In 1796, President Washington gave his Farewell Address. He warned that party politics sharpened by revenge would lead to despotism. Washington feared disorder would cause people to seek security in the absolute power of an individual and this individual would use this for his own elevation and the ruin of public liberty. I’m running for Congress in Oklahoma’s First District to stop that from happening.
There's a U.S. Senate tradition that began on February 22, 1862, that Washington’s Farewell Address be read aloud each February in the Senate Chamber. It was Senator Lankford’s turn on February 27, 2023. I wonder if Lankford paused when he read the part where Washington said that party politics “agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.” I wonder if Lankford paused long enough to regret voting NO to Trump’s impeachment for Abuse of Power and again voting NO to Trump’s impeachment for Incitement of Insurrection.
I don’t need to wonder if my opponent, MAGA Republican Kevin Hern, has any regrets for voting NO to impeaching Trump for Abuse of Power or for voting NO to impeaching Trump for Incitement of Insurrection. Or for voting YES to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. Hern has no regrets. He wears the MAGA brand proudly. He’s proud of his endorsement of Trump.
I also don’t need to wonder about Trump. He’s the one Washington warned us about – seeking revenge, turning us against each other, and fomenting riot and insurrection. I’m running for office to stop him from seizing power and taking our liberty. The biggest step in that direction is to defeat one of Trump’s biggest enablers – Kevin Hern.
I need your help. Because in today’s political climate – talk isn’t cheap. There are good Oklahomans who won’t get the right information about what’s at stake in this election. This campaign needs funding to get that message to them. And you can believe that Kevin Hern is running the MAGA fear machine night and day to out-fund us and shut us up and shut us out.
On this President’s Day, I’m grateful America had a leader like George Washington. A leader who gave the American people a difficult mission: to preserve the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government. The principles of the American democratic revolution are in our hands.
That’s our mission today, no less than in 1789. We won’t let the fire die.
