Honor our men and women in uniform

By Sen. Chuck Grassley

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It was seven score and 10 years ago. On Nov. 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered his now legendary Gettysburg Address. Four months after the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, the president returned to the site to remember the 51,000 Americans who lost their lives in the three-day battle, turning Pennsylvania farm fields into a battleground's graveyard.

In just 272 words, the president memorialized the enduring legacy of the most sacred principles of our republic. In 10 sentences, the 16th president immortalized the unique vision of the Founders, a nation “conceived in liberty,” and paid tribute to those who gave their lives on the battlefield so “that the nation might live.”

This Veterans Day, let's remember the “unfinished work” described by Lincoln and so “nobly advanced” 150 years ago by the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg and by all of those who have fulfilled a patriotic duty to serve our country.

Lincoln did not realize the power of his eulogy. He grossly underestimated the enduring power of his message that underscored our individual rights as Americans. His closing words remind us about the rights and responsibilities we bear as citizens of this great nation: that “government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth.”

The Gettysburg Address holds relevance today on its sesquicentennial anniversary. Our republic endures because its foundation is strong. The deeply held views of the electorate today focus largely on the size and scope of government. The ideological divide among voters can be seen in the politics and policies that shape American society.

For generations, Americans have followed their predecessors who blazed a trail of self-reliance to raise standards of living, pursue achievement that knows no boundaries and pledge allegiance to the rights and responsibilities of self-government. America has outlasted regional, cultural, political, religious, racial and social differences because we are united by the timeless principles on which our nation was founded and which are embodied by the Constitution. Ours is the first constitution based on the principle that we the people are sovereign with unalienable rights endowed by our Creator, delegating to our government only such power as necessary to secure these rights. Such a founding is exceptional in human history.

Just as Lincoln paid tribute to the idea of America's exceptionalism, let us honor our men and women in uniform who have answered the call to serve and defend America's freedom and individual liberty, especially those who have lost life and limb in the fullest measure of devotion to our country.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has served in the Senate since 1981. Comments: Grassley_Press@grassley.senate.gov