Maybe I was mistaken. I’d always taken it for granted… I thought it was a given. The idea, that everyone born in the United States of America truly believes what we were taught in elementary school… that any one of us could BE President of the United States.

It just seems for a MAJORITY of us… a majority of the time we don’t have the grand scheme necessary to pull off such a feat. We’ll just leave that one to the “professionals”.

Besides, I have to pick the kids up from school by 3:30. Anyway…

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Maybe my world view is a little skewed. Having grown up here in the Great Plains, I may see things a bit differently. The Breadbasket of America feeds not only OUR Nation, the farmers of the Great State of Kansas FEED THE WORLD… this is HOME.

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https://kansasagriwomen.wordpress.com/our-projects/ 

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I went to school in what was once a farmer’s field. I earned the rank of Eagle Scout camping in fields surrounded by COWS. Endless rows of CORN. Wheat by the mile. All bound for destinations unknown.

The awe inspiring complexity of Nature, mastered by our scientific achievements, to silence the cries of hunger worldwide… grown in the field where I got my first station wagon stuck in the MUD, doing donuts early one spring. Luckily, the girl I was with had a pick-up truck. 

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Ad Astra Per Aspera… to the STARS through difficulties. It is who we are. And we must remember why it is we are in the first place. Bleeding Kansas is also known as The Free State. We support a STRONG UNION. The future strength and stability of this Nation depends on it. It’s the reason we’re able to have these disagreements in the first place. 

How much control should the Federal Government have in our elections? How much control should be left up to the States? Should unlimited amounts of MONEY continue to influence our elections? Should EVERY CITIZEN be allowed to participate… all of these questions only exist within the framework of Our Constitution. 

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I live about 30 minutes away from a town named Lee’s Summit. It’s about a 45 minute drive to Lecompton, KS. I remember passing the Historical Marker as a young man, every time we’d drive out to the Free State Brewery on Mass street. 

I take PRIDE in our State’s Historic fight for EQUALITY. 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleeding_Kansas#/media/File:The_Tragic_Prelude_John_Brown.jpg 

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I believe in the spirit of those who still dare to dream the impossible dream. From the Earth to the STARS… not because it is easy, but because it is HARD. 

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As Neil Armstrong approached the surface of the Moon, he did something that was not expected by Mission Control… but it was prepared for. As the Eagle descended along its predetermined flight path, Commander Armstrong looked out his window and saw where his ship was heading. They were going to land in a boulder field, with rocks the size of houses. 

He made the call and switched to manual control, stopping their descent. He took control of their spacecraft and flew horizontally just a few hundred feet off the ground, looking for a level surface on which they could land. The added time dangerously drained their fuel levels, as documented by the call from Mission Control:

“… 30 seconds.” 

They touched down on the Sea of Tranquility 30 seconds later with no time to spare. Decisive actions SAVED that mission. 

 

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In the early days of the space program, engineers working on Project Mercury didn’t want astronauts to have the ability to make those decisions. They wanted their space capsules to be controlled entirely by Mission Control, on the ground… back in HOUSTON. 

It was only because of the insistence of the Astronauts themselves that the engineers decided to include pilot controls in their design. All of them were former military test pilots and they didn’t want to be seen as an equivalent to the ‘test chimps’ NASA was already sending into Earth orbit. 

They didn’t want to be test subjects, simply along for the ride… 
They wanted to control their own destinies. 

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Commander Armstrong earned his seat on that flight a few months prior to launch. Because of his ability to improvise and react to situations as they develop, he proved himself more than capable of leading a successful mission. 

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Any one of those Apollo Astronauts could have been in that seat for that flight… only ONE of them was fully aware of the dangers posed and where they would have to draw the line in order to SAVE LIVES.

It was the experience gained, through the shared ordeal they all went through, that determined who would be the FIRST man on the Moon. All of them were WORTHY of that honor… destiny determined who it would be.

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There was no way Neil Armstrong could fail, especially with the full support of every citizen of the United States. No one on Earth wanted him to fail… and he did so for ALL MANKIND.

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That is how we find our Compass. That’s how we find our way back HOME. Let this be our Guiding Light. Our message, our gift… for ALL MANKIND.

Those are the words of a Leader. 

 

This Nation has so much to give. If we are not charitable with the gifts we’ve been given, we risk losing them. 

History shows us, they are not ours. They’ve been given to us, to be defended… with a promise that ONE DAY, we would do the SAME. With Liberty and Justice for ALL…  

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…when 90% of what you see is SKY, it’s hard not to dream of the STARS. 

-JC