RAN 12/3 By DAVID APONOVICH Telegraph Staff
HENNIKER - Alan Keyes told a panel of voters Saturday that America is suffering from a "crisis of character" and that moral solutions are at the heart of solving some of the nation's most pressing problems. Addressing a question posed by panelist Bart Calder, 55, of New Boston on why he wants to be president, Keyes said he wants to address "a crisis that I consider to be the most severe the Republic has ever faced because it is a crisis of character." Over the past few decades, Keyes said, "we have seen the promotion and adoption in our culture ... of an understanding of freedom that is essentially self-willed, self-gratifying, self-indulgent, that does not acknowledge any constraint or sense of responsibility." The Saturday morning forum at New England College was the fourth in a series of citizen forums organized by the Voters' Voice project, a media partnership working to give citizens a more direct role in the political process. Voters' Voice is jointly sponsored by The Telegraph, The Associated Press of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public Radio and New Hampshire Public Television. The nearly two-hour forum, which took place in a living room-type setting, sounded at times more like a philosophy class than a campaign discussion. Keyes, arguably the most gifted orator in the Republican field, staked out his candidacy and his beliefs on nothing less than the Declaration of Independence. He repeatedly invoked the words of 17th-century English thinker John Locke, founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and President Abraham Lincoln. Although not the best known or best financed of the major Republican candidates, Keyes told the voters - in response to a question about finding strong leaders - that they must be willing to "take a risk with their vote" and back a good leader when they see one. "The power is in our hands," he told the panelists. "If we don't have the guts to use it, we"re getting what we ask for." Some panelists admitted to knowing little or nothing about the 45-year-old former ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council under President Reagan. Currently a nationally syndicated columnist and political talk-show host who lives outside Washington, Keyes also was president of Citizens Against Government Waste, founder of its National Taxpayers' Action Day and served as interim president of Alabama A&M University in 1991. In response to one question, Keyes told panelists he favors the death penalty for cold-blooded killers and drug kingpins. That prompted panelist Jeff Dike, a 31-year-old Democrat from Deering, to suggest that was inconsistent with Keyes' pro-life stance. "What's involved in the discussion of abortion is not just life per se, it is innocent life. The distinction of the innocent and the guilty is absolutely fundamental," Keyes said. A criminal act constitutes the "making of war"on society, he said, and in some cases the death penalty is an acceptable punishment. Keyes, who bases much of his campaign on the Declaration of Independence, became the most animated when someone suggested that its references to "men" excluded women. "Women were explicitly included as part of human nature," he said, winding into a several-minute defense of the document. "This whole notion that people who are trying to do this shallow deconstruction of our founders base they're argument on, it's all bunk." When moderator Nancy Snow, a political science professor at New England College, tried to move onto the next subject, Keyes persisted. "Ignorance isn't good enough for this country any more. We need to go back and deeply imbibe the truth about them, and that's what I'm putting on the table here ... I wouldn't be sitting here as a black American, free of slavery, if it weren't for the effect and impact of those words on the conscience of this country." When panelist Mark Sullivan, a 41-year-old Democrat from Hillsboro, noted that slave owners were among the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence, Keyes said the "truth of the Declaration" is no less relevant. Sarah Brown, 52, a Republican homemaker from Belmont, wanted to know Keyes' stance on the rights of gun owners. Keyes said he supports the Second Amendment and is opposed to gun control. When asked by panelist Derek Pershouse, 60, of Warner how he would translate his words into actions, Keyes said he would use the bully pulpit that is the presidency to address his concerns. "I'd want a human life amendment on the table every session of Congress until it passed," Keyes said. "Let's start discussing it." Afterward, panelists appeared split on what they had heard. Dike, the Deering Democrat, said he didn't accept Keyes' arguments, calling him a "kook." "A lot of words come out of his mouth, but he doesn't say much," Dike said. Keyes' arguments "amount to intellectual harassment and intimidation," he said. But not everyone was so moved. Although some panelists admitted to knowing little or nothing about Keyes until the forum, several expressed support of his themes. John Scott, a 50-year-old engineer from Laconia, told Keyes early during the session: "I don't know you very well, but in the last 10 minutes I think I've found a soul brother, our racial differences notwithstanding." Brown, the Belmont Republican, said she would consider voting for Keyes because she liked his positions on the issues. And Calder, the retired business executive from New Boston, said he liked Keyes because he is "willing to take the risk of being unpopular with some people." "You don[SO]t get that sense listening to (Bob) Dole, (Phil) Gramm and others," he said. "It was pretty clear what he believed." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Telegraph The daily newspaper of Nashua and P.O. Box 1008 southern New Hampshire since 1869 Nashua, NH 03061 voice: (603) 882-2741 fax: (603) 882-2681