Is the American Dream Still Reachable?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is that the American dream is still alive and well – at least in Indiana. Republican Rep. Jim Banks is a new Senator, winning an open Indiana Senate seat. According to Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, Banks claims that he is a product of the American dream. 

“Only in America can a kid like me, who grew up in a trailer park in Columbia City and was the first in my family to go to college, go on to become a United States senator,” Banks said in a statement shared with The Daily Signal. “As your next senator, I will fight every day to protect that American dream for the next generation.”

Banks currently represents northeastern Indiana’s 3^rd Congressional District. He decided to forgo another House term to run for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Sen. Mike Braun, who is running for governor.

Banks is a supporter of former President Donald Trump. He has been outspoken on “culture war” issues, such as abortion and transgenderism.

Banks demanded on Sept. 19 that the individual responsible for the military training that portrayed pro-life Americans as terrorists be held accountable.

The Indiana lawmaker has addressed training sessions given to service members on the North Carolina military base Fort Liberty from 2017 to a few months ago that characterized pro-life organizations as “terrorist groups.”

“The training labeled several prominent and well-respected pro-life groups, that count millions of everyday Americans as members, as violent extremists,” Banks said disapprovingly in the opening statement of a hearing.

As the chairman of the Anti-Woke Caucus, he sent a letter on July 30 calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to clarify the stance of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration regarding irreversible gender-transition surgeries for kids.

“We need true conservative fighters in Washington who are not afraid to cut reckless spending and fight to secure our border and end the Democrats’ border crisis,” Banks’ statement says. “I got in this race to champion working Hoosier families and put Indiana first, and that’s what I plan to do on Day One in the United States Senate.”