Rep Thaddeus McCotter (R-Livonia) was the author of a Congressional resolution on April 9 welcoming Pope Benedict to the United States. In his comments on the House floor related to the resolution, he took special pains to emphasize that the Pope's message was essentially the same as the Republican mantra of personal freedom:
"It was not passion alone that allowed for the founding of our free republic; [the founding fathers] also used their reason to find their way to express how those rights could be guaranteed against government, and how individual citizens could live together with their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is no different than the message that the Holy Father brings today. The Holy Father has said that faith and reason are concomitant blessings from God which allow us to find him not only in ourselves but in each other."
