GOP senator: Americans ‘never shrink’ from adversity

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said in the GOP Thanksgiving address released early Thursday that Americans must band together to solve the nation’s problems.

{mosads}“There are many challenges facing our nation today and many individuals, families and communities are struggling,” he said.

“Despite these challenges and despite the discredited, bipartisan status quo in Washington, I am convinced that our best days as a nation remain yet ahead of us,” Lee continued.

“The American people never shrink from our greatest challenges,” he added. “We always confront them, head on.

“In America freedom has never meant, ‘you’re on your own.’ For us, freedom means, and has always meant, ‘we’re all in this together.’”

Lee then touted the benefits of “our free market economy and voluntary civil society.”

“[America is a nation] where the strong and the vulnerable alike can pursue their happiness and find it together,” Lee said.

“Let’s not forget the limited, but vital, role that a constitutionally limited government plays facilitating upward mobility and removing the obstacles for opportunity for every American,” the Utah senator added.

Lee then recounted a pivotal moment in Utah’s history when Mormon leader Brigham Young organized the rescue of hundreds of pioneers during a blizzard.

He said Young’s successful mission saving lives in October 1856 holds a lesson for present-day Americans.

“Today, millions more of our neighbors are still out on the plains,” Lee said. “They are not some government’s brothers and sisters – they are ours.

“And the time has come to do something about it,” he said. “As Americans, we have it in our power – individually, together, and where necessary, through government – to bring them in.

“On this day of Thanksgiving I would like to take a moment to celebrate, and give thanks for, this great nation of ours, and for all the people who make it so,” the Republican lawmaker added.

“For I believe that America is exceptional not because of who we are, but because of what we do.”