12/27/2020
"What's so merry about all this, you ask?"
Some thoughts as we close the year ...
You've probably seen an Exchange Club Freedom Shrine in a school or library. It is a collection of notable documents from our country's history. I was always struck by the one with the 101st Airborne eagle insignia on the letterhead, that starts with "Merry Christmas" and continues with the words above. Written by Commander McAuliffe to his troops on Christmas Eve in 1944, the letter answers the question by first acknowledging the brutal losses inflicted by the N***s in recent fighting. But it continues to recount the German Commander’s demand for surrender, and his American counterpart’s now-famous reply: "Nuts." It closes by reminding the soldiers of how they had persevered through courage, bravery, and will. Victory would be the best Christmas present they could give their loved ones.
During Christmas 2020, it is tempting to ask, "what's merry about all this?" We all know someone who knows someone who has been sickened by COVID-19. We have thousands of neighbors who lost their jobs by government order and are still struggling. Countless restaurants and small businesses have been bankrupted. Students are not being taught face-to-face. Mental health issues have risen and our most vulnerable are the most isolated. Those are the losses inflicted by COVID and our state's response. Do we have the will to answer?
Yes. At the top, an unprecedented private-public effort, coordinated with our military's expertise in logistics and procurement, created vaccines in "warp speed". Great strides in understanding and therapeutics have meant hundreds of thousands have recovered from the illness. And the selfless courage of our front-line matches those who did battle decade ago.
Now, we must engage our state in a smarter way. The legislature actively pushed all year to improve our disastrous nursing home policy, fraud-riddled unemployment system, and arbitrary and harmful policies which needlessly shut down businesses that could operate safely. We insured parents and students had a voice and sped federal aid to where it was most needed. All that work will continue. While my time in office is drawing to a close, it is certain that improving our response to COVID and helping those most affected will be the top legislative priority in the New Year.
I am pleased that during my six years as your representative, we were able to see much good work. We made our state competitive again so people wouldn’t keep moving away. We reformed our broken auto insurance system, moved the state from bankruptcy to a rainy-day balance, put our long-term liabilities on a path to solvency, addressed critical shortfalls in mental health services, targeted increases in school funding to rural and underserved districts, and many more things. Throughout all this, it was the hard-working people of our area and our state, and their faith in a better future, that drove the progress and made the difference. That is, as Commander McAuliffe said, "a Christmas present we can all share".
Thank you again for the opportunity to serve you. It has been an honor. I wish you and yours all the best.
-- Eric Leutheuser
