Make a difference where you live

If you’re like me, you supported John McCain last November because you love your country and you were concerned about the direction Barack Obama would lead us.

Maybe you didn’t agree with McCain on every issue, but you respected his record of reform and public service, and you knew that he would always seek to put his country first. With McCain, we knew America would stay on the offense against terrorists, stand up to dictators, and enjoy a revitalized economy free from increasingly burdensome taxes and regulations.

Unfortunately, we were unable to build enough support for the Republican ticket in 2008, and our concerns about Obama and the Democrats have been validated over these past six months.

Despite inaugural promises to “spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day,” the radical Obama Administration has been relentless in systematically dismantling our government, our economy and our civil society. The “emergency” bailouts have added hundreds of billions to the federal deficit without benefiting anyone outside of a few select interest groups who helped put them in office. Time and again, our government has expanded beyond its Constitutional authority, meddling in private industry and violating our personal liberties. And they’ve done all of this while silencing inspectors, intimidating watchdogs and breaking promises that they would operate with transparency and diligence.

This reckless activity has been devastating to our economy. Instead of the recovery they promised, conditions have increasingly soured, and are now worse than was projected if our government had done nothing at all. You can see the frustration and exasperation build, as regular working Americans have begun to turn out at town halls and public protests to voice their grievances.

Earlier this year I received a call from Lang Wiseman, who said he was running to be chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party. He asked me if I would support him in leading our party back to its principles. Knowing Lang to be an intelligent, skilled and responsible leader, I told him I would gladly help in any way I could, and that I’d been looking for opportunities to become more involved. At our local party convention in March, Lang was elected as Chairman, and I was selected to serve with him on the steering committee.

I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve seen happening with our local party and among our leadership. Recently, we unanimously adopted a mission and platform statement that focuses on ethics, accountability, responsibility and effective governance. Already, I’ve seen these values put into practice. I’m convinced this is a message that will bring our party back to its principles and help us take back our community.

They say “all politics is local.” We can make a stand right where we live. If you’d like to help turn the tide starting in your own community, I urge you to get involved with your local party. If you live in Shelby County, please join us by becoming a member today. Your voice matters, and we need your support in order to succeed.

We’re all busy and working hard just to provide for our own families and keep them safe. But if we band together, we can make an important and lasting difference in our community and our nation. It’s now up to us to defend the cause of Liberty.