Republicans are calling for a "confident America," and believe in empowering people to live out their dreams, Oklahoma State Rep. Lisa Johnson-Billy said in Saturday's GOP address while sharing her personal life as an example of the importance of expanding opportunity for all Americans.
"When government fulfills its responsibilities, that’s what allows the people to create opportunity — the opportunity to learn more, to find a job, to start a business," Johnson-Billy said Saturday. "What opportunity ignites is hope. That’s what pushes people through difficult times"
Johnson-Billy, a member of the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes, is the first Native American, woman, and Republican to serve her district in Oklahoma, and explained that she was born in Purcell, Oklahoma and grew up on a small farm where she learned the value of hard work and to be grateful for the country she and her family lived in.
"The reason my parents could make a second income on that farm is that this is a country where taking responsibility is rewarded," she said. "We had a government that kept the streets safe, protected what we earned, and fostered opportunity for all. We had a government that understood there’s nothing more fulfilling than when you can provide for your family—and feel that sense of accomplishment."
Johnson-Billy served two terms in the Chickasaw Nation Legislature with her father before she was elected to the state house, where she is a floor leader. She is also a wife of a veteran and a mother of three, with her oldest in the U.S. Army, 'so this is not some abstraction for me. I know that a lot of Americans don't' feel confident about the future."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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