Labrador tours most beautiful district

September 5, 2016

By U.S. Representative Raul Labrador On Friday, I completed my summer tour of all 19 counties in Idaho’s First District – the most beautiful in America. Spanning from Canada to Nevada, the nation’s 18th largest district covers almost 40,000 square miles; 99.4 percent of that land is rural. The district is blessed with huge glacial lakes, fast-running streams, bountiful forests and wide open desert. The scenery is spectacular across the district, offering world-class driving at every turn. As one of about 600 citizens I met on the trip said, “Idaho is what America was.” We stopped at amazing venues, including the Cherry Bend Boat Park on the St. Joe River in St. Maries, McKuen Park on Lake Coeur d’Alene in downtown Coeur d’Alene and the flag-bedecked Council Senior Center in Adams County. Along the way, I met many friends, old and new. Idahoans love their state and they love their country. They cherish Idaho’s quality of life and the traditional values of hard work, fiscal responsibility and individual initiative. But they are troubled by a national government that seems to have abandoned all propriety and common sense. The federal government’s refusal to tackle our $19 trillion national debt weighs heavily. Idahoans balance their household budgets. They know economic calamity will follow if the national government won’t do the same. Their hearts ache for the brave servicemen and women who complete multiple deployments but return home to a find a Veterans Administration unable to meet their needs. They lament Obamacare’s broken promises, which saddles millions of Americans with high premiums and inadequate care. They worry about the Administration’s insistence on admitting refugees from areas where the FBI acknowledges it lacks the intelligence capability to properly screen potential terrorists. They grieve over the tragic mismanagement of our federal lands, which ruined our timber industry and leaves our forests to burn. But they haven’t given up. Far from it. My travels affirmed something that has distinguished our people since 1776. Americans love liberty and are determined to fight to sustain our great republic. In planning my tour, we chose small venues and scheduled meetings during the business day. Consequently, we expected lighter turnouts than our traditional evening town halls. Instead we often had standing-room-only crowds, as pictured below at HeBrews Coffee in Emmett, with citizens passionately voicing their concerns. Idahoans are engaged and hungry for change. They are ready to sacrifice to revive our economy and reclaim our values. For those who’ve grown pessimistic because of what seems a broken government in Washington, D.C., I have a reminder. The American Revolution didn’t begin with the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Rather, it was ordinary Americans who pushed the political class to take action against tyranny. From Bonners Ferry on the Kootenai River to Homedale on the Snake, I found patriots determined to hold elected officials accountable and return our country to full strength. I am grateful to the people of the First District for their trust, and continue to join them in the fight to restore our great country. May God bless America and may God bless Idaho.