We Need More Like Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va)

Forbes: America's foundation holds her steady

By: J. RANDY FORBES | Times-Dispatch  April 08, 2012

Updated: April 08, 2012 - 12:00 AMJ. Randy Forbes represents Virginia's 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Contact him through his website, http://www.forbes.house.gov/.

Americans are not giving up. Even in the face of economic challenges and a polarized government, there remains a hope for an optimistic future. I hear it in the voices of men and women who ask me if the future of America is positive. I see it in the members of our youngest generation who look at me with earnestness, continuing to believe that the opportunities before them are endless.

Why are Americans so tenacious? Why do we refuse to accept a future that is anything but better than where we are today? Because we know we stand on something that is worth fighting for.

Two-hundred thirty-five years ago, our Founding Fathers had a vision for a nation free from the tyranny of England. They had no reasonable expectation of success, and they were unsure what the new world would look like — they had only a dream. And out of that dream — despite the overwhelming chance of failure, of personal ruin, of death — they built a revolution. They built America.

When they built our nation, they placed her on four foundational pillars that hold our nation steady. These core pillars are unique because they find strength in each other. Together, they build a product that is stronger than any one on its own. They are wholly dependent upon each other, and chipping away at one is to weaken the others.

These four pillars are the exceptional combination of economic freedom, respect for the rule of law, dedication to a well-guarded peace, and commitment to a freedom of faith. Most Americans understand to a very personal degree what each of these pillars means, because they are built into our daily lives and rooted deep beyond a surface level.

Therefore, economic freedom is more than just a thriving housing market or low interest rates — it is the degree to which our government empowers ordinary people to achieve their highest aspirations. When Americans see government leaders spending away our future, increasing its involvement in individual pocketbooks, regulating businesses or hindering global competition, they know a pillar is being weakened. Our nation was built on the premise that we are the "land of the free." Economic freedom is not separate from that premise, and Americans refuse to accept otherwise. We must empower businesses to create jobs. We must increase competitiveness for U.S. manufacturing. We must pay down America's unsustainable debt burden.

Respect for the rule of law is far greater than appointing the right judges to the bench. It is about protecting a set of rights that are anchored in our Constitution and birthed by concepts in the Declaration of Independence. When we hear the secretary of defense say we need international permission to go to war or see Supreme Court justices using foreign law as a basis of decisions in the United States, it feels strongly like abandoning the rule of law. What is at stake? Our very rights as Americans. We must renew our commitment to the Constitution.

Americans understand that casing our defense budget is the dedication to a well-guarded peace. Our Founding Fathers knew that our freedoms were so precious that they were worth protecting and worth defending. They also knew, as we know today, that one of the realities of having these freedoms is that there will always be individuals who want to rob them from us. We would be foolish to place our national defense second. We must fight for a strong defense, because it creates a strong America.

Americans know that a commitment to faith is about something deeper than the right to pray or recite the Pledge of Allegiance in classrooms. It is about a set of rights, endowed by the Creator, that cannot be taken away from us. It is about being created one nation, under God. These foundations lay the bedrock of liberty and freedom upon which we stand. To chip away at the freedom of faith is to break the very core of who we are as a nation. We must reaffirm and protect the freedom of faith that defines our nation.

Americans are tenacious because there is too much at stake. To this day, no other nation in the world has matched the level of America's greatness. Our nation didn't just happen. Our principles are different from the rest of the world's. We have inherited a nation worth fighting for, and it isn't government that will sustain us. It is our people — our tenacious people — because the pillars of America are collectively rooted in the rights of the individual.