Washington Update

The short month of February brings with it the important holiday of Presidents’ Day. This is an opportunity for Americans to reflect upon our political leadership in these turbulent and divisive times.

As we celebrate the birthdays of two of our greatest leaders, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, we can look with perspective on the national challenges they faced and compare and contrast them with our situation in early 2014.

Lincoln faced a nation literally divided brother-against-brother over the great injustice of slavery and it’s many moral implications. Washington led a new country establishing itself after rebelling from the world’s most powerful nation. Truly these were enormous burdens and trying times for all Americans of their day.

Today, we grapple with a political system frozen by disagreement over the solutions to some very obvious problems – a staggering debt, a health care system in terrible disarray due to government meddling (which Obamacare proposes to solve with even greater meddling by bureaucrats in Washington), and an economy floating just above recession levels.

In comparison to the crises faced by previous generations, I am confident that we, the citizens of the United States, can overcome these challenges. But it will take consensus, agreement, and a desire to achieve solutions not just “deals” that kick the can and pass the buck. A great first step is that most Americans agree on the problems we face, which is the first step to solving them.

As your representative in Congress, I will continue to build relationships with Republicans and Democrats so that real solutions are reached to the very real (but very solvable) problems facing this great nation. I endeavor to emulate the principles and virtues of our Founding Fathers and greatest leaders, men like Lincoln and Washington, whose honesty and diligence led us through turbulent times, to voice your concerns and seek real solutions.

Know that I always keep you, your family, and Southwest Florida in mind while I work on your behalf in Washington. And I always will.