[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 24355]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 THANKING THE PEOPLE OF THE 12TH DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FOR THE HONOR TO 
          SERVE IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Canady) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CANADY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, some time in the next few days, 
the last vote of the 106th Congress will be cast. For those of us who 
will not be returning next year, that vote will mark the end of our 
legislative career.
  Mr. Speaker, 260 years ago, Samuel Johnson wrote of those ``points of 
time where one course of action ends and another begins,'' times when 
``we are forced to say of something, `this is the last.' ''
  For those of us who will soon end our course as Members of Congress 
and begin some new endeavor, the sense of the honor it is to serve here 
is felt more keenly now than ever before. As I approach the point in 
time when I am forced to say with the vote I cast that this is the 
last, I wish to express my thanks to the people of the twelfth district 
of Florida for giving me the opportunity to serve as their 
representative over the last 8 years.
  What a great privilege it is to serve in this House and to 
participate in the great American enterprise of government by 
reflection and choice. What an awesome privilege it is to be chosen to 
come from the communities we represent to this House and to take on the 
responsibilities imposed by our oath of office: the responsibility to 
support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all 
enemies, foreign and domestic; the responsibility to bear true and 
faithful allegiance to that Constitution; and the responsibility to 
well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which we 
enter. I will always be humbled by the knowledge that the people of the 
district I represent had the confidence in me to entrust me with these 
important responsibilities.
  God has blessed our Nation in many ways. It has been a single 
blessing for the people of the United States to have a Constitution, a 
Constitution which has indeed secured for us the blessings of liberty.
  Among the chief objects of our Constitution was to establish justice. 
The work of this House involves many mundane issues of passing 
significance. Much that takes place here will not long be remembered, 
but when we act to further the constitutional goal of establishing 
justice, we deal with matters of enduring significance.
  As Members of this House, we can come to stand and to speak in this 
Chamber. We can rise in this place to speak against injustice; and when 
truth stumbles in the public square, we can sound a warning that in our 
life as a people, as well as in our individual lives, nothing is more 
important than the truth. We can sound a warning that justice is in 
peril whenever the truth is not respected. As Members, on occasion we 
have the privilege to stand here in defense of the powerless and to 
speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. The value of the 
opportunity to do such things is inestimable.
  To all those who have made it possible for me to serve as a Member of 
this House, I owe a great debt of gratitude, a debt of gratitude which 
I do not have the words to express as I would like. I can simply say, 
thank you for allowing me to be your Congressman.

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