THE REVERSAL OF AMERICA'S CULTURAL MELTDOWN

      Ladies and gentlemen, and members of the press, I feel
especially honored to be in Exeter, New Hampshire today announcing
my candidacy for President of the United States of America. The
honor I take in being here, in Exeter, for this announcement has as
much to do with history as it does politics.

      As all citizens of New Hampshire know, Exeter is one of three
all-American towns claiming birthright to the Republican Party.
Ripon, Wisconsin was the location where the infant party held a
political protest on February 28, 1854, and Jackson, Michigan was
the site of the first convention of a Republican state party on
July 6, 1854. But Exeter, on October 12, 1853, was the first place
where life was breathed into a new party - it was here that the
soul of the Republican Party was formed, and its commitment to
truth was forged on the issue of slavery.

      The predecessor party, the Whig Party, had failed to create
a lasting vision of national virtue and principle. Whigs were
consumed solely with money issues - they were the country club
Republicans of their day. Taxes, tariffs, national banks, and the
disposition of public land sales, while important issues, were not
enough to coalesce a nation being torn asunder by a shameful and
aching national sin. Slavery was a constant reminder to all
Americans, even to all the world, that God's nation had
transgressed God's law and that forgiveness at His Hand would
inevitably come at a very high price, maybe even bloodshed. The
worst fears of 1853 were realized.

      I am here today, announcing my candidacy, because I am a
dedicated historian, and a dedicated historian is one who learns
from past mistakes. I am also striving to be a dedicated leader,
and a dedicated leader is at the very least one who vows never to
repeat past sins. Today we are in the midst of a deep and widening
cultural conflict - a war of ideas and consequences so destructive
that if we do not act right now to divert this wonderful nation
from its nihilistic plummet, I am convinced that divine forgiveness
and national healing will only come as a result of even greater
turmoil than what we witnessed during the Great Depression or
worse.

      Such prophetic statements are easily dismissed as demagoguery
- or in politically correct parlance, "the politics offear." But I
will tell you in all candor and humility, that speaking truth is
not fear-mongering. It can be courageous. It is always generous.
And it is loving. It is truth that will heal this nation's
problems, not self-indulgence or delusionary posturing.

      It is a fact that our national sins are at least as great
today as they were in the days of Lincoln. Not only have we
exchanged the white-pillared plantations of old for the new the
white-pillared plantation of the federal government, but
we have replaced the awe-inspiring Emancipation Proclamation with
the ire-inspiring penumbra of privacy. In the name of a
non-existent civil right - born of selfishness, hedonism,
self-hatred, and sorrow - we have tolerated the senseless of 33
million innocent preborn children over the last 22 years. Yes, the
slavery of black men, women, and children, and the destruction of
families was horribly oppressive, intolerable, and viciously
un-American, but it nowhere compares to the pain and mental
suffering caused in just the last 22 years by abortion.

      And just as with the Whigs of old, some of our oh-so-modern
Republican friends see nothing but economics amid the carnage. All
with good intentions, no matter how grossly dumb and blind they are
to our moral decline, these enlightened pencil-pushers (foreheads
and consciences covered by green eye shades) have been willful
participants in the destruction. In their collective mind, money
heals all wounds. They say, "just provide a robust economy and
abortions will cease, as will crime, broken homes, out-of-wedlock
pregnancies, alcoholism, drug abuse, and every other dysfunction
which impacts society. " They have collectively looked beyond the
mark. Real solutions to these problems are right before them, and
they lack the wisdom to see them or the courage to embrace them.

      Ladies and gentlemen, friends, this is why I am in this race.
I want to tell the truth about America - the beautiful, the good,
the bad, and the ugly - and in doing so help lead this country
forward to new heights of greatness. I want to make popular that
which is good and make unpopular that which is bad. The
presidential bully pulpit provides that opportunity. I am convinced
that no other Republican candidate in an honored field can
or will do that as effectively as I.

      I am under no delusions. Solid leadership is not only saying
the things that need to be said, when they should be said, to
people who need to hear it. It is not only doing what you believe
in. Great leadership is also knowing when not to interfere in the
lives of others and understanding the proper bounds of civil
authority. As President of these great United States of America, no
one can reverse this unfortunate cultural meltdown all by
themselves. No man or woman can wave a magic wand and make our
vexing social problems go away. I, like each of us, can only change
myself. So I am under no delusions about the task at hand and the
tools at our disposal. But there are things I CAN do in this
culture war, and WILL do with the full force of law.

      At the federal level, as your President, I will protect your
life, your liberty, and your property with eternal vigilance. And
I will extend that beautiful term "life" to preborn children. No
longer will federal tax dollars pay for abortions, under any
circumstance. I will use the executive power of appointment to
nominate as Supreme Court justices only those men or women who
equally respect your life, liberty, and property.

                                              
      I am one who believes that our divinely inspired Constitution
already protects the preborn and already allows local communities
to decide the issue of voluntary school prayer for themselves,
without federal intrusions, and as such I am reluctant to pursue
the difficult process of passing constitutional amendments. As a
congressman, my authority to affect the process on a national scale
has been limited to authoring and cosponsoring legislation which
would amend the Constitution, but as your President I will appoint
a whole generation of judges who respect the right to life and the
free exercise of religion, thereby rendering moot the need for more
constitutional amendments.

      If the United States Senate gets their collective act
together soon, I will use the presidential line-item veto to shut
down the counter-culture voraciously feeding on our tax
dollars, your hard earned money. Insult is added to injury every
time a tax dollar is used to fund patently offensive and
blasphemous non-art, and obscene behavior, or just downright goofy
projects. No longer will the glorification and promotion of
homosexuality get one tax dollar. No longer will radical feminists
play a role in executing federal law. No longer will left-wing
lobbying organizations, like the National Education Association or
the National Council of Senior Citizens, have their power base
subsidized by the federal government. No longer will loony or
misguided so-called environmentalists control your private property
through unfair government regulation. We shall have no compromise
in these matters. It will all come to an end and, if conservatives
continue to lead boldly in Congress, it will occur swiftly.

      Another matter in which I have a deep and personal interest
is the education of America's youth. Only a literate people can
remain free. Only citizens who can read the great books and
documents of American civilization will have a fighting chance to
maintain their liberty. Great fountains of wisdom and direction
such as the Bible, our Declaration of Independence, our
Constitution, the Federalist Papers, Democracy in America, and The
Law by Frederic Bastiat - these are the foundations of our liberty.
If we as a people cannot read, we cannot be free.

      Liberty is the basis for education in America. We do not
educate ourselves to be sensitive, politically correct, or
multi-cultural. An equally offensive suggestion is that we
educate ourselves to "compete in world markets," as if our sole
purpose in life is to be a pawn of social engineers who will tell
us what to learn, what to be, and where to work. This is the height
of pompous elitism.

      I will use the office of the presidency to help change the
structures of power surrounding how parents are told to school
their children. I promise you I will abolish the Department of
Education. I will encourage states to repeal any laws against home
schooling which only serve to maintain the power base of educrats
who insist that there is only one way to educate and only one way
to school children. Whenever I can I will challenge parents to take
control of their children's education. Who really needs layer after
layer of administrative bureaucracy in their local public schools
when interested and attentive parents can serve in their place? Do
you really think that a parent must be "trained" and receive a
special certificate stating that they are qualified to teach their
own children? The common sense answer is no - and not far from here
is proof in the Exeter school, one of the finest in our land. you
won't catch their teachers waving certificates in your face. They
are battle-tested. They don't need the affirmative nod of educrats
to determine their worthiness.

       Using the bully pulpit to help free parents from the
intimidation or shackles of education's special interests will be
one of my top priorities.

       One other thing I will mention here today, although it is
far removed from Exeter, is that I will take back our borders.
Coming, as I do, from southern California I know the tragedy,
victimization, and both the fiscal and cultural devastation wrought
by illegal immigration. Our southern border between San Diego and
Tijuana, where a vast majority of illegals enter the country each
day, is a sieve. Border patrols are understaffed and underpaid for
the task which they perform with amazing sensitivity. You will have
to believe me when I tell you that the imagery of illegal
immigration is surreal. Every evening thousands of illegals line
the U. S. border at the famous Tijuana "soccer field" waiting for
nightfall and the opportunity to jump a puny fence or dash across
open fields. Hot dog vendors set up along the border servicing the
waiting masses as though it's a seventh inning stretch. At any
given moment hundreds of illegals will run around toll booths at
the border and charge right up the sides of and across the
interstate - by the way, this problem is so bad that California's
highways around San Diego have warning signs printed with the image
of running families the same way you here in New Hampshire have
deer crossing signs! The economic impact on our U.S. economy is
staggering. Congress is only now attempting to put an end to
illegal foreign nationals receiving taxpayer funded welfare
benefits. As President, I will seal our borders to illegal aliens.

       I close with this thought - much to the chagrin of liberals
everywhere, the Republican Party actually derives its name from
Jeffersonian Republicans. Yes, Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd President,
that great Democrat at whose feet all latter-day civil libertarians
throw themselves, is actually the inspiration of our Republican
Party. Not only did he pray for the demise of slavery and
eventually free those on his farm, but he was a champion of the
little guy, and a radical opponent of aristocracy. After all, he
was an eye witness to the Reign of Terror. If he were alive today,
I know he would be on the front lines of not only ending the
national disgrace we call abortion on demand, as well as calling
for the immediate end to oppressive taxation and oppressive
regulations, but he would also be one of the point men for truth in
calling for the political heads of all those rulers, both elected
and unelected, who today claim the mantle of civil authority when
they lack even the moral capacity to control or govern themselves.

       Even though Mr. Jefferson was born 252 years ago last
Thursday, the spirit of his message remains indelibly marked on our
national character - and on me personally. Like him, I know that
there can be no compromise with falsehood, no compromise with
wrongdoing, no compromise with fear and hate, no compromise with
ignorance and disbelief, and certainly no compromise with evil. He
based his political philosophy, as I do, on the assumption that if
politics is compromise, then government has grown beyond
its proper bounds and scope.

      Many pundits view politics as a loaf of bread wherein receipt
of 10% or 20% of the loaf is better than nothing. To me, that view
of politics is cowardly and shamefully disrespecting of the valiant
blood that was shed to preserve this great nation. Go ahead and
compromise on what day the city trash will be picked up, but to
compromise life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is a
challenge to fight.

      Real Americans, the Thomas Jeffersons and George Washingtons
among us, know that we, by the grace of God, own that whole loaf of
bread that we call our Declaration of Independence and our
Constitution. We sowed and reaped its ingredients. We measured
each portion carefully to maintain balance and consistency. We
baked it in a leavening fire. And we have tasted the fruit thereof.
It is ours and we share it freely with those who share in the
labor, and we share even with God's beloved who through no fault of
their own cannot labor. Even so, there are some among us whose
propositions and temptations we find enticing. They seek to fulfill
their appetites by the labor of others. They do not labor with us.
They resort to flattery, deception, and promises to obtain their
fill. They tell us there is a better way to live than how God has
ordained, and that they will share that alternative way with us if
we but let them have a portion of our loaf.

      And many of us have listened and capitulated. God's way has
not always been easy. Tribulations on the road to harvest have
taken their toll. We muse that perhaps there is an easier way to
live than self-government and we begin to lose our comforting fill
of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness which God has
granted us. one day we will awake to discover that our loaf is
gone, our shelves are empty, our storehouses barren, our ability to
freely labor regulated...and the remaining fruit of our labor, if
any, taxed into oblivion.

      Friends, those days are at our door. But I stand before you
with vigorous optimism for the future. There are so many millions
more of us than there are of them. And I will tell you that I do
not mind putting the struggle before us in these seemingly
divisive terms - because, friends, we did not start the division
that so plagues this society. People who work hard, love and
protect their families, seek no more authority than to govern
themselves, attentively mind their own business, and who believe in
God are the good guys. They are truly the salt of the earth.

      The mean-spirited among us, the truly bigoted and
hate-mongers, are those whose lives are so devoid of purpose that
they can only find happiness in making productive lives as
miserable as their own. These lost souls are the dividers. They are
the contentious. They are the name-callers, a defense of last
resort next to physical violence. They hold to
a perverse egalitarianism where all of us are equal - equally poor,
equally corrupt, equally cynical, equally sad, equally perverse,
etc., etc., etc. Pride won't let them reach out to you
for help They demand that you be like them. They currently man the
White House. For 40 years they controlled Congress.

       We took the leadership of Congress away from them, and now,
I am humbly asking you to help me take the White House back. It
really is ours for the taking if we work hard. Won't you join me?
I thank you very much. May God bless you.