I’m in Mobile, Alabama now. My Walk Across America has taken me to the Gulf Coast, where I see a city alive with the proud sweat of American labor, deep faith and the quiet determination to enjoy a good quality of life.
But when I look at the news on my phone, all I see is the unrest in north Minneapolis, where federal agents have been involved in two fatal shootings in the past month alone — first Renee Good and then Alex Pretti. It’s a grim cultural war flashpoint: one side demands aggressive border security and a crackdown on law and order under the current administration, while the other side screams for what they call excessive force and federal heavy-handedness in a blue city.
As I walk these Southern roads and talk to everyday Americans, I can’t shake the question: Are we losing sight of our fundamental values in this bitter culture war that seems to have no bottom?
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Everyone claims the moral high ground for America, but the views are diametrically opposed. On the one hand you have personal responsibility and safe boundaries, and on the other hand you have an open-ended grievance policy and leniency. The progressive left, emboldened in places like Minneapolis, doesn’t stop there. They push policies that undermine law enforcement and excuse disorder in the name of social justice.
What is really at stake? The whole idea of ordered freedom. Will we defend the rule of law, secure communities and the God-given right to self-reliance, or descend into endless division, eroded sovereignty and a nation where chaos replaces order? From what I see on this walk, the antidote is not more government overreach or radical activism – it is the timeless principles that are still alive in places like Mobile.
Mobile, one of America’s oldest port cities, wasn’t born of academic theories, DEI mandates, or endless federal stimulus checks. It was created through generations of hard work, free enterprise, trade and personal responsibility.
I can’t help but feel the contrast with the South Side of Chicago, where the focus is on the government debating bloated programs and wealth distribution schemes that trap people in cycles of dependency. The result is vacancy in the business community, lack of resources and enormous, dilapidated housing projects.
The Port of Mobile is living proof that jobs – good, fair jobs rooted in industry and initiative – deliver dignity far better than any government benefit ever could.
But here in Mobile, dockworkers, shipbuilders and logistics crews are working every day to create real wealth and opportunity. The Port of Mobile is living proof that jobs – good, fair jobs rooted in industry and initiative – deliver dignity far better than any government benefit ever could. When people are valued for what they produce rather than managed as wards of the state, communities thrive.
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I’ve talked to families here whose livelihoods depend on this port, and they’re not waiting for Washington’s approval. They show up, work hard and build legacies. In stark contrast to Minneapolis, where failed progressive policies allowed crime, especially fraud, disorder and uncontrolled immigration, to fester before federal interventions became deadly, Mobile reminds us that a strong work ethic and local economies free from overregulation are the true engines of prosperity and security.
That’s exactly why I didn’t come to Mobile to lecture or “save it.” I came to listen and learn. True leadership does not come from top-down government mandates or activist agendas. It walks humbly alongside communities, respects their God-given strengths, and builds from the ground up. You can’t heal what you don’t love, and true transformation – like what we’ve been fighting for with Project HOOD in Chicago – grows organically when it’s rooted in local faith, family and responsibility.
In Mobile, pastors, parents and workers have welcomed me, not as an outsider with all the answers, but as a brother in Christ looking for common ground. This is a major relief to the ideological battles that are paralyzing places like Minneapolis, where federal overreach meets radical resistance and common sense solutions get lost in the noise.
The South’s quiet revival proves that what coastal elites deride as “backward” is actually progressive: lower taxes and costs of living that allow families to thrive, stronger marriages and churches that anchor moral life, and a belief in personal property over dependence on government.
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Hurricanes have hit Mobile repeatedly, yet people rebuild without whining or waiting for rescue operations. Neighbors helping neighbors, faith that sustains hope, responsibility that trumps excuses. When faith erodes, as it does in too many urban centers, communities crumble.
Government can enforce compliance, but only God and the individual, properly understood, can truly transform hearts and rebuild societies.
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