We are a nation that celebrates labor. We are a people brought together in a diverse melting pot society, where possessing what’s commonly called the work ethic once made the difference between life and death.

Monday, the nation takes a day off to remember that it has been and is today the work of millions of people in thousands of ways that created America from what was largely wilderness.

Labor wasn’t always fair. Some of our ancestors arrived as indentured servants, some as people in bondage. Some of our ancestors were cheated as sharecroppers. Some toiled in sweatshops. Some saw signs such as, “No Irish Need Apply.”

We got through that. Perfection has not been achieved, nor will it likely ever be. But any citizen of the world will tell you this: America’s well-earned reputation as the nation that has provided the greatest opportunities for the common man remains without rival. It’s also a reputation that must be preserved.

This Labor Day, statistics say, more than 1 in 10 of us in Vicksburg, across Mississippi and the other 49 states want to work — to earn a living for ourselves and our families — are unable to find jobs. We are in a recession, defined as a period of shrinking economic conditions. It will end.

The policy makers in our towns and cities, state houses and in Washington owe us this: As recovery tactics are considered, each must be weighed for whether it enhances or limits the power of people to progress, to provide for themselves and their families, to work.

We are a nation that celebrates labor. Controlling our own destinies is an American value without equal. It’s one for which this nation has set the global standard, and it’s one we expect people with political power to respect and to protect.