31 Dec. 2009

A Joy and Freedom filled Prosperous New Year Wish to All;

For the last eight months of 2009 I have traveled Eastern Oklahoma meeting and conversing with the good, hard working folks of this wonderful land and have never felt more privileged, proud, and thankful. I am privileged to have been born and be a citizen of not only the greatest nation God ever blessed, but to also have been a life-long citizen of beautiful Eastern Oklahoma. Proud because of the American heritage and that truly unique American character that still shines bright in the heart, souls, and eyes of the vast majority of the people I am blessed to speak with. Thankful for the opportunity to fight for OUR proper voice and role in OUR government, as lined out in OUR Constitution, and for the kind and gracious support I have received throughout Eastern Oklahoma and across this nation. Thankful, because OUR quest to seat an ordinary citizen as OUR Representative in Washington, not a career politician or a lobbyist, or some bureaucrat, can be made a reality. I am very proud and thankful that We, the people have preserved the political mechanisms to allow the RIGHT change to occur peacefully.

A day or two ago the Oklahoma Republican Party asked, on their FaceBook page, “In your opinion, what was the political highlight of 2009?” Immediately my mind turned to a few negative observations relative to the R.O.P.E. (Reid, Obama, Pelosi, and the Enablers) that strangles OUR God-given rights, tears at the fabric of American society, disregards OUR Constitution, chokes the power of free-market capitalism, and spends future generations’ earnings and production into unsustainable debt. Then something strange entered my mind (go ahead…make jokes!!!). In 2006 Dennis Green was the head coach of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and they had been beat by the Chicago Bears. At the post-game presser a reporter asked Green if the Bears exceptional play that day surprised Green…Coach Green answered with a now famous quote while uttering other words that are not allowed to be printed. He said of the Bears; “They are who we thought they were…and we let’em off the hook!”

The vast majority of us knew, or had a pretty good idea, what we were facing in 2008 with a Pelosi-led House and a Reid-led Senate and a newly elected FAR-LEFT President…we let’em off the hook at that time. For many of those that may not have believed as we did, 2009 will forever be remembered as the year that Keynesian economics and socialist policies were soundly rejected by American citizens and a real desire for, and knowledge of, true Conservative values and principles was cemented. In short, the political events of 2009 opened the eyes of Americans to the reality of what many of us suspected…”they are who we thought they were.”

Now we enter 2010 and I am reminded of a couple of statements by a man whom I admire and respect beyond description…Ronald Reagan: “I hope we have once again reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: as a government expands, liberty contracts.” There is no question that government scope and reach has expanded far beyond the intent and purpose of OUR founding…yes, “they are who we thought they were” and they are doing what we were afraid they would.

As 2010 is brought in, let us keep in our hearts and minds our “…rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness…” For the sake future generations let us now struggle to preserve the tradition of every New Year, to be able to wish greater happiness, freedom, and prosperity to all. For the sake of America we must ensure that we do not “let’em off the hook” and strive in earnest to restore and forever protect what is rightfully ours: governance of the people, by the people, for the people.

God Bless, and Happy New Year!

Howard Houchen

(originally posted on facebook)