Russ McAlmond Speaks with Klamath County Republicans

Here is the speech on President's Day 2026. Both Russ McAlmond and Ed Diehl spoke at this event in Klamath Falls with strongly favorable reactions from local Republicans. 

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Klamath County Republican Party, Good evening, and Happy President's Day! Thank you for your kind invitation to speak at this wonderful dinner.

We are here on February 16, 2026, gathered in this beautiful corner of Oregon to celebrate the unique individuals who shaped our nation—and to draw fresh inspiration from their legacy for the battles we face today.

My name is Russ McAlmond and I stand before you as a proud Republican candidate for the United States Senate from our great state of Oregon. Together, we are called to reclaim the bold, principled spirit that once defined the Republican Party and will define it again.

Tonight, let us turn our eyes to one of our best presidents: Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president, a man whose unyielding moral vision lit the path to freedom for millions and changed our country forever.

Born in a log cabin, forged in hardship, Lincoln confronted one of the darkest stains on America's soul—slavery. When the nation stood on the brink of dissolution, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, striking the chains from enslaved people and declaring that no human being could ever rightfully own another.

He acted not out of fleeting politics, but out of a profound moral conviction: that every person possesses infinite value under God and the law, rooted in the sacred words of our Declaration of Independence—"All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Even government cannot take our human rights away from us.  

Remember the stark reality of his time: The Democratic Party of that era was the party of slavery, fiercely defending it as a constitutional right, a moral necessity, even a benevolent institution. Democrats in Congress and throughout the South fought bitterly to preserve this evil form of collectivism that was inherited from the Old World, not the New One.

But Lincoln and the young Republican Party rose in defiance. Founded in 1854 to halt slavery's spread, we stood for human rights, dignity, and equality for every individual—not as members of favored or disfavored groups, but as unique human beings created in God's image. We denied collectivism which was a European value, not American.

And our commitment did not end with victory on the battlefield. Republican majorities in Congress drove through the transformative amendments that redefined America:

The 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery forever.
The 14th Amendment, securing equal protection and due process for all.
The 15th Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race.

These were not mere laws; they were moral triumphs that lifted our nation closer to its founding promise. Democrats offered almost no support—opposing these measures with overwhelming majorities.

Yet Republicans prevailed - making the party the most human rights oriented party in the history of the country. We are the party of equal rights for everyone, free speech and religion for all, and the right to bear arms for self-defense in an increasingly dangerous world. We are on the right side of history – Democrats are not.

In the deepest sense, Abraham Lincoln was the original Ethical Individualism Republican. As I explore in my book, Ethical Individualism: A Human Relational Philosophy, this is a practical, simple and truth-based philosophy for human relations that insists we treat every person as a unique individual of equal worth to all other human beings. Ethical Individualism is utterly opposed to the collectivism promoted today by the Democratic Party by people like Tina Kotek and Jeff Merkley.

Lincoln lived this truth. He rejected the poison of group judgmentalism: the dehumanizing habit of labeling entire races, classes, or peoples as inferior or collectively guilty. Slavery was an expression of that evil—stripping individuals of their uniqueness, reducing them to stereotypes and inferior value that dehumanized them.

My fellow Republicans, this is our heritage—a shining legacy of being a champion of human rights based on the individual against every form of collectivist tyranny.

Look around: The modern Democratic Party pushes a corrosive European collectivism that sorts Americans into rigid groups, elevating some while diminishing others through identity politics and DEI policies. They judge people not by who they are as individuals, but by their category—race, gender, background—fostering division, resentment, and endless grievance. Karl Marx was a European who saw people as groups and promoted class warfare against wealthy people.

Today, Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders do the same thing.

This is not moral progress even though they call themselves “progressives”; it is moral regression to the very group judgmentalism that fueled history's worst injustices – including the Holocaust. It denies the infinite uniqueness of every human soul and erodes the equality Lincoln died to secure. It opposes the founding values of our Republic once again making it un-American just as slavery was.

But we Republicans will stop this regression by Democrats as well in the 21st Century. We are the party of the unique individual—the hardworking farmer here in Klamath County, the innovative entrepreneur in Portland, the veteran who served with honor, the parent raising the next generation – all unique individuals who can only be judged by their individuality.

Guided by Ethical Individualism, we fight for policies that empower every person: lower taxes to let families keep more of what they earn, secure borders to protect our communities and keep them safe, schools that teach true history and real skills, defense of the unborn, support for law enforcement including ICE officers, and laws that always recognize the equal value and uniqueness of all Americans.

As your next U.S. Senator from Oregon, I pledge to carry Lincoln's torch forward. We will stand against division, reject group favoritism, and build a nation where every American—regardless of background—is judged by the content of their character, free to pursue their God-given potential without government coercion or collective blame.

I pledge to fight against the Democratic Socialists that Jeff Merkley aligns with who want to drag us backwards, not only on human relations and freedoms, but economically as well. They are promoting a failed economic system that has never worked in world history. Socialism is collectivist and based on classes of human beings. Capitalism is based on allowing the individual to pursue their creative dreams. And this is why socialism always fails and capitalism is always successful.

The Republican Party that freed the slaves can once again lead America to a brighter, more united future – a Golden Age of Human Relations in our country. Together, we will make it happen. God bless you all. God bless Oregon. And God bless the United States of America!

Thank you."