Frederick's Up and Coming Democrats

Americans are up to the Challenge

Kristin Hillers Bio

In times of great adversity we find ourselves facing the test of proving the strength of our nation and our character. Once again, our country is faced with proving the ability of the American people to be great when greatness is needed. The Roman poet Horace once said, "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant."

In this time of great domestic and international uncertainty, we need to harvest talent by encouraging citizens to be a part of something greater than they are. We need to prove that there was not just one "Greatest Generation." But rather several, that this moniker does not just apply to the many who lived through the Great Depression and World War Two. Instead, the "Greatest Generation" can apply to any generation who readily take the challenge of fixing what is broken and answered their country's call for help.

Approximately 67 million people believed that "yes we can" change politics, that "yes we can" make a difference after years of political antipathy and that "yes we can" change the world. While it is the right and the duty of citizens to vote, the potential to change and to make the country greater, is still unrealized if voting is the limit of participation.

We need to follow our elected officials as they take office, remind them of their promises to the American people and demand that they act as representatives of the people. We need to demand that the government act as an agent of the people rather than an agent of bureaucracy and special interests.

While there is the responsibility of the government, there is also the responsibility of the people, to ask what they can do for their country, in the words of President John F. Kennedy.

America needs people willing to think outside the box, to think with innovation, to explore not only energy policy but environmental, domestic and foreign policy. America needs to applaud and support the best people with the best ideas, to encourage thought and discourse, to accept challenge to the status quo. America needs attention, participation, and people to stand up and fight.

We deserve and need to work together as a country to make us greater than we ever have been. By working together, Americans will show once again they are up to the challenge to lead our nation out of a storm, proving to ourselves and the world we stronger than we were before.

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Editor's Note - we are pleased to publish a column every Wednesday from a member of the Frederick Young Democrats. This week, due to some technical issues, we were delayed in publishing until today.

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