But I was the one who urged you, after your primary victory over David Beasley, to ignore the “junior” designation and represent South Carolina conservatives aggressively. You were rather quiet your first two years in the Senate, and I began to despair the institution would assimilate you into the Washington culture.

But a man must get his bearings in a new task, I understand, and since then you have done us proud. Thank you for your honorable service so far, and may our prayers sustain you in the long and arduous struggle ahead.

Because our beloved nation is in a trouble long decades in the making, and which avails of no easy or quick solutions. Let us not pretend we can pay for the largesse and follies of Obama and previous Administrations and Congresses easily and painlessly. Setting our ship of state aright will be difficult, and painful at times.

But if the American people have proved nothing else through our history, it is that we will sacrifice and suffer heroically for the survival of our polity and for our posterity. We only ask – nay, demand – that our sacrifices and suffering be not in vain, not to sustain the status quo ante and pass the hardships along to our children and grandchildren and beyond, but that it be justified by a Congressional effort as steadfast and sincere as our own.

May God bless you, and all those who fight in earnest for our country’s future, and continue to bless America for her shining hope and faith.