcome you this evening and look forward to your words.
Ms. FOXX. Thank you, Congressman Price. It is a real pleasure to be
here tonight. I am grateful for the words of our colleagues earlier,
Congressman Gohmert and Congresswoman Schmidt. I appreciate what they
have said, and you. I am really proud to be a part of the Official
Truth Squad.
And while I did not hear all of the comments that were made just
prior to our beginning our session here, I did want to respond to one
thing that you said. That is that we all are entitled to our opinions,
but the facts are the facts. And it is important that we get the facts
straight here. And I think many of the things that we are responding to
are things that have been purported to be facts which are not facts at
all. And I think it is important that we set the record straight.
I also noted tonight in the presentation by the Blue Dog Coalition
that they are very concerned about the deficit, but they want to do
away with the tax cuts and spend more money.
The problem with the deficit is that we are spending too much, and we
need to cut back on the spending. And that is a fundamental issue. I
think it is pretty much a fundamental law of economics, which I do not
think can be done away with simply by talking about it. I think that we
are going to have to come to grips with it.
As our colleague from Ohio was saying, it is such a great honor to be
able to serve in this House. And I want to say that I grew up in a
house in western North Carolina with no electricity, no running water,
about as poor as anybody you will ever meet. And it is a true miracle
that someone with my background could come here and represent the 5th
District of North Carolina. And I am in awe every day of the fact that
I have this great opportunity and am grateful for it.
And I think about the way this country was formed, and I think it is
important that we talk a little bit about that.
I am troubled that so few people even know the basis of our
government. People do not know the Constitution. They do not know the
basis of our laws. They do not know the history of this country. And I
want to talk some more about that, but I know we are not going to have
as much time tonight as we had thought we would originally, so I am
going to make a recommendation of a couple of books which I think are
wonderful books to read.
Anything by David McCullough is great. I know that he was being
quoted earlier. I had a chance to read 1776 recently, which is the
story of the first year of the revolution, and it is wonderful.
And tonight I was reviewing the Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis.
And he talks a lot about the things that came together to make the
United States possible, to make the Revolution possible. And I do want
to quote one piece from Ellis, or maybe a couple of pieces from the
book Founding Brothers. I do highly recommend it as something so easy
to read.
But he said, No one had ever established a republican government on
the scale of the United States. And the overwhelming judgment of the
most respected authorities was that it could not be done.
Well, here we are over 200 years later proving that it can be done.
But it is our job as representatives of the people to make sure that
this wonderful experiment in liberty is sustained. And as, again, our
colleague from Ohio said, it is a great honor to serve here.
And some people may not know this, and I think it is important to
know, that the only way anybody can serve in the United States House of
Representatives is to be elected. People can be appointed to every
other office in the United States, but they cannot be appointed to
serve in the United States House of Representatives. One must be
elected, and we are elected every 2 years.
And I hope in this course of time, as we talk about the principles of
this country, that we will do something that I do not think people do
often enough, that is read the Constitution. I think it is helpful for
us to reflect on the Constitution. And as we talk about the Truth
Squad, I want to read two pieces from the Constitution tonight, and
then turn it back to you, Mr. Price, to conclude our time here.
But I think so often even the Constitution itself is not quoted
accurately. And I think that part of our job should be to remind the
people what the Constitution says, and how it is the basis for
everything else that we do.
Now I am going to read just the Preamble to the Constitution. And by
the way, I borrowed this from the Parliamentarian. And I find it
interesting that we tie back to Mr. Jefferson and the Founding Fathers.
This is, in one manual, the Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the
Rules of the House of Representatives.
As I understand it, in almost every elected body in the United
States, they go back to Jefferson's Manual when there is any dispute on
whether the rules apply or not. And so I think the fact that we do that
is a great tribute to again our Founding Fathers and particularly Mr.
Jefferson and the care he took with these things.
Let me read the Preamble:
``We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect
union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the
common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.''
I think that the key words for me here are ``provide for the common
defense.'' That is the role of the Federal government. That is the
number one role of the Federal government. We do want to promote the
general welfare, but that is not the primary goal of the Federal
government. It is to provide for the common defense.
Promoting the general welfare can be done in lots of different ways.
And I have heard some people on the other side say we should change
those words around and say, provide for the general welfare and promote
the common defense. I think that that is one of the problems that we
are having in our country these days.
And the other piece of the Constitution that I want to read tonight
that I think is a part of tying back into our being the Official Truth
Squad is amendment 1 to the Constitution:
``Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of
speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assembly
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.''
I find that in most days, when people want to quote the first
amendment, they often quote that first phrase and leave out the second
phrase. And I think that that is so important; I think it is a part of
tying back again to the Truth Squad.
Many times you hear people quote, ``Congress shall make no law
respecting the establishment of religion,'' that says we should take
the words ``In God We Trust'' off of our money, the words ``Under God''
out of our pledge. But what is so important is the second half of that
sentence, ``or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.''
Unfortunately, those who would take away our freedoms are the ones
who so often leave off the second half of that phrase. And it is
extremely important that we not distort the words of the Constitution.
And it is important I think that our Truth Squad remind people of those
words so often, and I think we need to do that.
I hope we will in our sharing things with the people talk more about
the Constitution and how the truth of the Constitution itself has been
distorted by some of our colleagues.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you so much, Congresswoman Foxx. I tell
you, it does my heart good to listen to your comments about the
Constitution, about our Founding Fathers, and the kinds of things that
they held dear.
I want to just highlight again that Preamble, the first line of the
Preamble, ``We the people of the United States in order to form a more
perfect union.''
The Founding Fathers used these words to remind us that preserving
the Constitution that they created is as difficult, maybe even more so,
as writing and ratifying it in the late 1780s.
The words remind us that it is we the people that educate ourselves
on the issues, become involved in choosing our leaders, and committed,
those leaders, make sure the leaders are committed to governing by
constitutional principles. And again the issues that we
[[Page H442]]
face today are equally as dangerous as those that the Founders faced.
I wanted to highlight very briefly another document that is one of
our founding documents, that is the Declaration of Independence. One of
the early paragraphs in the Declaration I think crystallizes something
that is incredibly important, we all know those words, but I think it
is important to repeat them:
``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,''
and ``that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among
Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.''
Incredible, powerful words.
But the message here that I always harken back to is that the power
that government has is derived from the people, because the people
derive their power from the Almighty, and the power that people have
they then cede to government. It is not the other way around.
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We do not believe that government has power and gives it to people.
We believe that people, because of the inherent power from the Almighty
and because of the inherent quality of life, have that power and cede
it to the Federal Government and to the State government to bring about
the kind of things that Congresswoman Foxx talked about.
The founding of our Nation truly is tied to a reliance on a higher
authority and everyone at the time knew that. We have gotten a bit away
from that, and I think one of the things that is incumbent upon us as
leaders is to make certain that we remember that and that we remind
people of that and that we talk about it freely and openly make certain
that everyone understands and appreciates the importance of the
Almighty.
One of the items that I will close with that moves me so every time I
read it is Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting and
Prayer. There are a couple of portions of that that I find incredibly
eloquent. I quote from the proclamation:
``It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their
dependence on the overruling power of God, and to confess their sins
and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine
repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime
truth announced in the holy scriptures and proven by all history that
those nations only are blessed whose God is Lord.
``We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We
have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have
grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which
has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened
us. And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts that
all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of
our own.
``Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-
sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too
proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us then to humble
ourselves before the offended power and to confess our national sins
and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.''
Mr. Speaker, we live in a wonderful and a wondrous Nation, a Nation
that has blessed more individuals on the face of the Earth than any
nation in the history of mankind. It is our privilege to serve in the
United States House of Representatives and to bring this message of
hope and optimism and positive speaking to the American people.
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