In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, a majority of people on the Left and even some people on the Right have voiced support for stricter gun control laws to prevent such shootings from occurring again.  After twenty year-old Adam Lanza stole his mother’s legally-purchased weapons and used them to perform the unthinkable, the solution many come up with seems to be removing all “assault weapons” from responsible gun owners; after all, the weapons Lanza used were purchased legally!  He was no “criminal” in the common sense of the word!  This is why we need stricter gun laws for those who follow the law and exercise their constitutional right to bare arms!

The NRA, an organization that has been the target of much criticism in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, came out with a viable solution to prevent future shootings of the same kind in schools:  Place armed guards at schools all over the country.  After all, said NRA Executive Vice-President Wayne LaPierre, “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”  Of course, gun control advocates were swift to lash out at such an absurd recommendation; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg even called it a “paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America.”  Never mind the fact that Malia and Sasha Obama attend a school with eleven armed guards (aside from the girls’ Secret Service detail) walking the grounds.  What’s good for them certainly isn’t good for the rest of America’s children, right?

This unnecessary debate over an established constitutional right has distracted most people from the true issue at hand.  Our society has developed into one that passes the blame for everything– from the smallest incident to the largest tragedy, many Americans– particularly young ones– have failed to be taught the art of personal responsibility.  “Morality can’t be legislated” is a true statement; in light of this fact, even more crucial is the task of encouraging morality in children from a young age.  Teach them to discern between right and wrong while they’re still young instead of counting on their schools or peers to do it for you later in their lives.  We need a culture shock in this country if our condition is to improve in the near future.

The root of our cultural problems begin in the home.  Statistics show that 50% of today’s marriages end in divorce; 23% of households in the U.S. are single-parent homes with children under the age of eighteen; and, consequently, children from divorced homes are more likely to have academic, psychological, and behavioral problems than are children from two-parent homes.  Instead of being viewed as the lifelong commitment before God that it is, marriage is portrayed by today’s culture as a tool for furthering a political agenda.  Preparation for marriage begins long before you stand at the altar; young men should grow up with their father as a role model for the type of man they can emulate as an adult, and young girls should be taught what it means to be a loving, respectful, Godly wife.

Yes, I mentioned God– the dreaded “arbitrator” when it comes to society and its lack of morality.  The constant push to remove God from all areas of our culture is responsible for most of the problems in the culture itself; cheerleaders are told that writing Bible verses on banners violates the First Amendment, prayer before and after high school graduations are being declared “intolerant,” efforts are being made to remove the words “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, and more.  If we remove God from the public square, where do we get our standards of morality?  Regardless of your beliefs, our society certainly needs a moral structure to be instituted once again if we hope to return to our previous success.  A culture with no morals will only lead to decline.  Success can’t come out of national moral failure.

There are countless other issues that demand our attention in efforts to restore morality in this culture.  However, gun control is not one of them; lawful citizens exercising their constitutional right is not something of concern while trying to re-introduce morals to many who may have never experienced them before.  Folks in the mainstream media and those who hang on their every word are hesitant to accept the fact that morals are necessary for a stable society; at the same time, they fail to recognize that evil exists and is rampant in this world.  The reason that Adam Lanza carried out the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary was not lenient gun control laws nor even the mental disorder many choose to blame.  Evil showed itself in that shooting and the only way to combat it is with a moral people determined to outdo the evil and help those in need, as Lanza apparently was.  Don’t be fooled into believing that Sandy Hook and every other atrocity committed in the United States are results of loose gun control laws or whatever other laws they’ll be blamed on.  That’s not what this is about.  It’s all about the culture.

The combined total of electoral votes in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania is 80 votes; Governor Romney’s final total nationwide was 206.  If he had won those four states, he would have won the election.  Contrary to popular belief, however, he didn’t lose them because “all the people in the state made a decisive choice.”  The largest reason he lost those states was the youth vote.

Young people voted in these four states 63%-35% for President Obama.  Romney handily won the 45+ crowd in all of these states.  Simply splitting the youth vote rather than getting blown out of the water could have made Mitt Romney the President-Elect of the United States.

The question now turns to our marketing of the conservative message.  We have four years to fix this enormous disconnect with young people around the country— it’s crunch-time.

Contrary to what some believe, I reject the notion that we must change the message of conservatism if we hope to appeal to the next generation.  Our message is timeless; it was the motivation behind our founders’ persistent dedication to maintaining this new nation and should remain ours today.  If we change our message every four years when a new generation of young people appears, we’ll appear flimsy, hypocritical, and indecisive— and rightly so.

I completely agree with what I’ve heard since the election concerning the youth vote.  We need a culture change; our education system is becoming more and more infiltrated by left-wing teachers who want to implant that mindset into their students at a young age.  We need to fix our education system, not only for political reasons but for student reasons— the United States lags far behind when it comes to math and science and, if we don’t fix that soon, we’ll be left in the dust as other countries take the lead.  We can’t afford for that to happen.

I also believe that conservatives need to be more receptive to Hollywood; not in the sense that we have to agree with their actions and with what comes out of it, but in the sense that we must not alienate the rare conservative actors that do exist.  We should be using those actors to reach out to young people.  The truth is that a college student is likely to be much more open to their favorite movie star than they are to an “old white guy.”  Outreach does not equal pandering– there’s nothing wrong with reaching out to the college crowd in ways that they’ll best receive our message.

Another huge issue:  When kids like that hear us talking about the tax code and the national debt, then turn around and hear the Democrats talking about issues such as this, which side do you think they’re going to be more attracted to?  I don’t think we should stop talking about the tax code and national debt, but we need to take some time to debunk the false picture the Left has painted of conservatives.  An apathetic young person today would watch the news and walk away believing that Republicans want to take women back to the Stone Age.  We’re letting liberals get away with this narrative.  We need to get out and personally talk to these young people and answer their questions; don’t let them believe these lies any longer.  Freedom is appealing to everyone, regardless of age– we’ve just been presenting it in the wrong way.

Before I continue I want to say that Governor Romney did a fantastic job as our candidate; with that said, the biggest issue I feel we had with young people in this election was in what we were talking about and how we were talking about it.  We were talking about this while Democrats were talking about this.  Here’s why I say that:  While I absolutely, positively agree with this Romney-Ryan ad, we produced many just like it and failed to point any of them toward young people.  We could have conveyed the same message but pointed some of these ads at the youth:  “Fiscal sanity is important, and here’s how it affects your future,” or, “Equality for women won’t even be a consideration if our debt explodes and bankrupts us.”  We could have addressed the same critical issues while at the same time reaching out to young people.  President Obama often spoke directly to young people:  “This is your election,” and “You’re the ones who will choose our next President,” and “You hold your future in your hands.”  I never once heard those things from Governor Romney or any of his surrogates.

I’m proud to be a conservative and I don’t want to see our message tampered with because of changing demographics.  I believe that we need to examine our approach and word choice as much as we do our marketing.  When President Obama was on the campaign trail discussing what he has “accomplished for middle-class families” and, specifically, “young people and their college tuition,” we countered by directly (and correctly) challenging each of his claims.  However, young people who already had an uneasy feeling about the Governor most likely viewed this as “bullying” the President— “All Obama’s done is try to help us, and Mitt Romney is just mad because he wasn’t the one who did these things.”  I attend a public college.  I see these kids very often and hear their conversations.  That is exactly what I heard for months before the election.

We were absolutely correct when we challenged the President’s record; it is dismal at best and destructively evil for this country at worst.  However, young people who voted for the President in 2008 and had decided to do so again in 2012 were not going to believe what we were saying about his record.  They just knew he was the “cool, celebrity President” and wanted to re-elect him.  What we should have done to reach out to young people is show them the positives of liberty, capitalism, and conservatism rather than simply show them the evils of oppression, socialism, and liberalism.  Those two messages— the positives of one and negatives of another— go hand in hand; and we needed to present a larger contrast between the two ideologies.  Between the President’s massive control on the youth vote and the mainstream media’s infatuation with him, we were painted as bullies who were victimizing all the good the President has tried to do because we’re “greedy Republicans who are power-obsessed.”  They can’t portray us that way if we’re conveying the positives of a truly free country.  Look at these two phrases:

“The President has done a terrible job in the last four years.  Everything he has done to try to help the middle-class has failed.  My plan will get people back to work, make us energy independent, and increase America’s standing in the world.”

“Liberty is the only way you can achieve your dreams.  You can’t achieve those dreams under policies that include spreading your success around and demonizing you for making money— we want you to keep as much of your money as possible.  Capitalism is the best way for you to have a steady job that you love and excel at.  Freedom gives you the opportunity to pursue your dreams.”

Look at the wording of both phrases.  The root of both messages is the same— yet which sounds more appealing to young people?  The Republican Party needs to take on a more optimistic tone regarding the policies and ideas we represent rather than solely showing a negative attitude towards the opinions of the other side.  If we are optimistic about our own ideas, we won’t have to worry about being so negative about the other side’s.

It’s obvious that young people gravitate toward more optimistic messages— “hope and change” paraded them out to the polls in numbers we had never seen before.  The GOP needs to excite young people about conservatism rather than simply attempt to disgust them with liberalism.  There has to be a balance of presenting our ideas and attacking the opposite.  The Left attacks conservatism viciously because they can get away with it.  The GOP can’t get away with it; we have to be the upbeat, positive, this-is-how-conservatism-benefits-you party if we want to win young people over.  This isn’t pandering— this is reaching out to young people in the ways they’ll respond to best.  We can’t afford to continue letting the Left to buy young people’s votes with false promises and hypocritical hope.

The pilgrims came to America on the Mayflower with the dream of religious liberty.  The founders fought a Revolution with the dream of a free nation.  A Civil War was fought with the dream of equality for all.  The social turbulence of the 1960s was directed with the dream of ending racial segregation once and for all.  “One Man’s Dream” resulted in a pretty iconic mouse and theme parks that are now scattered all over the world.  We tracked down the terrorists responsible for 9/11 with the dream of destroying those who seek to destroy us.  The iPhone started as an entrepreneur’s dream that turned into a worldwide phenomenon.  Activists all over this country work with the dream of preserving a nation as special as ours.

The possibility of dreams such as these existing in the future rests on the decision American voters make on November 6th.

I want to have the opportunity to dream of possibilities like those you read above.  My generation contains the next Henry Ford and Steve Jobs; but if the free-market disappears and young people are discouraged from starting their own businesses, those ideas will never come to fruition.  Success must be encouraged, not fought against– what nation has succeeded with an economic strategy of discouraging small businesses and instead handing out “free lunches” to the lazy and apathetic?

Your vote on Tuesday will determine many things.  One of those things will be whether my generation is given the environment necessary for business expansion and prosperous communities.  Another is whether we will be left with the resources and circumstances necessary to preserving and protecting the union of the United States.

You have two choices:  One is familiar, the other is a national newcomer.  Familiarity, however, does not always lend itself to accuracy.  This familiar figure has encouraged the murder of millions of unborn children, even up to the third trimester (and voted against a bill that would have helped children who survived abortion attempts).  He has spit in the face of the sanctity of marriage.  He has increased your personal share of the nation’s debt to $51,000.  He has watched unemployment rise to rates above 10% at its peak and almost 8% at its lowest.  He has allowed our standing in the world to be diminished greatly in exchange for “diplomatic solutions” to situations that require undoubtable strength.  He has conducted major cover-ups of details concerning failed programs that the public has a right to be informed of.  He has refused needed security increases to our citizens abroad, and watched (literally watched) as fellow Americans were murdered in brutal attacks.  He has strained our relationship with one of our closest allies and palled around with leaders whose hate for America is on broad display.  He has told my generation that we “didn’t build” whatever successes we may eventually obtain in business and encouraged us to let the government provide for us; he encourages us to remain ”children” until, at a minimum, age twenty-six.

These are the accomplishments of our current President.  On the path he is leading this country down, I will never have the opportunity to live out my American Dream as every generation before me has done.  My future and that of my generation is treated with reckless disregard by this President; he’s spending money faster than a teenage girl at the mall with a credit card.  The unfavorable economic circumstances he inherited no longer have any substance as an argument in the President’s favor– unemployment is now higher than when he took office.  Our national debt is on track to easily reach $20 trillion by 2016, doubling what it was when he took office in 2008.

A President must be a leader; additionally, he must be a man who has experienced success in business and can encourage young people to do the same.  My generation needs a leader who can take us through these tough times at home and abroad with certainty, clarity, and success.  Someone who has experience in lowering unemployment rates.  Someone who has experience in saving programs from the brink of failure.  Someone who has experience in encouraging young entrepreneurs to chase their dreams and grab success, whether or not it comes willingly.  Based on these requirements, it’s clear that we need new leadership in the White House.

There are many unfulfilled dreams in America today.  A young person has the dream of curing cancer and is even now researching how to accomplish that.  Another has the dream of putting poverty on the “endangered species list.”  Another wants to teach our incredible history in schools to coming generations.  Some even want to change the corrupt, greedy world we call Washington back to what it was originally intended to be.

Your vote on Tuesday will determine whether those dreams can become reality.  It sounds dramatic; but I promise you that every young person in this country, regardless of whether or not they are aware of it, is counting on your vote.  There are countless others like me who are resolved to return this nation to greatness and getting other young people involved– but all our efforts will be in vain if the future we are counting on is voted away and replaced with one so dangerous that entire careers have been spent on examining its potential damage.

Make an informed decision at the polls this Tuesday.

Remember the dreams you’ve been able to achieve in America.

An entire generation of dreamers is depending on you.

President Reagan’s words are often cited by people on both sides of the aisle in their efforts to accomplish their ideals and goals for America.  Today’s young people, though, seem to be looking for a different future than the one President Reagan envisioned; demands for freebies are coming daily from America’s youth.  As part of the same generation, it frustrates me to see young people caught up in the pictures of fairyland and lack of personal responsibility– why, they’re being asked, would you work when you can just let the government take care of you?  Their answer is too often is simply an outstretched hand, waiting for the handouts.  This idea goes completely against the America the founders had in mind and this generation of young people needs to wake up and realize that they aren’t victims.

The “entitlement generation” is moving dangerously close to supporting a full re-do of American values– one leading to the acceptance of socialistic policies as the new normal.  The unofficial poster-child for this victimized attitude is Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who demanded that the government pay for her birth control.  While this demand is ridiculous in itself, let’s take it one step further:  What will be the next demand from these self-proclaimed victims if the government subsidizes birth control (and, in the process, greatly offends the Catholic Church)?  If this request is fulfilled, these young “victims” will stop at nothing until their lives morph into that of Julia.  Without realizing what they’re really advocating, too many young people today are striving toward this by supporting the ideas and policies put in place by President Obama.

There are many avenues by which I believe this problem has reached this point.  From the attitude of “everyone is a winner” to the President supporting the Occupy movement that “fights” those “evil corporations,” young people are being encouraged and nudged toward the wrong ideas.  Young people are no longer being taught in schools about how great America is and the incredible opportunity we have to live in such a country– instead, youth are being taught that they deserve to have everything handed to them simply because they’re alive.  They’re being taught that life should be fair and that those big corporations should pay their “fair share” and in exchange my generation shouldn’t have to do their part.  Basically, they’re being taught the attitude of a victim who in reality has no basis to make such a claim.

It’s time to wake up, young people.  You’re not a victim.  Life isn’t fair.  America guarantees you equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome; the amount of work you put into achieving your dreams will determine how close you come to reaching them.  We can’t sustain a nation full of self-serving, self-proclaimed victims– it’s time to grow up and realize that you aren’t a victim just because the government isn’t paying for your birth control.  Don’t be caught in the lie that you deserve to live a subsidized life.  It may not be “socially acceptable,” but it’s much better than living under the thumb of a nanny-state government.  Don’t be ashamed to say that America is the greatest country on earth because of what she represents:  An equal opportunity for everyone, regardless of your background, to accomplish anything they can imagine and are willing to work for.  America gives you every opportunity to accomplish everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

America’s youth has no choice but to make an informed decision on Election Day; going to the polls with a mindset that says “I am a victim” won’t do any good.  The Constitution guarantees us “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” not “life, dependency, and the pursuit of a fair life.”  You determine if your life is “fair.”  The future is in our hands.  The next generation has a choice in this election:  A choice between the life of a victim and the life of an independent individual.  Make your choice.

I can clearly remember September 11th, 2001.  It was my first day of kindergarten, and my mom left the dining room table to watch the coverage.  I followed her to the living room soon after and remember seeing the second plane hit the South Tower at 9:03am.  At five years old, I didn’t realize then what a historic event I was witnessing, but I did understand that people were attacking this country because they despised everything we stand for (and still do).  Now, eleven years later, I’ve researched and written about 9/11 more times than I can count; witnessing it at such a young age left an impression on me that I can’t explain.  My love for this country was sparked at five years old when I watched the worst terrorist attack ever on our soil happening and it has only grown since then.

The eve of 9/11 is the perfect time to reflect on the events that happened that day and renew our resolve to protect this nation at all costs.  Nearly three thousand people lost their lives in the attacks, including more than four hundred law enforcement officials; we’re disrespecting their memory if we let their sacrifices go in vain.  If we ever forget what happened that day, we risk losing the constant vigilance that is required to keep this country safe and free.

Al Qaeda is being brought to justice, with many of its leaders being killed in the last few years.  Who was in the White House when they were killed is irrelevant compared to the resolve it has taken to reach this point.  Only America stays that determined and follows through on every promise.  President Bush deserves enormous praise for doing such a phenomenal job of keeping this country safe in the days and months after the attacks; we were more vulnerable then than we had ever been and he protected us with a tenacity that is hard to match.  Whatever your opinion of George W. Bush, his leadership kept us from more attacks soon after 9/11 and he doesnt receive enough credit for it.

On this day eleven years ago, we had no idea that in less than twenty-four hours our resolve and strength as a nation would be tested more than it had ever been.  We had no idea that many would wake up to the images of burning and falling buildings and hijacked planes.  We would hear the horror stories as the events played out and would later hear the stories of men and women who gave their lives in the place of others.  Patriotism and courage were personified through the law enforcement officials and especially the passengers on Flight 93.

So many heroes came out of September 11th– the firefighters, police officers, medical teams, and the passengers on every plane are American heroes that can never be forgotten; and we also remember every soldier that gave the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We have the privilege of carrying on their memories by remaining steadfast in our fight against terrorism, as well as remembering them every day as we enjoy the freedom we have in America.  On the eve of 9/11, think of those who gave everything to keep our nation safe.  Don’t ever forget their sacrifice; it’s our duty and honor to remember them.

I sat listening to Ted Cruz, the future Senator from Texas who has an overwhelming knowledge of the direction we must go in if we hope to remain a “shining city on a hill;” Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana who is rumored to be on the short list for Romney’s VP because of his steadfastness when it comes to standing for conservative principles and enormous knowledge on healthcare and education; Ken Cuccinelli, the first Attorney General at the Supreme Court in 2009 to file suit against the federal government for their blatant assault on individual liberties in the form of government-mandated healthcare; David Limbaugh, whose new book The Great Destroyer sheds tremendous light on the destruction President Obama is bringing on this country; Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the Republican National Committee who is working to unite the Republican Party and grassroots activists; and many more speakers who are committed to getting us on the right track.  Almost every speaker had one thing in common, no matter their topic: Their passion for liberty was contagious.

When I listen to Harry Reid’s demands that Mitt Romney release his tax returns (even as he refuses to release his own) or to Nancy Pelosi call the Republican Party an “E coli club,” one thought comes to mind: The real issues aren’t being addressed.  They’re being avoided by the Democrats who are mainly responsible for them in exchange for talking points that will divert the attention elsewhere.  Last weekend, however, as I listened to Ted Cruz tell about how he grew up and to Bobby Jindal tell about the substantial education advances that have been made in his state, I was encouraged and realized that my generation is being looked after.  Contrary to some beliefs, there really are strong conservative leaders out there who are willing to serve– willing to give their lives to serving the country they love and bettering it for the next generation and all those to come.  They just need our help to get them into office, and then to support them against attacks from the Left and the mainstream media, both of whom are on a seemingly eternal mission to destroy any thought that comes from a Republican.  We aren’t on our own here; there are public servants who are able and willing to serve.  They want to and are doing their part in this fight for liberty.

I met some incredible people at the RedState Gathering.  I learned so much about the real meaning of “grassroots” and the impact we can have on elections.  The dessert was to die for.  With all of that, though, I’m coming out of this Gathering with an enormous sense that my future isn’t lost yet– the America I and thousands of others love is still standing, and will continue to as long as we have leaders like those who spoke at the RedState Gathering.  The future of this country is in jeopardy, but not lost; we most definitely have leaders who are willing to fight for it.  The America of tomorrow is being fiercely guarded by leaders who acknowledge what a great nation we truly are.

**Note:  This was originally published at The Patriot’s Press.

I’ve followed the Fast & Furious investigation very closely, and I’ve come to greatly admire Chairman Issa for his relentless work to find answers for the Terry family and the rest of the American people.  He has proven that he is a fearless leader in the House and is committed to stopping fraud and abuse in government.  He’s most known for his work on Fast & Furious, but he has also worked on the GSA scandal, the recent shortcomings by members of Secret Service, and is currently working on potential abuse by the FAA regarding Cape Wind.  Chairman Issa stepped out of an important appointment to say hello to my family and me– I was thrilled!  Meeting Chairman Issa was definitely a huge highlight of my trip.  It was an honor for me to meet such a strong American patriot who is on the frontlines of making sure our government stays accountable.

While I was in Chairman Issa’s office I also got the opportunity to speak extensively with his press secretary.  Becca is the press secretary for Chairman Issa and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  She graduated from the University of Virginia with degrees in History and Anthropology; she’s now the top spokesperson for Chairman Issa and the Committee.  She spoke with me about the various duties of the Oversight Committee and how their procedure works: the Inspectors General at each federal agency report to the Committee if they find cases they believe to be wasteful of government spending.  She also mentioned the importance of the Presidential Records Act in keeping government officials accountable for the taxpayer dollars they come in contact with.

Becca went way out of her way to make my trip incredible– and meeting her and her boss was amazing!  Both of them are extraordinary American patriots who are doing great things for our country.  I’m grateful that there are leaders like them I can look up to.  A huge thank-you to both of them!

At this point, it’s clear which side we would join should we decide to enter the Syrian conflict; but I just want to clarify something.  Neither side is or ever was worth joining arms with.  Assad and his regime are supported by Iran and Russia.  With Iran continuing to taunt us daily by pursuing nuclear weapons (I know, I know, we don’t know if they’re really pursuing them, but let’s just pretend they are), we can’t afford to risk letting our weapons fall into the hands of Iran; nor can we let them fall to Russia, who seems to have something up its sleeve should Obama win a second term that will cause us to decrease our number of defense missiles.  Both of these countries are enemies of the United States; by supporting the government in Syria, we leave to chance the fact that some of the most advanced weapons in the world could fall into the hands of these countries to be later used against us.

Now to the opposition forces (the “Freedom Fighters”).  They have the support of al Qaeda and Hamas; shouldn’t that give us a hint as to what type of government will be ushered in once Assad is gone?  It will be Libya all over again– we help rid this country of its oppressive government, and that country turns around and elects a new government led by the Muslim Brotherhood (or some other radical group).  Going even further, even if we refuse to send troops but settle with sending weapons to the opposition– can we afford to risk letting those weapons fall into the hands of al Qaeda?  Have we forgotten that this is the same terrorist group that flew planes into the Twin Towers on 9/11?  Sending weapons into the same country as al Qaeda is a dangerous plight.

President Obama is being pressured to enter the Syrian conflict and come to the aid of the Syrian people, who are being brutally murdered by the hundreds each year.  It’s absolutely true that the situation is horrendous and must be stopped; but this isn’t our war to fight.  When we engaged in our own civil war in the 1800s, how many other nations lined up in the trenches with our soldiers as they fought?  None.  A civil war is one between two opposing sides of one country.  I sincerely hope that the situation in Syria improves for the sake of the Syrian people– but I’m not willing to risk American soldiers to do so.  Regardless of the outcome in Syria, our intervening will not cause them to become a potential U.S. ally; they stand for ideals that we do not.  “Helping” them elect their new government will not solve it, since, as I said before, the circumstances here will closely mirror those of Libya.

Say no to entering the Syrian conflict.  It’s a lose-lose situation for the United States, and American lives will be lost by intervention.  This isn’t our war to fight.

There were thousands of people in Washington D.C.  We couldn’t walk a few steps without having to maneuver around another group of people.  It usually isn’t very pleasant to be around large crowds of people who are all attempting to reach or see the same object, but in this case it was different.  Beneath the pushing and shoving in the National Archives as everyone strained to view our founding documents, and hidden in the faces of the impatient tourists waiting in long lines, there was a very real sense of what “E pluribus unum” is all about.  Even amidst the chaos that surrounds D.C.’s busy streets, Americans are there for many of the same reasons:  They are viewing our national heritage.  I saw many parents who brought their children to D.C. and were explaining to them what each monument and building represented.

I’m proud to be an American.  I know of our beginnings– we began with thirteen colonies who joined together to create one new united nation, and as time went on those colonies added thirty-seven more states to the union.  However, “E pluribus unum” never came alive for me before as much as it did while I was in D.C.  I saw people from every race, religion, age group, and party affiliation all together in one place– acting as one people.  In the place where party lines are so pronounced and often get in the way of accomplishing necessary duties, I saw more American unity than I had ever experienced in one place before.  I saw only one flag flying high everywhere I looked:  Old Glory.  No one was ashamed to salute it or proudly gaze as it blew in the wind.  No one was concerned about what color your skin was, what your native accent sounded like, or what your political leanings were; everyone was just Americans.

The “greatest experiment” that continues today was one that was unprecendented prior to its beginning.  Every other nation in the world is united by one religion, one political party, one race, or some other common factor.  America, on the other hand, brings together people of every background in every area and accepts them for who they are, recruiting them to help us carry on this “experiment.”  No other nation has survived that is bound solely by the title its citizens carry by living in it– only in America is that possible.  “E pluribus unum” could not be a more accurate statement.

The House of Representatives has already voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in both criminal and civil contempt.  The civil charges are going forward– as much as President Obama has tried to protect AG Holder, he cannot do anything to prevent the pursuit of the civil charges.  For months, the Attorney General has been withholding documents pertaining to Operation Fast & Furious; the House can now take the civil charges to a civil court in an attempt to gain access to the documents they are seeking and in the process reach justice for Brian Terry and his family.

The criminal charges, however, are a different story.  The Justice Department has unsurprisingly stated that they will not prosecute Eric Holder.  The criminal charges have now been passed on to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ron Machen, who will ultimately decide whether the criminal charges move forward.  The Attorney answers to AG Holder and is not expected to approve of the criminal charges, making the civil contempt charges the ones that will go to court to determine whether the Justice Department will be forced to produce documents over which President Obama has exerted Executive Privilege.  A decision on these criminal charges is not expected until after the November elections.

Although the criminal charges are unlikely to move forward, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has made clear he isn’t ready to give up.  The civil charges will continue, he said– “The House has authorized me to hire staff and legal staff who can pursue  civilly through the courts to try to get a federal judge to order, separately, this discovery.”

A little known fact is that the same U.S. Attorney who is currently investigating the criminal contempt charges for Eric Holder is the Attorney who is investigating the national security leaks by journalists in recent days.  Whether it was revealing American cyberattacks on Iran, publishing President Obama’s “kill list,” or a number of other highly-sensitive national security issues, reporters recently have been publishing stories that should have remained classified for the safety of the country.  We still aren’t aware of how the media got this information.  Attorney Machen is investigating these leaks at the same time that he is investigating the criminal charges for Eric Holder.  He has great interest in investigating issues independently– regardless of the fact that he works for AG Holder, he likes to investigate issues in an objective manner.

We need answers on both of these issues– we need answers on why AG Holder is so set on keeping certain documents out of the Oversight Committee’s hands, and we need answers on why certain members of the media have been given information regarding highly-sensitive national security issues.  The same U.S. Attorney is investigating both of these cases; the question now is what his decisions will be on each of these cases.