The America I know
Let me tell you about the America I know. My parents immigrated to the United States with $10 in their pocket and a belief that the America they had heard about really did exist as the land of opportunity. Through hard work and great sacrifice, they achieved success. So the America I came to know growing up was filled with all the excitement and possibilities found in living the American dream.
Watching my father work odd jobs in order to provide for us and maintain his independence taught me valuable lessons in personal responsibility. When tough times came, he didn’t look to Washington, he looked within. Because the America he knew was centered on self-reliance. The America I know is founded in the freedom self-reliance always brings.
What makes America great is the idea that when government is limited, people are free — free to work, free to live, free to choose, free to fail and free to achieve. The America I know provides everyone an equal opportunity to be as unequaled as they choose to be.
The America I know gives back. Americans, regardless of financial status, are the most giving people on the planet. On their own, without government requirement, our people give their money, their time and their attention to causes, communities and people in need whether it is across the street or around the world.
The America I know makes tough choices. As the mayor of a small town in Utah facing its own fiscal cliff, we put limited government, fiscal discipline and personal responsibility first in order to create an amazing community that could last. I have also seen that facing challenging choices head-on inspires our citizens to get involved, engage in meaningful dialogue, rally around shared values, do things differently and change the way government works.
Regardless of the difficulties we may face individually, in our families, in our communities and in our nation, the old adage is still true — you can make excuses or you can make progress, but you cannot make both! The America I know doesn’t make excuses.
The America I know is grounded in the gritty determination found in patriots, pioneers and struggling parents, in small business owners with big ideas, in the farmers who work in the beauty of our landscapes and the artists who paint them, in our heroic military and our inspiring Olympic athletes, and in every child who looks at the seemingly impossible and says, “I can do that.”
The America I know is great — not because government made it great but because ordinary citizens like me, like my father and like you are given the opportunity every day to do extraordinary things. That is the America I know!
Unfortunately President Obama doesn’t seem to live in or believe in the America I have come to know.
His America is a divided one. He has taken class warfare to a new low. In an effort to distract our nation from his failed economic and social policies, he has attempted to pit us against each other based on the color of our skin, our gender, income level, age and social status.
For President Obama, job one has always been to keep his one job. His commitment to cling to power through division has put our nation and our future at risk. He obviously hasn’t learned the math of America — whenever you divide, you diminish.
The truth is that the president’s policies have made minorities and the most vulnerable in society more desperate and dependent on government, less self-reliant, less upwardly mobile and ultimately less free. His America is an ever-expanding nanny state that is simply unsustainable and unhealthy for our people, our economy and our future.
The president’s America is one where big-government Washington bureaucrats make healthcare choices, pick winners and losers in the marketplace and redistribute wealth. Whenever he faces a challenge, his answer is to create another federal agency, add a new czar and pile on more stifling and more intrusive regulation.
The America President Obama knows looks more and more like Europe and less and less like the America we know and love.
I am in this fight not just as a candidate for Congress, but more importantly, as a mother, spouse and concerned citizen. President Obama had a chance to unite and lead this nation — and failed. We are not better off than we were four years ago and no rhetoric, bumper sticker or Hollywood ad campaign can distract us from the dreadful direction he is taking our country.
Americans know better and deserve more. Mr. President, the American people are awake and we are not buying what you are selling in 2012.
You see, the America I know deserves a leader who will respect and serve the people not because of their race, gender or economic status but because they are Americans! We need a leader who will unite the country around the principles that have made us great and will make us great again.
The America I know deserves a leader who believes this country is exceptional. We need a leader who believes our best and brightest days as a nation are still to come.
The America I know deserves a leader who trusts the people and will tell them the hard truth about where we are and what we need to do in order to preserve our future. We need a leader who is prepared to engage in a dialogue about realities, priorities and solving America’s problems.
The America I know deserves a president who actually knows how to balance a budget, create real jobs and unleash America’s entrepreneurial spirit.
The America I know deserves and needs that kind of leader. I am convinced that leader is Governor Mitt Romney.
The America I know isn’t just my story and it isn’t just your story. It is our story. It is a story of endless possibilities, human struggle, standing up and striving for more. Our story has been told for well over 200 years, punctuated by small steps and giant leaps; from a woman on a bus to a man with a dream; from the bravery of the greatest generation to the explorers, entrepreneurs, reformers and innovators of today. This is our story. This is the America we know — because we built it.
With Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan leading the way, I believe we can restore the greatness of this nation and ensure that the America we know is the America our children will know and the America our grandchildren will possess for years to come!
We must fight to keep the America we know as that shining city on a hill — truly the last, best hope on earth.
Mia Love is the mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, and a conservative candidate for Utah’s Fourth Congressional District.
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