WEEKLY UPDATE

In the middle of a crisis like the one we’re in now, one of the best ways to find a blueprint for moving forward is to look back.
We need to remember President Reagan’s vision of America as a shining city upon a hill that he shared in his farewell speech to the nation back in 1989. Based on a phrase from John Winthrop and rooted in Matthew 4:13-15, Reagan described it as “a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace – a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity…”
In his State of the Union address earlier this year, before any of us knew the challenges we’d soon face, President Trump told us, “The American nation was carved out of the vast frontier by the toughest, strongest, fiercest, and most determined men and women ever to walk the face of the Earth.”

There is no doubt in my mind we still have it in us to be the people who will keep America the shining city on a hill, a beacon for the world and a land of opportunity for all of us blessed enough to call it home. Throughout our history, we have had challenges—significant challenges—but there were always brighter days ahead.
Just in the past 100 years, the Spanish flu pandemic was followed by the Roaring Twenties; the Great Depression was followed by the country uniting to defeat evil and tyranny in World War II; and the dark days of the Vietnam War and Watergate gave way to the end of the Cold War and the booming economy of the 1980s and ‘90s.
Following in the footsteps of Americans who have gone before us, here’s the blueprint our republic needs to follow now:

·     Honor God
·     Respect life
·     Defend individual freedom
·     Work hard
·     Fight against foreign dependence, especially on China
·     Fight for small businesses and farmers

Although it's simple, it won’t be easy. But I know we can meet this challenge. We’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again. Look back and be encouraged about the future!

Thanks for your friendship and support,
Joe


Paid by Joe Harding, Republican, for State Representative