At the WSJ, Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE):
We live in the greatest country in the world. To maintain our greatness, we need more focus on consensus-building and less on hating our fellow Americans. We need to make progress on our national debt and the border, improve our children’s education, and modernize our military.
I remember fondly my three decades in the Air Force. We solved problems and executed missions in the defense of our nation. We very seldom knew what party our fellow airmen were affiliated with, but we worked together for the good of the country and our unit. We were Americans first.
Our fellow citizens aren’t our enemies. Al Qaeda is our enemy. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping want our nation to become weaker so they can bully their neighbors and operate from a might-makes-right agenda. They are our real adversaries.
Amid threats from abroad, Americans need to start demanding more from their elected officials. We need a country-over-party agenda. We need the moral courage to do what’s right. We need more statesmen and fewer partisans. We as citizens must want and demand it.