Media

Missouri's Fifth District is what I like to call a microcosm of our country. Our urban and rural communities depend on and derive strength from one another in a symbiotic, beneficial relationship. We have a vibrant city center so cool that the Huffington Post named it the coolest city in America. We have abundant farmland where our farmers grow soybeans and corn, and ranchers tend livestock. We have beautiful and welcoming suburbs where families flourish.

Preachers tell the story of the passion play, presented in a big city park during the holy week of the Christian tradition. As the actors processed up a hillside, the young man portraying Christ carried a heavy cross. At the top of the hill, a hostile spectator confronted the man portraying Christ and yelled out, "This cross myth is so hokey pokey that you look like a buffoon." The actor laid down the cross, walked over to the heckler, and punched him square in the mouth.

Yesterday, as it sometimes happens, I was on television for a little bit to talk about the issues of the day. I was on two very different shows, with two very different hosts, and two different audiences. I like to do that—to talk with people who think differently than I do. And my staff told me that many of you called my Washington office to say thank you. One man said that he didn't agree with me on much, but he liked seeing me on a channel he watches. It meant something to him that I was willing to do that. It means a lot to me, too.

Although these weekly missives are intended for 435 Members, this writing is directed more to the 58 newly elected Representatives.

A young rooster, feeling his oats, challenged the ruling rooster. The fight was a blood-letting; they fought savagely. Finally, the older rooster slipped away, defeated, into the hen house. The conqueror, full of exuberance, made his way to the top of the house. He began his victory strut, crowing at the top of his lungs, "cock-a-doodle-doo!"