We Need to be that Shining City upon a Hill

The above video is from Ronald Reagan's inaugural address on January 20, 1981. In my opinion, this video is very much apropos to where this nation is today.

I have had conversations over the last several years where people continuously make the statement, "We're not the only ones that are bad off" when they speak about Hickory. It makes me think of Reagan's farewell address and this statement about America being the Shining City upon a hill.

I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was 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, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.

I don't want to covet the assets that other areas have. I don't want to follow what everyone else does. I want us to be leaders and innovators. I want us to be self-sufficient. I want people to look at this community as a beacon, as a guiding light. as trend setters. We have plenty of assets in this area that are being underutilized. We have innovative people and enterprises, who I want the world to see.

I am not saying that we need to be arrogant. I do think we need partners and we definitely need to interconnect with other communities. We need to create associations with other communities that share common interests to work towards and learn new methods of development. We just need to find a proper way to express ourselves and to get our story out to the nation and the world.

As Reagan states in that inaugural address, he is not against government, but he believes that the Federal Government has overstepped its bounds. I think our country is at a point of dysfunction 180-degrees from the causation of the Civil War. That was a war of dysfunction created by a Union where States wanted complete and separate sovereignty to operate independently apart from the Union.

There was no accountability from the States towards the Union. It was a Union with Iron Clad borders, where once you stepped across State border lines, then you were essentially in another country. The Congress essentially became a non-functional entity as a result of States Rights issues which centered around slavery during the 1840s and 1850s.

Today, we are quickly coming to a point where there are no State borders and the sovereignty of the states is neither recognized nor respected. In many ways the States have allowed this to happen, but I believe that we are going to see pushback as a result of the Federal power grab we have seen over the last decade. The founding documents of our country are designed around the States' integral role in the formation of the Union as expressed by the United States Constitution.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The Commerce clause has been used as a means to an end to destroy State sovereignty, but in the end I do not believe the States will stand by and watch as their ability to self rule is completely dissolved. The Commerce Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3) states that the United States Congress shall have power "To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes". But the Federal Government has overstepped this clause by trying to use it to regulate every facet of our lives, while neglecting our rights as citizens of our corresponding States. At this time, there is no accountability from the Federal Government towards the States.

Since our Governor is of the same party as those who have pushed these notions of no State sovereignty and she seems enchanted with every aspect of big brother government, then our local area is going to have to work twice as hard to make our position clear. We want a smaller, more efficient government. We want a government that works with us, not one that imposes their will over us. We need our State government to get its house (budget) in order and we don't need to play a part in the Federal Government's means of running our nation into an endless mire of debt with no end. As a State, we have a right under the principled law of Nullification to challenge any law that is unconstitutional and no matter what ones political preference is, we should challenge any laws that trample on the rights of our State within the Union. The relationship between the Federal Government and the States is supposed to be a partnership.

Yes, we are living in extraordinary times. Tough decisions have to be made on financial issues. But, I do not want to continue down the path that we are on. What we are doing nationally makes no logical sense. We need balance between the Federal government and the States reinstituted. We need our State to look out for its best interest and not be subservient to the will of Washington. By the same token, as a community, we don't need to go along to get along with the wills of Raleigh and Washington. We need to stand strong against this economic tsunami. Our area has instituted fiscal discipline and sound investment strategies. Let others look to us as a guiding light. Someone has to turn the tide and I don't know why our community can't be leaders in this effort. Let's be that beacon that others can point to.