Retaining our freedoms starts in our small towns

By Becky Uehling, Editor

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

-Ronald Reagan

It was so sad when I heard of the closing of The Prairie Garden greenhouses near Madrid. What a treat it was to go to the General Store and be able to pick up fresh vegetables and dressings and know that the products were high quality and locally grown. There is just something about goods from your small town shops and neighbors that give you a sense of comfort in the quality, and a good feeling to know you are helping your community grow by keeping your dollars local. 

With the pandemic closing several of America’s small businesses for six months to a year or more, and with the continued lack of employees to fill vacant positions, small businesses, and the small towns where many exist, are being crushed and are dying more and more every day. Indeed, now more than ever is it critically important for Americans to Shop Small. According to a survey by Bankrate, Americans just might be turning back to small towns for their everyday needs, and this switch is needed more now in America than in any time in our history. 

The Bankrate survey found this past big holiday shopping weekend that 59 percent of holiday shoppers were more likely to shop on Small Business Saturday, compared to 56 percent of people who planned to shop on Black Friday. 

Maybe people are seeing that buying corporate America, and mainly goods from China, isn’t helping our country, and, in fact, is hurting us more than we know. 

The strength of a country starts in the small places—within families and close-knit communities where values and morals are taught, and camaraderie and trust are nurtured. 

It was in small towns and communities that America was born and created. The intimacy and closeness of a community drove our first citizens to want to protect the blessings they had found in the colonies, and stand against outside forces who did not have the communities’ best interests in mind. 

Knowing that they did not have anyone or any other group they could rely on or trust, the close-knit colonies chose to stand up, serve as watchdogs and participate in the process of government and community to expose corruption and protect their communities from tyranny. 

We as Americans need to go back to this mindset now as big government and globalists bear down on our people, pushing us to give up our freedoms and our choices for a life that continues to be violated by unelected bureaucrats and compromised politicians seeking to fill their own pockets, rather than protect American people and our sovereignty.

Uniting with liked-minded people in small communities, and working towards freedoms and liberties for all will be the only way we can secure America’s future. 

Not only do we need to encourage others to get involved with protecting our country by taking an active role in our civic lives, but WE also need to get involved. It is no longer an option to sit back and think that someone else is protecting of our freedoms. That attitude has gone on too long in America, and has led us to a precarious point where our country has nearly been taken over by our enemies while we were distracted with our busy lives. 

Stand up today and fight for our small town communities! Get involved at your school board, city council, county commissioners, state and federal levels. Volunteer for a civic organizations, at your church, in our schools. Teach a youth today how precious and fragile our freedoms are, and then together get involved! We MUST teach our children the value of America and how to fight for Her. Even if you, as an adult, have very rarely gotten involved, there is always a time to start, and that time is now! 

I do not want freedom to die on my watch, and I don’t think you do either.