By REBECCA NEIPP , News Review Staff Writer, August 7, 2015

    U.S. House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy delivered a sobering message about the importance of returning the Unites States of America to a position of strength on the global stage during his visit this week to the Indian Wells Valley.

    While McCarthy touched on the issues that dominate the local news scene - water management, the future of China Lake and the importance of economic diversity - the focus of his message was the turning point Americans find themselves facing in terms of foreign policy. "I really want to talk about what the world looks like - not from a partisan point of view, but from an American point of view," he said.

    "I am a firm believer that history repeats itself." Conjecture about where we fall on that cycle ranges from the World War II era to the Cold War, he said. "I think our country looks a lot like it did in 1979."

    He pointed to chronic dysfunction at the federal level of government, and how Millennials have witnessed a series of failures with no solutions or accountability. Scandals relating to the Internal Revenue Service, the Centers for Disease Control, the Veterans Administration and the White House break-in have eroded the confidence in government of a generation of young people.

    But while domestic issues are troubling, events on foreign soil, like Bengazi, carry far more complex implications and consequences.

    "Think, as an American - when was the last time you saw Americans being held hostage? That was 1979 in Iran. Now we have four in Iran." He said that President Barack Obama has changed the course of history by paving the way for families to pay ransom for their loved ones. "What does that tell the rest of the world? If you take an American, you will get paid."

    In 1979 President Jimmy Carter told Americans to accept a new normal. "He wanted us to accept that Americans were no longer the leaders of the world." Carter's foreign policy, distancing America from Israel and our other allies, moved our country into a position of weakness, McCarthy said.

    He added that that is the position Americans find themselves in today. "It is difficult when you travel through the world, and your friends don't trust you and your enemies don't fear you."

    On Saturday McCarthy will travel to Israel with a bipartisan congressional faction to in an effort to improve Obama's proposed agreement with Iran. "We need to make decisions about what is best for this country, and the world, not as Republicans and Democrats, but as Americans," he said.

    "This is the most important issue we face. If Iran is allowed to proceed with nuclear weapons, the world will never be the same. And we will have to look our children in the eye and tell them we let it happen."

    "For the first time in history, we are being lectured by France for not being hard enough on Iran. France got up from the table, Russia got up from the table. We stayed," said McCarthy.

    "Churchill always said you could count on Americans to do what's right after they have exhausted every other possibility. We have to make sure we are doing the right thing." McCarthy also acknowledged military and civilian leaders at China Lake for their vigilance in promoting national security.

    "Adm. Moran is the finest we've ever had," said McCarthy. "He and Scott O'Neil are looking at where the base needs to be 20-30 years from now and how to put Ridgecrest and China Lake in a position that we will be protected from the threats we see around the world. We cannot duplicate what you do here anywhere else in the country."

    Additional information about McCarthy's visit, which included meetings with China Lake and city leaders, will be continued in the next edition of the News Review.