Michael Peroutka's Acceptance Speech

Mr. Chairman, Madam Secretary, Members of the National Executive Committee, Delegates to the Constitution Party Convention, Members of the Constitution Party, My fellow Americans, Dear Brothers and Sisters…

I am proud and honored and humbled to accept the nomination of the Constitution Party for the Office of President of these united States.

Just four months ago in Maryland, when I publicly announced that I would seek this nomination, we talked about the cultural and spiritual decline that we see all about us in America today.

We expressed our deep concern for our republic. We wondered what sort of Country we've become.

We wondered what sort of Country sends mothers and Daughters and wives and sisters to fight and bleed and die its foreign – undeclared -- undeclared wars.

We wondered what sort of country sends sodomites to fight its foreign – undeclared wars.

We wondered about what kind of an administration declares war on something so vague, so amorphous, and so undefined as Terrorism. We worry about such dangerous and sloppy thinking. Since terror is not an enemy, but the tactic of an enemy, we wonder how such a war could ever be won. How could such a war ever end? How do you defeat a tactic – especially when you practice the same tactic yourself?

We wondered that it's the same sort of country that tortures and executes more than one million of its unborn every year.

We worried about becoming a country whose president backs homosexual civil unions -- whose president wants to give asylum and welfare benefits to millions of illegal aliens -- and whose president insists that both he and the Muslims worship the same god. Well, perhaps they do.

We worried about judicial tyranny. We never thought we'd see the day when a federal judge would tell the highest elected judicial officer of a State that he couldn't acknowledge the sovereignty of the God of the Bible and attribute to Him our religious freedom. But this is exactly what U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson told Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore he could not do.

We also discussed the dangers of the one world government agenda and the headlong rush of both major party candidates to give away America's sovereignty to foreign bureaucrats.

We talked about the out-of-control spending on unconstitutional programs that are the dirty habit of both democrat and republican administrations despite endless promises to the contrary. These unlawful spending sprees have bankrupted America and made her vulnerable to her enemies –both economically and militarily.

Keep in mind that those high gas prices mean that the purchasing power of the dollar is slipping, and the weak dollar reflects the low confidence that foreign lenders have in America's economy.

Ask yourself, if I came to you for a loan, would you have some concern if my told you I was going to spend more than I took in this year to the tune of one half of a trillion dollars?!? And, by the way, would it also concern you that I'm 7 TRILLION dollars in debt already!

We talked about the black hole of consolidated, centralized power that our forefathers warned would plague us if we didn't stay true to republican (not democratic) principles. We talked about the dishonor that would be our reproach if we failed to honor God and acknowledge Him as the source of Law and Liberty and Government.

So, we find ourselves today standing amidst the ruins of an American Constitutional Republic, the foundations of which have been destroyed.

This is the key point, ladies and gentlemen – the foundations have been destroyed.

These conditions I've just described – significant and challenging as they indeed are – are not the problem. They are the symptoms of the problem.

The problem is that we no longer stand upon the firm American foundation that was won for us by the courageous and visionary men who lodged here in the winter of 1777.

We talked about rebuilding those foundations and why it is important -- indeed essential -- that we do so.

The Themes of our campaign – God, Family and the Republic are designed to reflect this vital task.

America – perhaps the only Country ever founded on a creed – began right here. This first sentence of the Bible is the cornerstone of an American understanding of law and government.

"God Created…" is the very first presupposition upon which the Declaration of Independence and an American view of law and government rests. Jefferson expressed so eloquently in that document that "All men are CREATED equal…" (not evolved equal). He went on to say that the Creator God endowed all men with rights – unalienable rights – of life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, among others. He went further still and declared that the purpose of government is to secure and protect and defend these God-given rights.

Ladies and gentlemen, this AMERICAN view of government's foundations and purposes – that there exists a Creator God – that rights come from Him – and that the purpose of civil government is to protect and defend and secure these God-given rights – are the very foundations that we've been talking about.

These are the footings upon which can be poured the structural elements of a safe and prosperous and just and decent society -- A society in which religious diversity is tolerated and not suppressed.

Such diversity is tolerated, it's important to note, not because the men in charge decide to tolerate religious expression, but because God tolerates liberty of conscience.

To those who wrongly criticize our Party saying that we want to establish a Theocracy, we must ask them to give careful attention to what we are saying. Like America's founders, we believe that the acknowledgment of God is not the exercise of a religion. Rather it is the founding philosophy of a government that allows religious diversity.

You know, we live in such a secular age today that it seems strange to talk about God and government at the same time. We've been so brainwashed that we ask, "What does God have to do with government?"

Well, this question would have been easily answered by our founders. They understood the connection between the two.

For example, in his October 3, 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation, George Washington, the father of our country, said "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor."

You see, our country was founded by men and women who believed that "righteousness exalts a nation," and that "unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it."

If I am elected President, I will, like our forefathers, acknowledge and honor God as the source of law, liberty and government. And I will do everything in my Constitutional power to see that no person who fails to acknowledge God will be appointed to the Federal judiciary!

I will support and pledge to sign the Constitutional Restoration Act introduced in the Senate by Senators Shelby, Brownback and Miller and Graham and in the House by Representative Aderholt of Alabama and others. I support this effort to limit the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts under Article III of the Constitution and will do all in my power to ensure that our right to acknowledge God in public places is in no way infringed.

Furthermore, I will seek to remove from office any federal judge who advocates reliance on foreign law or the decisions of foreign courts -- as some Supreme Court Justices have recently done.

Strong families are the backbone of a peaceful, just, and prosperous society. Many don't realize it but the family is a legal jurisdiction. It was actually the first institutional jurisdiction ordained by God. Even before the legal jurisdictions of the Church and the State.

No institution in America is under greater attack than the God-created, God-ordained family. Increasingly we are told by tyrannical, out of control courts, and others, that marriage is whatever people want it to be.

Marriage is defined by God alone. And He HAS defined it. He says it is to be only between a man and a woman. PERIOD! And Godly marriage does not need the approval of any civil government.

Let me here declare that I oppose homosexual marriage and civil unions, even as I oppose the hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies which President Bush and Republicans and Democrats in Congress have supported to promote "safe sodomy" and underwrite the infrastructure of the homosexual movement.

Last Sunday, we celebrated father's day across America, a tradition going back to 1910 when a woman from Spokane, Mrs. Sonora Louise Smart, grateful for the Godly example of her self-sacrificing father, a man who lovingly raised six children following the death of his wife, drew up a petition to honor all fathers in America.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon formalized the third Sunday in June as a day set aside to give thanks for the special role of fathers.

But today, perhaps the most insidious attack on the American family is the decades-long denigration of fatherhood.

The father is the head of the God-ordained family. He is the leader, the teacher, the provider, the protector. He is the lawgiver, the judge and the enforcer. The Bible defines his role as the special representative of God and His Word in the sacred institution of the family.

As such, he is the federal head and is responsible for the instruction of his wife and the training of his children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

To those who seek to destroy our Christian, civilized culture, he clearly poses a threat.

This is why the enemies of America and American law and American government have sought for decades to besmirch his character, render him irrelevant and, indeed, put him to death.

Hollywood movies overwhelmingly portray fathers as drunkards, bullies and buffoons. Television programs show him as selfish, stupid, greedy, uncaring and incompetent.

Government programs, including federal grants to States, actually reward state welfare and social service agencies with monetary incentives when they succeed in BREAKING UP families and removing fathers from their own homes.

You see, by destroying the good name of fatherhood, America's enemies seek to destroy the authority and influence not only of American dads, but also the memory and lasting influence of our FOUNDING FATHERS, The attack on fathers and fatherhood is an insidious attack on the very concept of moral authority, and thus, an attack on the Character of God Himself.

If elected, I promise to end all unconstitutional spending, including grants to State agencies that are rewarded for destroying American families.

Abortion is also a part of the attack on the family. Our current President has failed to lead on this premier moral issue of our time – which is the systematic slaughter of innocent, defenseless, unborn children in the womb.

For example, he has approved legislation to send additional scores of millions of tax dollars to Planned Parenthood and other groups which promote infanticide.

He has failed to stop the Food and Drug Administration from authorizing the distribution of RU 486, the abortion pill which has already been used to snuff out the lives of thousands of unborn children.

As President, I would do everything in my power to end the national disgrace of abortion -- Starting with a formal acknowledgment of the personhood of every child from the moment of conception.

Furthermore, I will obey my oath, and defend the Constitution, by refusing to enforce the unconstitutional ruling in ROE v. WADE, and will appoint as U.S. Attorneys, only those who will ensure that none of America's precious children are deprived of their unalienable right to life without due process of law.

As President, I would advocate a total ban on all abortions and a total ban on any federal funding of abortions, here or abroad.

Since the first priority of civil government is to protect innocent life, the defense of the unborn would be my first priority in office.

Regrettably, millions of Americans have no idea that the form of government our founders bequeathed us was not a democracy but a Constitutional – Representative -- Republic. Even sadder – and a lot more dangerous – is the obvious fact that most of those running the three branches of our national government – both Democrats and Republicans – do not care that our founders gave us a Constitutional – Representative – Republic.

A few weeks ago, comedian Jay Leno made a remark about the sinking situation in Iraq and the struggle to adopt (impose) an Iraqi constitution. Leno Said, "Why not just give them our Constitution…we're not using it anymore?"

If you have ever read the Constitution, and you've listened to my opponents, you know that neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Kerry intend to be faithful to the plain text of the Constitution of the United States.

Moreover, you also know that President Bush has recklessly committed hundreds of billions of dollars to programs that are beyond the delegated, enumerated functions of the federal government.

You also know that the major media never seriously questions or investigates this illegality-- or expresses any moral outrage about this oath-breaking.

Anyone who does complain about these outrages is patted on the head, or mocked as an extremist, and told that the Constitution is a living document that must change and adapt with the changing times.

My friend, Franklin Sanders, has written that "to say that the Constitution is a living document is to say that it is dead". He's right. To say that the Constitution evolves is to say that it is not fixed standard and is therefore, in his words, "dead as a hammer".

If the Constitution is dead, it is because the meaning of its words have been crushed and broken by its murderers, and those who have killed it through "deconstruction" -- the redefining of the meaning of its words – have now become the Supreme Rulers of the Land.

I want to pause here and express my gratitude for two excellent campaign assistants who are everyday and almost everywhere telling the American people why they must vote for Michael Anthony Peroutka and for the Constitution Party. These two men have great media access and they have large and well financed staffs. They work tirelessly and constantly and make the case over and over again that America must elect Michael Anthony Peroutka.

It is startling to realize that as you listen to them campaign – as you listen to them propose unconstitutional spending on unconstitutional programs --they are revealing to you the reasons why you cannot, in good conscience, as an honest American citizen, give them your precious vote.

They are telling you that they will violate their oath of office even before they take it.

- The purpose of civil government is NOT to make sure everyone has health insurance.

- The purpose of Government is NOT to make sure everybody's seat belt is buckled.

- The purpose of Government is NOT to spread democracy to other nations. (First of all, we are not a democracy and "Nationbuilding" is nowhere found in our Constitution.) (Likewise, the title "policeman of the world" is not listed in the powers of the President in Article II)

- The purpose of civil Government is NOT to take care of people who can't take care of themselves. As nice as this idea sounds, this is the job of the family or the Church. These are separate jurisdictions.

- The purpose of government is NOT to educate the children of the State. The State has no children! (The State has never even been pregnant!)

- The purpose of Government is NOT to protect the environment. Government should defend – not attack – private property rights.

These are all SOCIALIST Goals that are based on a Socialist paradigm. They come straight from the Communist Manifesto. They are not based on an AMERICAN foundation.

Remember -- What did Thomas Jefferson, Adams, Washington, and the men who suffered at Valley Forge say about the purpose of government? They said, "To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

So, again, the purpose of government, in an American understanding, is to protect God-given rights.

The sad truth is that most elected and most appointed officials today think that the purpose of government is to redistribute wealth -- your wealth.

You see, it has to be your wealth because, in the case of the federal government, there is no wealth. In fact, our federal government is broke. Actually it's worse than broke. It's about seven trillion dollars in debt.

At least it was seven trillion when I began my remarks. I'm sure it's worse now.

And it's getting worse and our leaders don't care. At least if you judge how much they care by their commitment to do something about it.

Imagine if we could somehow pass the hat in this room and collect seven trillion dollars and give it to President Bush. Then – then… the federal government would be broke.

So how are the foundations destroyed? They are destroyed because both major parties have forsaken the true purpose of government and the true source of law and liberty.

It is the Constitution Party that is working to realize the dream that Washington's men at Valley Forge fought -- and froze – and died for.

Those men didn't fight for a Social Security Number, a progressive income tax or socialized medicine, or other chains of dependence.

Those heroes didn't risk their lives so that their children would be sent on yellow buses to propaganda mills where they were dumbed down with ritalin (sp?) and psycho-babble -- told that they couldn't pray to God – and instructed in "Values Clarification."

They shivered and worked and drilled and ran and bled and died so that they could raise their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

For the past four months, I have been traveling the country, discussing our campaign, its themes and the issues, with people from all walks of life.

All over America, there is a revival of appreciation of, and desire for Constitutional Government.

I see it everywhere from Great Falls to Concord -- And from Portland to Pensacola.

The American people want to support a President and a party that represents the ideas and principles upon which our country was founded.

They are done with federal bureaucracies that parasitically devour the resources and the liberty of a people to whom they are pledged to be accountable.

They are done with federal courts that have forsaken the rule of law -- and seek to rule illegally and unconstitutionally by the fiat of judicial oligarchs who have been methodically eliminating all acknowledgment and memory of our Christian history and heritage.

They are enraged by blatant attacks on the right of the people to acknowledge the God upon whom our nation was founded.

They don't want to waste their vote on the lesser of two evils anymore. They have seen more than enough evidence of evil and corruption from both major parties to realize that it's just as wrong to vote for Gomorrah as it is to vote for the slightly more evil Sodom.

They know that to keep doing the same thing over and over – and to expect a different result – is the very definition of insanity.

The American people are done with this national insanity. They are finished with wasting their vote on democrats and republicans who have demonstrated, indeed promised, their lack of fidelity to the United States Constitution.

You see, I'm honored to be associated with the Constitution Party because it is the genuinely American Party.

I know you are not collecting signatures, stuffing envelopes, making phone calls, conducting meeting and giving your hard earned money because you see this party as a path to personal power.

I know that you are doing it because you see it as your Duty to do what you can to Restore the Republic –

That's why I am proud to be standing before you today accepting your nomination, proud – and humble.

I am deeply proud to be associated with people who truly care about their government and willing to get constructively involved – not for their own gain but for the glory of God recognizing their covenantal obligation to secure the blessings of liberty to their children's children's children – their posterity.

I believe that with a knowledge of our history and with faith in Divine Providence, we see that God has placed each of us is a particular place, at a particular time, with particular resources and particular passions. We must discern what is His particular purpose for us.

He placed you and me in this room today. He didn't place us at this venue in the Winter of '77. He placed you here at this time in this place for a purpose – for His purpose. You are an important part of His plan.

It's not a question of whether you will respond to his call. He has already called and you are already responding.

I ask you to carefully consider what is happening here. You must listen, and respond and act.

My high school debate teacher, Sr. Theodore of the Sisters of St. Francis, used to say that the result of effective speech is action.

She was right. You must listen. And you must respond. But then you must ACT – or my speech was a failure.

A number of years ago, before I had actually met Dr. Curt Frazier, the Constitution Party's Vice Presidential candidate in 2000, I heard him speak to a Party gathering in Baltimore. After the meeting, speaking to a small group, he told of his first encounter with the Constitution Party and its principles, ideals, purpose and vision. He said that this is what he was looking for and felt blessed to find such a group of committed, courageous and self-sacrificing Americans.

Ladies and gentlemen, like Dr. Frazier, I am home. And the Peroutka Family is home.

You have honored me and my family by placing your faith and trust in us. I thank you and covet your prayers for my family and our campaign team led by my great friend, Attorney Scott Whiteman, as we face the next four months and all the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Taking inspiration from this historic venue where brave Americans displayed patriotic devotion to God and country, I will do my duty and do my best to represent you honorably.

That's exactly my point. It's called convictions.

You have my permission to have all of the convictions you care to. Heck, buy a backpack and squeeze more of them into it and carry it around with you for all I care. MY point is that all the convictions in the world aren't going to effect positive change if you can't get elected or accumulate enough political power to codify your carefully-held convictions into law.

But, when you attempt to get in power through lies and ideas that you don't belive in, then you have made a pact with the devil, a pact that is contrary to the very ideas you believe in, a pact that annihilates the future of your own children.

"The Devil doesn't believe that he himself is a bad guy". I don't work at all well in a vacuum, and neither do you.

"The debate that happened on our campus over Peroutka was the fact that a vote for Peroutka, was taking away a vote from President Bush."

So it wasn't even a case of the-lesser-of-two-evils.

But even if it was, today's lesser of two evils may be tomorrow's evil, as we have seen time and time again.

OK, now Bush is reelected to another four-year term. I'm anxiously awaiting his closing the immigration floodgates. He won't? So, he won't be implementing my believes/ideas and those of 70% of the American people. We're back to "whose ideas," aren't we?

It's not about percentages, it's all about ideas.

Umm, no, it is indeed about percentages. You can have the brightest ideas in the world but if you don't win pluralities in elections it ain't gonna matter one bit.

Oh, that is, unless you can convince some judge to implement your ideas for you.

I see. Now you're just being insulting.

Fine. Keep trying to convince us that your brilliant ideas will suddenly sweep your unknown candidate into the Presidency without any local or state party infrastructure.

We'll continue to take you VERY seriously.

What a RIOT. I'm not sure if you remember what country we live in but political change is effected by building majorities. Without them, all of your convinctions are absolutely worthless.

By all means, continue to preach the ideals from the mountaintop, make your voice heard.

But when it comes time to implementing them, you need a plurality of voters convinced. Which means YOU HAVE TO THE CENTER. Period. The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can begin to actually vote in a strategic manner---a manner calculated to maximize your opportunity to move the country in your direction.

Thank goodness there aren't enough people that are so devoid of such strategical political thinking. Otherwise they could very well have helped derail President Bush this election. There is absolutely no way that would have been productive for the Constitution Party. It would have set back your cause.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whine all you want that Bush isn't much better (in your opinion): tough. That's the way it works sometimes in a democracy, particularly in an incumbent election. Your best opportunity to fix that is to promote conservative candidates in the primary season.

The only viable third party that I can picture is one that is comprised of the remnants of the conservative wing of the Democratic Party, i.e. "Blue Dogs" and "Reagan Democrats", and the more ideological-but less partisan-members of the GOP.

Possibly something along the lines of the coalition that Gov. John Connally and President Nixon were planning during the late '60s.

Yes. There are some good words here. Problem is, we have
to live in the real world where terrorists are very real
and they have declared war on us. They are in more than
just one country (not conveniently located in Terrorland
where we can declare the War on Terrorland), so the U.S.
has had to go after them where they are. When a ubiquitous
power such as radical Islam wishes either to have whole nations convert to their idea of "God" or die, Mr. Peroutka would have a hard time enforcing his idea of God if he is not willing to, as President, send the U.S. military to fight those who attack us. Other than that, these ideals are lofty sounding and would be good, but having said "other
than that", the "other than that" qualifier is everything,
because if a President is not willing to send troops for
much of anything, nothing much else would matter. The
"nation" becomes a moot point eventually anyway. A person
saying they're going to do something is a long way from
actually doing it.

I think it's too late to form that party. It perhaps had its best chance with Wallace before he was gunned down. The last of the Blue Dogs are dying or leaving the stage like Zell Miller.

The GOP eliminated all but two of the white Democrats in Congress last week.

The Blue Dogs and the Reagan Democrats are quickly becoming obsolete or have already switched to the GOP.

What I have come to understand from this exchange is that I believe that convictions matter, you don't.

I don't have a college degree, only a HS GED diploma. I try to express my ideas and beliefs as best I can, w/o attempting to use trite expressions to express myself. Moreover, English is not my mother language. You have aright to express yourself as you wish and that does not make you a bad person.

I acknowledge that my remarks may have been insulting and I, hereby, apologize.

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