By Joseph Concannon
We hope you used your time in September 2020 to get prepared (please review the US Department of Homeland Security website for specific details). As a political club how do we prepare? Well, first we never settle back and relax thinking we have control of everything. As President Ronald Reagan said we are only one day away from anarchy. Freedom is not free, and we would be better off to never forget it. Do not get lulled into a sense of complacency. Voting matters and elections have consequences.
The Queens Village Republican Club is not just the oldest active club, we are a strong club. Our responsibilities are many because we are known so well. Specifically, we need to lean in on the younger people in our areas who have yet to understand war and politics. They have no reference point on the terrorist attacks on our county on 9/11, like many of us who have never experienced World War I or World War II or any other war or invasion the United States has taken part in. It is our history and it is our responsibility to reflect on it and pass it on to the next generation. As they say, history – know it, learn from it, or you are doomed to repeat it.
September is National Preparedness Month. Are we as a club doing all we can to prepare the young and refresh the minds of those older that freedom is not free? As we watch anarchy in our streets, crime surges, 134% increase in shooting victims and 166% shooting incidents. We are sliding into chaos, disorder, crime, and fear. For many of us, our better days are behind us. The fight we are in is for future generations, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
National Preparedness Month is not just about a backpack, bottled water, and a few essentials. Someone must take up the mantle to move freedom forward. Someone has to train future generations about the value of civic duty, the satisfaction of instructing people how to register to vote, how to become a citizen. These tasks are our duty. Our club has a role. We should be producing social media instructional videos talking about the importance of our civic duty and voting, and we should be targeting high school and college level students. Our club needs to talk about investment in scholarships and follow students through their school years and support them.
The legacy of our club will depend on how we invest our assets today into future generations. As some of us pass the torch from one generation to the next, our performance will be measured by our success in reaching out to all communities and especially the youth of our communities.
Voting matters and elections have consequences. We are duty-bound to fight back, fight for our future, fight for the future generations, as well as fight for a great legacy. Tune in to your nation, study her Constitution, Bill of Rights, engage others on the principles for which our nation was founded and never forget the great men and women who died for our nation. Fly the flag proudly and be determined.
Honor the memory of so many who have given it all. Register to vote, passionately engage others to also do so and never forget. Voting matters and elections have consequences.
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Joseph Concannon is a former NYPD Captain, Deputy Director of Public Safety in Mayor Giuliani’s administration, Republican candidate for City Council, and 1st Vice President of the Queens Village Republican Club
