Security is still the most important issue facing Washington

The words of Patty Murray—“Security is still the most important issue facing Washington state residents and millions of Americans — the security of having a job, of access to affordable health care, of a quality education, and of protecting our homeland and defending our nation.”—speak not merely to the politics of an age, but to the ancient yearning of humankind for stability and safety. Her words rise beyond the moment, echoing a truth that has endured since the dawn of civilization: that without security, the spirit cannot thrive. For security is not only the protection of borders or the defense of cities—it is the assurance of peace in daily life, the quiet confidence that one may live with dignity, labor with purpose, and raise children in hope rather than in fear.

In the earliest days of human history, when tribes gathered around the fire and built walls of stone to guard against the wild, they sought what Patty Murray now names: the security of life itself. The ancients understood that a nation’s true strength was not measured only in armies or fortresses, but in the welfare of its people—their work, their health, their learning, and their sense of belonging. When she speaks of jobs, health care, education, and homeland, she invokes the four pillars of stability upon which every enduring civilization has stood. Remove even one, and the structure begins to tremble.

Consider the tale of the Roman Republic, whose citizens once believed that the safety of their city was guaranteed by conquest alone. They built legions but neglected justice, gathered wealth but ignored hunger. In time, corruption ate the heart of their security, and the empire fell not by the sword of the enemy, but by the weakness born of inequality. The lesson, as Patty Murray reminds us, is eternal: security is not born of dominance, but of care—care for the worker, the teacher, the healer, and the soldier alike. When a society forgets the people who hold it together, it becomes like a tree whose roots are dying beneath the soil, though its leaves still glitter in the sun.

Murray’s insight also carries the rhythm of the modern age, where new dangers—economic uncertainty, illness, ignorance, and foreign threat—move like unseen tides beneath the surface of prosperity. Her words are not a cry for luxury, but for balance: that in the rush to innovate and expand, we must not abandon the foundation of human security. For what good is progress if it leaves behind the sick and the poor? What meaning has freedom if a mother cannot afford to heal her child, or a worker fears tomorrow’s hunger? The ancients would call this the pursuit of justice, the equilibrium that keeps chaos at bay.

Yet her voice is not one of despair but of resolve. It is a reminder that the guardians of a nation are not only its soldiers, but its citizens—those who build, teach, heal, and protect. The truest defense of the homeland lies not in weapons, but in compassion; not in fear, but in unity. When every man and woman has the chance to labor with dignity, to learn with purpose, and to live without want, then no enemy—foreign or domestic—can break their spirit. This is the wisdom of both the statesman and the sage: that the greatest strength of a people is their shared sense of security.

One might recall the story of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in the midst of the Great Depression declared that “necessitous men are not free men.” He understood, as Murray does, that freedom without security is an illusion. He built systems of work and welfare not to weaken the nation, but to fortify it—to give every citizen the foundation upon which courage, innovation, and patriotism could grow. In that act, he mirrored the ancient kings who built granaries for their people before they built monuments for themselves.

So let this be the lesson for all who hear: security is the soil from which all greatness grows. Guard it not only through armies and laws, but through compassion, fairness, and education. Protect your nation by protecting your neighbor; strengthen your homeland by strengthening the hearts within it. Remember that a people united in care cannot be divided by fear.

And thus, as Patty Murray reminds us, let every generation labor not only to defend the borders of their country, but to defend the dignity of its citizens. For when work is stable, health is protected, knowledge is accessible, and home is safe, then—and only then—can a nation stand as both free and enduring, a light in the long, uncertain night of history.