I agree with most of your positions. But I agree with all of my positions and I know that I can’t be president. Still, I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. Here are some questions.
1. Name three occasions where you were in a leadership role and had a tangible accomplishment.
2. How are you going to get John Boehner and - for argument’s sake - Harry Reid to pass the legislation you want passed?
3. How would you control the lifers at the Departments of State and Defense who are going to think that you are an uneducated yokel and will certainly work to stymie you at every turn?
4. What would your response be to the first Saturday Night Live, Daily Show, or Late Show joke about your lack of education and/or credentials?
5. Finally, I do notice a very strong Christian theme through your sites. What is your denomination? And what role would other demoninations - including Jews, Mormons, and Muslims - have in your Administration?
Very intelligent, incisive questions. My compliments.
I’ve got a busy schedule this morning, but I’ll answer them as thoroughly as possible when I can get to it.
Very intelligent, incisive questions. My compliments.
I’ve got a busy schedule this morning, but I’ll answer them as thoroughly as possible when I can get to it.
A few more comments on your questions before I undertake answering them as thoughtfully and completely as I can.
While I believe that I have the necessary principled basis for the restoration and defense of this free republic pretty well figured out, and a principled and practical vision for restoring an American political system that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people; not of, by, and for the media and the money interests; your inquiries probe deeply into the personal and the practical aspects of what it will take to be president. I appreciate that, because those questions are critically important as well.
1. Name three occasions where you were in a leadership role and had a tangible accomplishment.
Many of the qualities of a decent leader are developed long before one has ever has a chance to lead other people. And so, my first response is a story about me having to lead a horse.
When I was about ten years old I was staying for the summer with my uncle on his farm in the Loess Hills of western Iowa, as I often did throughout my childhood. He had a few horses, one of which was a medium-sized, barrel-bellied, stubborn-as-a-mule pony.
One afternoon, somehow, the conversation turned to whether or not I could ride that pony bareback all the way to my grandmother's farm, which was more than fifty miles to the east. My uncle, with the usual twinkle in his eye, scoffed at the idea that I could ever do that. So, of course, I immediately went into the house, threw my few possessions into a pillow case, tied it up with a bit of rope, jumped on the horse, and rode out of the lane.
Now, of course, my undertaking of such an endeavor was based in youthful foolishness. It only took me half a mile of gravel road on that horse to figure that out. Because, every step of the way, that pony wanted to turn around and go home. For 55 miles and three days that pony wanted to turn around and go home. There were even a couple of times that he got away from me and made several miles in that direction before I could catch him.
But, I finally made it, much to my uncle's surprise. And along the way, I learned a lot, especially about the rewards of persistence.
I learned not to undertake anything lightly, but that once you do start something you need to see it through all the way, if you possibly can.
My second answer I'm going to broad brush a bit more than you might like, but feel that this is the best way I can answer you. The Bible says that "a man's gift makes room for him." My experience confirms that truth. In whatever job I've been engaged, I've become a leader, in the true sense of the word. In other words, I've become an intrinsic part of getting the show down the road. Of getting the day's production quota out the door. Of getting the load safely to its destination. Of getting the crop planted, and harvested, and in the bin, and dried, and loaded on the train. I've ended up being a person that people, and teams of people, have looked to to get the job done, and to get it done right, wherever I've been.
My third answer goes to my political activism and activity. I had been somewhat politically active starting in the Eighties, mainly due to my involvement in the homeschooling movement. But, in the early Nineties, with the rise of the Clintons, who scared the dickens out of me, I decided that I must involve myself more directly in the political arena.
So, I ran for Republican precinct chairman and won. I became a delegate to the county convention and then the district and state conventions. I was elected to the state central committee, and then became involved in the recruitment and election of many candidates for public office, at all levels, in all parts of my state.
For example, I helped recruit and elect seven candidates to the state senate, flipping the control of that body from the Democrats to the Republicans.
I managed, in a few short years, to turn a part of my district - counties that I was primarily responsible for - that had historically been Democrat, into Republican districts, which they firmly remain to this day.
I helped put a gentleman you may have heard of, Steve King, first of all into the state senate, and then into Congress.
I was asked in December of 1999 to try to revive a presidential campaign that was struggling along in last place, which I did, in five weeks, obtaining one of the three proverbial tickets to New Hampshire for Dr. Alan Keyes.
Over the years I've also worked on and helped lead a number of other campaigns, at all levels, across the country. I've won a few, and lost more, since many of the candidates I agreed to help were conservatives that the GOP refused to fund. But, win or lose, those candidates almost always performed far better than anyone thought they could, in spite of their lack of resources. And I always left a better informed, better trained, better organized, conservative movement and Republican Party in my wake.
But primarily I've been an advocate for the principles laid down in the Declaration of Independence. For life. For liberty. For private property rights. For the Constitution. For our national sovereignty and security.
There are a multitude of other battles - both victories and defeats - that I can't possibly go into in this format. I don't have the time to sit here and write a book.
I've already taken more time today on this one response than I can afford, quite frankly. But as the day proceeds I will try very hard to get to your next four questions, which are excellent ones. If we were talking together, I could give you thorough responses to all of them in about ten minutes, but in writing, it is going to take me a little longer, in between other obligations that I have today.
Ideally, there wouldn't be any John Boehners or Harry Reids in the Congress when I arrived in Washington.
But, assuming I can get elected without that important task having been accomplished, a great deal of wisdom would be needed in terms of the strategy for dealing with a corrupt Congress.
First, you have to know what hills you're willing to die on. The defense of the lives, the liberty, and the property of the people. The defense of our national sovereignty and security. Things like that. There's no debate, no negotiation, no hesitation possible there. The full force of the executive office must be immediately deployed against any politician who would hinder it.
But there are a host of reforms that can and will take time to bring about. I would foster a thorough-going national debate concerning those things that would rock the existing politicians world, and force them to confront the realities of what is going to be required to put this country back on a firm moral, constitutional, legal and financial basis.
Again, it's a matter of knowing what hills you're willing to die on.
But, before I address that, let me say that with the current occupant of the White House I'm somewhat glad for the intractable nature of the departments you ask about. Especially the Defense Department.
You see, there is a good side to those departments being what they are, one which is grounded in the nature of the government of constitutionally-divided and limited powers that the founders set up.
In many areas it is a good thing that the president is constrained in what he can do. Especially the current one.
In any case, the trick in dealing with these folks is in knowing what and where those constraints are, and then acting forcefully, but wisely, within those parameters.
You have to know what you want. You have to have complete data concerning the nature and scope of what you're dealing with. You have to have the best analysis of that information. And then you must have a good strategy, appropriate tactics, and persistence in executing your policies.
And as always, "personnel is policy." The quality of leadership that is installed with the new administration is the most important determinative factor.
Good humor, and friendly advice to the American people that they spend more time working to save their country than they do watching television.
This is the easiest of your questions to answer.
I don't belong to any denomination. I'm simply a Bible-believing Christian.
And denominations would play absolutely no role in my administration, just like they play no role in our party.
The only thing that matters to me is whether I am convinced that the individual understands and is fully committed to fulfilling his or her oath of office, and has the capabilities to do the job in question well.