Senator delivers message of encouragement

HANCOCK COUNTY — U.S. Sen. Todd Young’s message to Hancock County Republicans is to be encouraged.

The GOP may not have control of the White House or majorities in either chamber of Congress, but there’s plenty the party is doing right and Democrats are doing wrong, according to the Republican senator from Indiana.

Young was the keynote speaker at the Hancock County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner at Addagios Banquet Hall last Friday night.

While Republicans lack the power they want in Washington, there’s certainly no deficit in Hancock County, as shown by the dinner’s packed attendance of national, state and local leaders. The event also featured remarks from U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana; Indiana State Auditor Tera Klutz; and Indiana state legislators representing Hancock County: Sen. Michael Crider, R-Greenfield; Rep. Bob Cherry, R-Greenfield; and Chris Jeter, R-Fishers.

In his address, Young touted efforts Republicans fulfilled when the party had the White House and more control in Congress in recent years.

“We Republicans over-performed like I’ve never seen in my lifetime,” Young said.

He pointed to cuts to taxes and “job-killing regulations.” He praised the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement championed by former President Donald Trump, which Young called more sustainable than the accord’s predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Young also noted military pay raises and the confirmation of more than 200 “faithful constitutionalist judges” to federal courts, as well as three conservative supreme court justices. He reiterated his support for funding law enforcement and expanding the Keystone oil pipeline in Canada and the U.S.

President Joe Biden is trying to pass a “far left agenda” with “out-of-control” government spending that exacerbates the nation’s $30-trillion debt, Young said.

“There’s a crisis at our southern border,” continued Young, who feels a more extensive wall would help stem illegal immigration.

He criticized pro-choice stances on abortion, and expressed fears over Democratic efforts to add Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico as the 51st and 52nd states in order to bolster the party’s ranks in Congress.

“They don’t think you’re enlightened enough to make your own decisions,” Young said of Democrats. “They don’t believe that you can apply your reasoning skills to survey your circumstances to improve your own life to rise above your circumstances and to realize your dreams. … The American people aren’t buying it. Be encouraged.”

Jeter said in his introduction of Young that the senator personifies the kind of encouragement he advocates as the party looks toward another election.

“It’s at this time really, in my opinion, that we really need a Marine who knows how to lead,” Jeter said, referring to Young’s past military service. “Someone who can lock arms with fellow conservatives and hold the line in this time, and it’s really important. Someone who knows what it means not to flinch, but to defend. And Todd’s that kind of servant soldier. My message to him would just be this: Hold the line, Senator, because the cavalry’s coming in November, and we in Indiana are going to lead like we always do.”

Young also commented on Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the stakes of which he said extend to the U.S.

“Make no mistake … this is Vladimir Putin’s war,” he said of the Russian president. “He’s making war though not just on a people and a country, he’s making war not just to establish a buffer zone to ensure his own security and the security of his regime and to make our own life difficult as Americans. He’s really leveled war against the civilized order itself. This is an order that allows us to treat trade and to travel how we choose, and this is an order that allows us to live secure in our homes, and this is what’s at stake in the war in Ukraine.”