Atlanta Journal Constitution - Don't Suppress Will of People

Op-Ed

By Representative Tom Graves

To say that Congress is unpopular these days is as obvious as saying Atlanta traffic can be problematic and that baked Georgia clay can be hard as a rock.

The truth is, Georgians, and most Americans, are understandably ticked off by what's going on in Washington. Unemployment is too high, the federal debt is out of control and the cost of just about everything seems to be going up.

When Americans wanted significant spending cuts, they got a failed supercommittee. When they wanted jobs, Americans got empty promises, finger-pointing, calls for bigger government and class warfare.

Congress appears to be ignoring the will of the people.

Regardless of the economic indicators, the parties in power or the empty promises, the American people are looking for more than business-as-usual backslapping. They want more than politicians willing to "go along in order to get along."

Americans are seeking visionary leadership that embraces our natural instincts of dreaming big, working hard and achieving lofty goals. That's when our nation is at its best. Americans want the "leaders" in Washington to seize this challenging moment in our great story as a nation and to write the next chapter, a chapter that builds upon America's greatness as a nation with its people featured as the heroes, the driving force for change.

Without fail, Americans have overcome the greatest of challenges in our short life as a nation. Our ability to face down great odds isn't because of a government that steps in to assume the role of savior.

Rather, each and every time, the American people's desire for freedom, justice and greatness has prevailed. These unique, fiery and unmistakably American qualities are embedded in our DNA and won't be quelled. Any attempt to suppress the American instinct for success is like locking a determined thoroughbred in the starting gate and denying him the race. Americans want the opportunity to overcome the greatest of odds. Americans want to run the hardest of races. Americans want to win with excellence. It's who we are.

If Congress wants to get back on the good side of the American people, it needs to drop the experiment with big-government solutions. Stop the blame game. Let's put this era of extreme partisanship and social experimentation in the history books and begin a new chapter. Let's turn the page and begin anew, relying on the unbridled energy, ingenuity and creativity of the American people.

It's now time to revive this most American of American concepts. It's time to once again empower the people, and let them run.

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