In less than a week, South Carolinians will select a Presidential candidate with a new vision for America’s future. While I don’t yet know which candidate will receive my vote in the coming Presidential Primary, I do know what they need to represent. This past March, the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, addressed a joint session of Congress, speaking about the United States from an outsider’s perspective, while highlighting the greatness of America in a way that I haven’t heard from our current leadership in Washington. Ms. Gillard mentioned that when she was a child, she was sent home from school so that she could watch the United States land a man on the moon. In her address, she stated “I’ll always remember thinking that day: Americans can do anything,” and followed up with “I believe you can do anything still.”

Compare those words to the recent rhetoric coming from the present Administration which would rather divide Americans over their differences than unite them over a shared dream for a better nation. The United States is a great country, and it should not take a speech from the leader of a foreign country to remind us of this fact. The Declaration of Independence, that proclaimed our nation and its people to be free, changed the world forever. Americans were among the first to stand boldly and say that we are born with certain inalienable rights, and that those rights are given to us not by the government, but directly from our Creator. Americans have long rejected the Marxist notions that we are merely a part of the collective masses. Rather, we have embraced the truth that America is made up of free and unique individuals. That sense of individuality and freedom has set our nation and its people apart from everyone else in the world. Our free spirited nature has inspired us to “dream and to build, to fail and succeed.”

These difficult times have definitely fueled a sense of pessimism about America’s future. However, America didn’t need a bailout or a stimulus package to become the nation we are today. The American innovation that indeed changed the world can do so again if we allow it to work and work to inspire it. The strength of America isn’t our government but rather our faith in God, our work ethic and our belief in the American Dream.The next President of the United States needs to be bold. That person needs to inspire us to American greatness and exceptionalism, rather than apologize for that same greatness around the globe. I am absolutely convinced that we can restore America’s promise, but it will require a leader who can return our nation to its Founding Principles.

Our country deserves a President who can guide our people away from a future full of debt, doubt, and despair and towards a path of common sense, certainty and opportunity. The candidate who will receive my support will be the leader who reminds us that we can do anything, who inspires us to greatness, understands the premise behind the American Dream and plots a course for our nation that our Founding Fathers would be proud to follow. Prime Minister Gillard finished her address in March with: “There is a reason the world always looks to America. Your great dream – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – inspires us all… I firmly believe you are the same people who amazed me when I was a small girl by landing on the moon. On that great day I believed Americans could do anything. I believe that still.”

The Prime Minister understands what our Founders knew – that our greatness lies within the freedom of our people. Where some would turn to the power of bureaucracies to “manage” our economy, our nation needs to turn to its people and free them from the burdens of big government.In freedom and liberty our nation was born – it is only in freedom and liberty that we can be reborn as the greatest nation the world has ever known. The Presidential candidate who understands that and makes their stand on those issues will receive my support.

God Bless,

Jeff Duncan

Jeff Duncan is from Laurens, South Carolina and serves as the Congressman for the Third Congressional District. Jeff has been recognized as a defender of the Constitution, a fiscal conservative champion, and a protector of family values. Jeff is married to his high school sweetheart Melody, and they have three boys.

http://www.JeffDuncan.com

However in an interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer last night, he said: ‘I second-guess constantly… I make a mistake, you know, every hour, every day.’

Real GDP increased 1.7 percent in 2011 (that is, from the 2010 annual level to the 2011 annual level), compared with an increase of 3.0 percent in 2010.