More Than a Speech - Friday, January 13, 2017
The most important speech for the future of this country wasn’t the one President Obama gave this past week, a speech which looked back at eight years of failures, but instead will be the speech about our future Donald J Trump will deliver from the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Friday. He will speak about this country in a way which promotes individual liberties, accountability, freedoms and personal choice. It will be a speech not about ‘hope’ and ‘change’, but instead about the concrete actions he will immediately begin taking to help put American’s back to work, bring down the soaring costs of healthcare, reduce the tax burden and get government off the back of farmers, families, and small businesses.
Our country has seen some profound inaugural speeches throughout our history that have defined generations. The greatest inaugural addresses in American history all have one thing in common - they were delivered at critical moments in our nation’s history. Whether impending war, secession, economic calamity or world crisis, these speeches all managed to balance that moment of peril and fright with one of prosperity and the American will to overcome.
Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address was delivered at a time when the country was deeply divided between the north and the south during the Civil War. In only 701 words, Lincoln sought to unify using divine intervention stating that both sides: "read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other." His words spoken that day in 1865 are some of the most powerful spoken in American history. Lincoln closed wishing no ill will towards those which looked to divide the Union, but instead with words of compassion, charity and optimism towards a mended State: “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. “
Faced with a nation engulfed in depression and panicked by a banking crisis, Franklin Delano Roosevelt opened his inaugural speech in 1933 with the assertion that everyone knows today: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” John F. Kennedy’s phrase he delivered during his inaugural speech in 1961: “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” still inspires generations of Americans over 50 years later.
The fact that Americans still reference these memorable inaugural speeches of the past is a testament to how impactful they actually are. We are at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history; we have the opportunity to get off our current path of big government control and a ‘Washington knows best’ way of thinking. Just as some of the greatest inauguration speeches were given during critical times in American history, so will the inaugural address of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States on Friday. After placing his right hand on the bible and swearing before God and the American people to serve this great country as President, Donald J. Trump will deliver his inaugural address with a message to get to work for the American people. So listen to what he says, pay attention for those few words or phrases which will come to define the first 100 days of this presidency and the new direction of our country – you never know what lines will live on forever in history.
Hang in There America
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”
That is the oath I stood, raised my right hand and swore to uphold before god and the American people this Tuesday as the 115th Congress convened.
This oath is something I take very seriously. Hearing those words this week reminded me that our 45th President, Donald J. Trump will very soon raise his right hand and take an oath of his own in less than 14 days. Soon thereafter he will layout his vision for rebuilding our economy, restoring personal freedoms and liberties and getting the government off the backs and out of the lives of so many families, farmers and small business owners.
This week started the congressional work needed to lay the groundwork for our new President to hit the ground running on day one. The very first action we took was to strengthen the balance of power outlined in our Constitution and give power back to the people by taking the authority to legislate and regulate out of the hands of federal bureaucrats. Over the past 8 years, unelected Washington bureaucrats have run amuck under the Obama Administration, imposing thousands of unnecessary federal regulations that are crushing American families, small businesses and all of rural America. Americans simply cannot continue to survive under the weight of the heavy hand of the federal government.
In fact, the Obama administration has attempted to force through hundreds of “midnight regulations” on their way out the door. That is why I helped pass two pieces of legislation this week that will stop the outgoing administration from further hurting the American people. The passage of the Midnight Rules Relief Act and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act paved the way for the restoration of the Constitution under the Trump administration.
President Trump will also hit the ground running on day one in the White House following his inauguration. Instead of spending Inauguration Day parading through the streets of Washington DC for hours before hopping from one celebrity filled Inauguration ball to the next as his predecessor did, Trump has promised to spend the first few hours of his presidency actually doing the job he was elected to do – changing the direction of this country for the American people. Trump has broken with tradition by requesting that his inauguration parade be shorter than presidents of the past and reducing the number of public events and appearances. In comparison, President Obama attended a whopping 10 balls following his second inauguration in 2009. In a meeting I had with Vice-President elect Mike Pence this week, I heard the same eagerness to get to work – the same refreshing zeal for putting the needs of Americans first, not the needs of a bloated government.
We have a lot of work to do to clean up the mess the Obama Administration created in our country, but President-elect Trump will waste no time on January 20th getting to work. You won’t see President Trump basking in the glory of his new title as commander and chief of the United States atop a float in Washington or rubbing elbows with celebrities at fancy inaugural balls. Instead his first hours in office will be behind a desk, repealing some of the worst unconstitutional regulatory overreaches President Obama and his liberal allies have concocted.
Congress began the process of restoring the power of our Constitution this week, paving the way for President Trump once he takes the oath of office. Americans only need to hang in there for a few more days, then it'll be a matter of hanging on as we watch a President who is excited to get to work at a rapid pace to make America great again.
Dexter, Missouri - The Stoddard County Teen Age Republicans (TARS) will host their first monthly meeting of the 2017.
Stoddard County Teen Age Republicans are young men and women ages 13 - 19 who have an interest in politics, government, and serving their community!
They hope you will join them!
TARS will meet at McDonald's in Dexter on Sunday, January 29, 2017 from 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, Patricia Breckenridge, took the dais and administered the oath of office during the day’s ceremony.
Hubrecht has been known as a leader in Missouri’s healthcare and social service legislation. For her upcoming term, she has been assigned to serve on the Standing Committees on Utilities, as well as the Budget Committee. Special committees have not yet been assigned.
“I am so honored to again be allowed to serve the people of the 151st District,” said Representative Hubrecht. “I look forward to continuing to work towards better economic and healthcare opportunities for the Bootheel region.”
The Missouri Legislature is in Session this year from January 4th until 6:00 PM on May 12th. This is the 1st Regular Session of the 99th General Assembly.
To keep informed with what is happening in the Capitol this session you can visit www.house.mo.gov and search for Representative Hubrecht’s personal webpage, where you can also sign up for weekly Capitol Reports. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter by searching “Missouri State Representative Tila Hubrecht”.
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement today after being sworn-in to his second term as U.S. Senator for Missouri:
“It is an honor and a privilege to continue representing Missourians in the 115th Congress,” said Blunt. “I look forward to working with the incoming administration to roll back burdensome and unnecessary regulations, improve access to quality, affordable health care, and keep the promises we’ve made to our nation’s heroes. I’m also grateful for the opportunity to once again serve on the Appropriations, Commerce, Science, & Transportation, Intelligence, and Rules Committees, where I will continue working to address Missouri families’ top priorities.”
