This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I've been thinking about the devastation in the northeast from Hurricane Sandy and how the federal government is there to help recovery with aid and financial assistance. What a great thing it is that the whole nation is there to help a region in distress. It happens again and again.

If Florida was its own country, unconnected to the other 49 states, its economy would have a much harder time recovering from hurricanes. Our strength is that we are one nation, coast to coast, with the united strength to heal wounds to any part.

I don't get states' rights advocates who want to weaken our national government. We are stronger, healthier and richer because we're one country that can draw on the strength of the whole, and not 50 autonomous countries.

I pledge my allegiance to the United States, one nation, indivisible. E pluribus unum!

Mark Brent

Ogden