Letter: Cawthorn’s inspiring story could encourage others

Steven Hawkins

I think it’s great that newly elected U.S. Congressman Madison Cawthorn serves as a federal legislator in Western North Carolina after Mark Meadows resigned in 2020 to serve as former President Trump’s chief of staff. He was born in the city of Asheville and has been North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District representative since January.

It is a phenomenal and inspiring story of U.S. Congressman Cawthorn, who uses a wheelchair because he is partially paralyzed from the abdomen down. This inspiring story could encourage people to achieve great things and to rise and overcome your limitations for success.

Cawthorn was 18 years old when he became critically injured in 2014 in a car accident after visiting Florida with a friend. While his friend Bradley Ledford drove the car in Daytona Beach, Fla., the vehicle hit a concrete barrier. But after the ordeal of his accident, he started a real estate firm and became a motivational speaker.

Congressman Madison Cawthorn said the former Congressman Mark Meadows, whom he succeeded in office, still and would always be somewhat of a mentor, a person who nominated him for a U.S. Naval Academy appointment. Meadows was even a person whom he worked for later in time.

I think it is also great that he is the one of the youngest persons ever to be elected to Congress in history. At age 25, he was elected to the U.S. Congress. The youngest woman was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and she became the Democratic United States congresswoman from New York at age 29.

I admire the success story of recently elected U.S. Congressman Madison Cawthorn, and I think it’s wonderful he overcame the disability of this car accident in Florida to be elected U.S. representative. His new political career as a libertarian fiscal conservative is also wonderful. It is great he focuses on American freedoms and a better North Carolina.

— Steven Hawkins
Greenville, S.C.

Editor’s note: Hawkins reports that previous letters to the editor he has written have been collected in the book Letters from South Carolina.

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30 thoughts on “Letter: Cawthorn’s inspiring story could encourage others

  1. Robert

    What the hell is this letter writer smoking? Does he think it’s great that Cawthorne supported the Big Lie that led to domestic terrorists storming the U.S. Capitol six months ago today?

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      • Phillip Williams

        Oh NO!! Surely not!! In one breath, the President (and the Hon. Mr. Swalwell of Californy) says that the pop-guns owned by American civilians would be ineffective against the tanks, aircraft and nukes of the US military – yet in another, he claims that an undisciplined, unorganized, unarmed mob nearly toppled the government on 6 January – equating this event to 9/11, Pearl Harbor and the War Between the States!

        The only thing the January 6th rioters managed to do, besides getting one of their own number killed by a Capitol Policeman, was to hand those they claim to oppose a big brush with which to paint all conservatives as traitors and white supremacists and a big hammer with which to further batter our remaining civil liberties….if, of course, this was their goal, then I suppose they succeeded beyond their wildest hopes.

        So far as I know, the government is still aggressively searching for and rounding up participants in the riot – I think the Horny Shaman Guy is still in custody, even tho he didn’t do anything but run his jib and look like a idjit…

        • LowerCrust

          Yes!… And I believe that Obama was born in Kenya, that there is a secret hidden government known as The Deep State, that Joe Scarborough had one of his aides murdered, that wind turbines cause cancer, that Ted Cruz’s father was part of the conspiracy to assassinate JFK, that injected bleach will stop COVID, and that Big Daddy Trum-Dum is rescuing millions of child victims from the Democratic Intergalactic Satanic Sex Dungeons on Mars, because Q told me so!

          • PHILLIP WILLIAMS

            Sooooo – Congressman Swalwell and President Biden did not make those remarks regarding the 2A? The President did not equate the 6 January riot to 9/11, Pearl Harbor or the War Between the States? The mob on 6 January actually did have weapons and used them to great effect, killed people and nearly overthrew the US government? The current administration did not associate this riot with everyone who supported or voted for DJT? That gal wasn’t unarmed and she wasn’t shot by a Capitol Police officer? They don’t still have Horny Shaman Guy in custody and they are not still trying to identify and arrest participants?? Well – I reckon I ought to be relieved that all of this was just drummed up by those right-wing news sources that control the media – to scare old white folks…..

      • Enlightened Enigma

        Yes, with Nancy Pelousi also…the Babbit lady killed…Liz Cheney knows who did it but she’s a mum bum…she’s a nasty rino snob…anti American.

    • Sam

      He is a whack job who needs to be voted out. Left the expression that he was a vet. Only I interested in self promotion much like Marjorie from Georgia.

  2. luther blissett

    Yes, Cawthorn should be an inspiration for all fabulists who flunked out of college, have multiple accusations of inappropriate behavior, and have never held down a full-time job. With a little work, they too can convince people of their fictitious biographies and misattribute quotes on the floor of the House of Representatives, then miss a bunch of votes and still be paid $14,500 a month plus benefits.

  3. PHILLIP WILLIAMS

    Reckon I’d best get the popcorn – Mister, I’d say you have lit a fuse of some kind, and the Usual Suspects are fixing to break into interpretive dance here directly…..

    • luther blissett

      You could have said “I agree that Madison Cawthorn has an inspiring life story and has already proven himself a great representative for the people of Western North Carolina” but you didn’t. Why is that?

      • Phillip Williams

        In this instance, I am not interested in, nor am I pushing the merits or shortcomings of the Hon. Mr. Cawthorn – I am just interested at this point in seeing the reactions and comments towards a piece that supports the young gent and whether they’ll be as predictable as I thought they would be. I could be wrong – and I admit that I often am . Regardless, it will be interesting to see the quality and quantity of the remarks.

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        • luther blissett

          He’s a quarter of the way through his first term of office. The biography that got him elected is now secondary to how he does his $14,500/month job. Shrugging at it from the peanut gallery is fine, but it means you’ve chosen to be in the peanut gallery.

    • Shultz!

      Judging by the grammar and context, I’m not sure this’ll turn into a roast. Mr. Hawkins is just stating his feelings & trying to sell his self-published book. Guessing MtnX just wanted to help him out.

  4. Todd

    Steven, you’re missing a lot of information on this guy… you might wanna dig a little deeper!

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  5. Enlightened Enigma

    Mr. Hawkins is always right on target with his observations ! Great letter!

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  6. Rudy Singh

    My sister lived in a wheelchair for most of her life. Yet, she was able to obtain a four year degree, have a good career, get married and have children… None the less, it is still tough for people with disabilities to survive in a world built for people with the use of their legs. Yes, I agree, it is great to see a disabled person run for office and succeed. But, what he does with that power and pulpit is another story. So far, he has dismal track record. Rather than being grateful to the people who elected him and promising to represent all of his constituents he puts down liberals. Even more dangerously, he perpetuates conspiracies rather than accepting the outcome of the election like an adult. Cawthorn has a lot of growing up to do despite being elected to office. Sadly, being in his voting district we must bare the brunt of his experiment with power…

  7. Voirdire

    It’s really sad…. okay, pathetic. Mr. Hawkins is a ploy leveraged every so often by the flagging MtnX, and Mr. Cawthorn’s wheelchair is basically a prop so expertly leveraged by him and the imploding GOP. And, it’s entertainment for the sick and dis-eased …nothing more, nothing less. Have at it.

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    • Enlightened Enigma

      hilarious yes, but at least Rep. Cawthorn is not a despicable democrackkk and he is PRO American, not filled with left wing HATE for the country!

  8. Jason Williams

    Mr. Cawthorn’s “real estate firm” SPQR Holdings LLC. Is now dissolved, and it never bought or sold any property, except the the property Mr. Cawthorn now owns to himself.
    Also he sure speaks at a lot of Republican fundraisers to be a Libertarian.

  9. Post Factual

    Yes, our hearts swelled with regional pride to see our guy on the platform warbling lunacy beside his president as The Irritated Yam dispatched his howling flying monkeys down the street to “hang Mike Pence”. What a glorious moment it was in this mystical epoch!

  10. BobR

    An “inspiration”? A pathological liar who continues to spew unsupported B.S. not to mention his love for Hitler’s Bunker which “didn’t disappoint” on his Nazi tour. He only inspires other bigots and those who are delusional enough to support the Big Lie. hardley inspirational.

  11. Sandra

    This is satire, right?? The lady who flies a sign on exit 2 off ramp would be a more qualified representative. Any person who has held a job or attended elementary school is more qualified than Madcaw.

  12. Kay Haas

    Wondering why Xpress chose to publish a letter wr,tten by an admirer of Madison Cawthorn’s from out of state, especially since the letter is full of falsehoods that any fact-checker could easily spot. Cawthorn’s ‘phenomenal and inspiring story’ is that of a sexual predator, a vandal, a charlatan and a liar.

  13. Kay Haas

    Cawthorn has no business, no work history, no education, but plenty of out of state PAC money to buy his congressional seat — hardly a success by any measure. His sworn deposition from his accident is a real eye opener. I recommend it to anyone who takes his claims at face value. And here’s a first-hand account, written by conservative Christian students at the college he briefly attended, revealing the man behind the faux faithful mask.

    https://www.scribd.com/document/480853260/Open-Letter-From-Patrick-Henry-College-Alumni-On-Madison-Cawthorn

  14. Robert

    Hawkins fails to mention that Cawthorn’s primary and most obvious and debilitating paralysis is between the ears.

  15. MV

    Let’s see…admires Hitler and Trump…encourages domestic terrorists…opposes masks and vaccinations even now…doesn’t know much about anything…severely handicapped…we should all continue to call for his resignation…

  16. kw

    And let’s not forget that Cawthorn tried to bring a handgun onto an airplane at the Asheville airport some months ago.
    What if I did that?

  17. Lou

    I just threw up a little in the back of my throat. MC is a joke…little boys pretending to be men do NOT good leaders make. Twittler showed us that time and again.

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