President Ronald Reagan famously declared that "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."

Today our economy is facing serious difficulties, mainly as a result of untold billions of bad assets clogging the balance sheets of financial institutions and greed by some on Wall Street.

As Labor Day weekend passes, it is clear that this has not been the summer North Carolinians had planned on. Too many families have been forced to cancel their vacations and trim their budgets in order to compensate for the sting of high gas prices.

While the high price of gasoline is the major issue on the minds of most Americans, another prevalent topic of discussion is healthcare. Americans have traditionally enjoyed the best, most accessible, patient-centered health care in the world and I am fighting to see that tradition continue.

America's discussion of energy policy is dominated by sky-high gas prices, and rightly so. But in this discussion the national security implications of high energy costs often go unmentioned. Exploding gas prices not only take an ever-larger bite out of average American's budgets, but also pose a threat to our nation's security in a global energy marketplace. The time has come for an American declaration of energy independence.

"Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives," founding father John Adams wrote in 1808. This past Memorial Day we paused to remember those who truly took the words of President Adams to heart. For Adams' exhortation to his fellow patriots rings most true in the lives of those who have fallen defending the freedoms we cherish.