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I sit here late Monday watching California Gov. Newsom red eyed, apparently holding back tears as he, along with us, watch our country dissolve before our eyes. Within seconds of hearing that Marines were deployed to California, I was on the phone with Finstad’s D.C. office, expressing my outrage, fear and wondering who is hearing us? “I’ll pass your concerns on to the congressman,” was the response. I’m sure there was nothing else Finstad’s staff person could say to me, but it broke me; I wasn’t being heard. I know I’m not alone in my fears, my disgust, my outrage as seeing the bulldozing of all that has been built, fought for and died for in the 249 years of this country’s existence. Reagan’s “Shining city on the hill” is fading along with our exceptionalism, hope and freedom.

Now we have to dig deep and tap into the determination of our founders who broke us free from a monarchy; men and women who brought us through a civil war that affirmed our existence as a united country and forged our aspirations for freedom for all of its citizens; through two world wars that made us a leader in the world; to honor those who died on battlefields like Normandy with unbelievable courage. This list could go on with many more moments of courage that we must recall and draw strength from.

Throughout our history we have been confronted by evil, and we have persevered. We will persevere again. When I take your hand and you take your neighbor’s hand and they do the same and on and on, building an unbreakable chain of community, that will bring us back the “shining city on the hill.”

Karen Bell
Albert Lea