By Steve Cowen, Contributing Writer
Leading up to his election in the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin Hern says he spent his year running for office studying the constitution. And he’s certainly not sorry for it.
“It’s really an important document. If we all conformed to what the founders thought then we would be a different nation today,” Hern told social studies students Monday during a visit to Centennial Middle School.
Hern offered his thoughts on the freedoms the U.S. Constitution affords its citizens.
“We’re the most benevolent country in the world,” said Hern, who as a teenager lived in a house without running water. “We try to help everybody get back on their feet. I lived on food stamps, government assistance when I was younger.
“I chose to not live like that,” he added, talking about his adult years. “It’s a binary choice. If the government gives you something there are conditions on that. You may not realize it early on, but if the government is giving you something there is an expectation.”
He emphasized the negative condition of relying on the government, “is that you never get to achieve your fullest ability. The government is never going to make you successful.”
Keeping the nation’s founders in mind, Hern stressed the importance of each individual taking risks. Using the example of an I-phone or Android and Amazon, he emphasized that each of those successful companies were started by an individual with the “American Dream” of entrepreneurship.
This is the second time Centennial teacher Justin Ennis has invited a U.S. representative to his classroom. The first was John Sullivan, more than a decade ago. Each time he required his students to research the representative and to prepare questions.
Those questions were sent to the congressmen in advance of the classroom visit.
“He intrigued me on how you can have so little of something and then make it turn out very big.,” said 8th grader Hector Estrada. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from and it doesn’t matter if you’re poor or rich, you, yourself decide if you are good enough or how you succeed. There was a lot of encouragement that I can keep pushing for my dream and it will come true.”
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