I’ll start this response to Janet Folger’s Oct. 2, 2007, WorldNetDaily piece entitled “The next president of the United States” by doing what she did: Stating that I am writing this as an individual, not in the name of Alan Keyes or any organization with which I am involved.
First, the obligatory “I like Mike Huckabee; he’s a nice guy.” Without a doubt, his personal demeanor is mild and kindly. Wonderful traits.
But, that’s not nearly enough. In this primary election process, we as Christian conservatives are elevating the leader of our movement and of our political party. More importantly, we are selecting the next president of the United States, the leader of the free world.
And, nice guy or not, Mike Huckabee showed in the Values Voter debate that he isn’t the man for the job. He lacks knowledge and experience in foreign affairs and in the culture war, at a time of crisis in our history when a need for on-the-job-training is dangerous.
Under Janet Folger’s direct questioning, he proved repeatedly that he, unlike most dedicated rank-and-file pro-lifers, didn’t have a clue what the Mexico City Policy was and is. The Reagan policy, negotiated in large part by another man on the stage with Gov. Huckabee in Fort Lauderdale that night, Alan Keyes, keeps American taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions overseas.
Bill Clinton thought it was so important that his very first action as president was to rescind it.
George W. Bush thought it was so important that his first act as president was to reinstate it.
But Mike Huckabee, even though he had been given the questions in advance, thought it had something to do with adopting Mexican laws or some such nonsense. Doesn’t his staff even know the history of the pro-life movement?
Back in 1976, there was another “nice guy” running, whose campaign slogan was “Why not the best?” He was the former governor of Georgia, and his name was Jimmy Carter. Great smile. Genial disposition. Known as a born-again Christian and a Sunday School teacher. His presidency went on to be, arguably, the worst foreign policy disaster ever, and one of the most liberal.
We’re still paying a heavy price for that to this day. So is the rest of the world. When it comes to foreign policy, national security and the prosecution of the culture war to restore and defend the foundations of our free republic, nice, na?ve guys truly do finish last.
 Alan Keyes |
I admire Janet Folger and deeply respect her commitment to American Christian conservatism. Alan Keyes was welcomed in the Values Voter debate, even though he had only entered the race the previous Friday, thanks to her steadfast adherence to fairness.
But, I disagree with her that somehow the whole conservative movement must unify around one candidate now, in the fall – especially around Huckabee. You can’t force the process or hurry the Lord’s timing in human affairs. To think you can is to misunderstand human nature. Not a single sovereign American citizen has yet cast a single vote. There are still three to four months for this field of candidates to prove themselves and for this race to shake out.
While I share her desire for unity in our ranks, unity for the sake of unity is neither scriptural nor prudent. Give God time to separate the wheat from the chaff. This field will winnow down, probably well before most of the delegates will be selected in what has become almost a national primary day on Feb. 5.
If we make our electoral decisions based on our principles, and choose a real conservative with real experience and real substance, and back him with all our might, we will win in the end. We’re still the majority in this country, and the Democrats are completely corrupt and therefore intrinsically weak.
I well remember those who said repeatedly during two campaign efforts prior to victory that Ronald Reagan was not “electable.” I also have a nice 1984 electoral map that shows The Great Communicator ultimately winning every state but Minnesota in a landslide.
Conservatism works wherever and whenever it is tried. It wins when it is properly communicated. Unfortunately, the forces of fear in our own ranks, through subjective and deceptive arguments about “viability,” too often turn conservatism aside into the path of compromise and defeat. Any principled, objective, movement conservative knows I’m correct about this.
Our job now is to acknowledge the crisis we are in as a nation, and to test the mettle of the conservative candidates to see who has the proven track record of courageously fighting for the things in which we believe. These are perilous times, and we can only afford to be led by the best.
Even among our own leaders, few understand this crisis, much less acknowledge it. They are not only living in a pre-9/11 world; they are living in a pre-Terri Schindler Schiavo world. They are living in a pre-gay marriage in Massachusetts world. They are living in a pre-“you can’t pray in Jesus’ name” world. They are living in a world before tens of millions of illegal foreign nationals invaded our sovereign territory and set up housekeeping in our midst, creating the potential for massive social, economic and electoral upheaval. And as these crucial battles were being fought, too many of these leaders were hiding in a corner somewhere with their eyes closed, hoping it would all go away and that their own little kingdom would somehow survive.
In times of peace and prosperity, you can get by for a while led by immoral compromisers, by appeasers, by mediocrities. But history shows that they will inevitably lead you step-by-step toward war and destruction through their moral and political weakness.
In the end, though, when that inevitable war finally comes, you need a Churchill, a Lincoln: a man who, though he may have been on the back bench of power for decades – ridiculed, belittled – has never wavered in his convictions of right, or in his courage in advocating for that right with power and eloquence.
The war is upon us, from without and from within. It has been for some time. Every day, 3,000 to 4,000 American babies continue to be brutally destroyed at the hands of the abortionists – more souls than died on Sept. 11, 2001. Self-evident, God-given rights continue to be alienated. The Bill of Rights continues to be gutted by careless and cynical oath-breaking politicians and lawless judges. The voices of surrender in the worldwide war on terror continue to suppress American morale and commitment, at the expense of those who are among the greatest men and women this country has ever deployed to battle.
To confront these deadly threats to our way of life and our form of self-government, we must unify around our overriding goal of renewing an America that reveres God, respects life and enjoys liberty. It’s time to stop pretending that America’s foundations are not being destroyed right before our very eyes, and that everything can be business as usual. We are losing our republican form of government.
But that indispensable united front cannot be led or inspired by those who have never led, or even been on our side, in the culture war. Who could be so na?ve as to believe that they are suddenly going to become fearless leaders for constitutional governance simply because they are now running for president with an “R” by their name? They don’t even seem to understand where our rights come from, much less what those rights are. I would include most of the current field of Republican candidates in the category of those who lack the most basic understanding of the reason for the very existence of human government:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness – that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men. …
– the Declaration of Independence
For reasons that are rooted in their ignorance of this very thing, I do not believe that they can possibly bring together the Reagan coalition and lead us to victory. But, even if they did, through the brute exercise of financial and political force, what would it matter anyway? Liberalism with an “R” by its name is actually more dangerous than liberalism with a “D” by its name in many ways.
Look closely at what happened in Massachusetts under Mitt Romney, for example. Gay marriage, public schools that promote homosexuality, a permanent assault weapons ban, socialized medicine, complete with taxpayer-funded abortions – all these things were implemented on his watch. The GOP was left a smoldering political ruin, sacrificed on the altar of Romney’s presidential ambitions.
I’ve been in the trenches of the culture war for the last decade, in my own small way trying to protect and defend the America we all love. I advocated against civil unions in Vermont and gay marriage in Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts. I fought against the removal of the Ten Commandments from Judge Moore’s courthouse in Alabama. I was there, loudly protesting the judicial murder of Terri Schindler Schiavo in Florida. I exercised my voice and my pen on behalf of upholding the abortion ban in South Dakota. I have continuously contended in my party for adherence to the Reagan pro-life GOP platform and its call for a 14th Amendment guarantee of the personhood of babes in the womb. I’ve defended the right of Christians to pray in Jesus’ name and for religious liberty around the world. I used every resource I could find to oppose the McCain-Feingold-Thompson abrogation of free speech. I’ve stood watch on the border with the Minutemen. And more. I’ve pretty much seen it all.
And, every time I’ve looked around to see who else is on the field, Alan Keyes has been there, using his incredible gifts in the service of restoring and defending the sovereignty of God and of the American people, at great personal cost.
I can’t recall ever seeing Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney at our side. In fact, often, I’ve found these men fighting on the other side in these critical battles.
Maybe that’s why Mike Huckabee, nice as he is, didn’t know about the most important foreign policy action of our generation, enacted to protect the innocent unborn. He just hasn’t been that involved in the conservative movement or the things we care deeply about. And now he wants to lead our movement and the country?
You’re never going to get answers to anything that matters if you don’t ask the right questions. And “Who’s the nicest guy?” is the wrong question. We need to be asking ourselves who best understands our national creed, which man has the God-given gifts, selflessly offered in service to our nation, that will be needed to light the fire of America’s Revival.
Here’s the man who meets those criteria:
- Alan Keyes has the foreign policy and national security experience that will greatly strengthen our ability to deal with terrorism and other threats, from day 1.
- Alan Keyes has taken a consistently libertarian stance with respect to the defense of constitutional integrity and individual liberty, economic freedom and the need to abolish the income tax, as well as opposition to sell out free trade agreements and treaties.
- Alan Keyes has a proven record of consistent support for the security of our borders, adherence to the rule of law, and the need to strongly assert and defend our national sovereignty.
- Alan Keyes courageously speaks to the fateful constitutional questions of judicial tyranny, judicial supremacy and the balance of powers between our branches of government.
- And, of course, Alan Keyes is the undisputed leader of those who understand and articulate the fundamental moral issues of our day.
Alan Keyes is exactly the kind of leader a free, independent, moral, sovereign people need in this time of great crisis for our republic. When it comes to substance, in this field there is only one unity candidate for conservatives, only one candidate with a consistent, credible record of action and advocacy over decades, only one candidate with the proven ability to understand and argue effectively for all the conservative positions while bringing them together in a clear, consistent vision for America as a whole.
That candidate is Alan Keyes.
He worked for Ronald Reagan in the victorious effort to defeat the Soviet Union, specializing in the fight against state-sponsored terrorism, battling U.N. bureaucrats every step of the way. As a diplomat and a member of the Reagan national security team, he represented his country with principle, courage and great vigor. This is a man of vast experience and great capacities.
But, there is a far better voice to hear in this regard than mine.
President Ronald Reagan, Oct. 26, 1988:
Alan, I should be the one thanking you, because you did such an extraordinary job in the first seven years of our administration: working with Jeane Kirkpatrick at the United Nations, serving as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
I think particularly of your work at a conference in Nairobi where you and my daughter Maureen worked to eliminate the disgusting “Zionism is racism” resolution from that conference’s final report and earned the gratitude of all Americans. And there was your performance as my assistant secretary of state for International Organization Affairs, where you pursued successful reforms of the United Nations and opposed with every ounce of strength in your body all those who have served to foster and legitimize state-sponsored terrorism.
Alan, I should be thanking you – and I am – because every time I asked you to do your best, you did that and better. Every time I asked you to stand for America, you stood tall, and you deserve not only my thanks, but the thanks of every citizen of this great country.
I agree with President Reagan, and that’s why I have offered my personal vote of thanks to Dr. Keyes by giving him my unequivocal support as our nominee to be the next president of the United States, and by signing and keeping his brilliant “Pledge for America’s Revival.”
In these dangerous times, we need his governmental and foreign policy experience to be fully utilized in the service of our country. His depth of understanding of our form of republican government is sorely needed as a defense against those who are continuing to tear down our republic’s foundations from within.
Who else has to such an extent done the hard life’s work of thoroughly thinking through and internalizing the most fundamental elements of where our nation has been, where it is now and where it must go if we are to survive as a free people, and if our children and grandchildren are to enjoy the blessings of liberty? Who else has advocated for what we believe so courageously, tirelessly and eloquently?
The deeply rooted statesmanship of Alan Keyes is truly unparalleled in our generation.
Don’t make the mistake of writing off Alan Keyes as being nothing more than “articulate” or “a great speaker.” Think about the heart sources of the powerful truths about America and her crisis of which he speaks, because such power can only come from hard experience and a life of deep thought and commitment. As Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
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Tom Hoefling is the chairman of Idahoans for Tax Reform, the former national political director for Dr. Alan Keyes, and is currently acting as a staff volunteer in the nascent 2008 Alan Keyes presidential effort.
