My fellow Americans, I am here today to announce that I am seeking my party’s nomination for the office of President of the United States. I seek this office not for my own self-aggrandizement, but with a sincere desire to serve my country - and with the full knowledge that my own abilities will many times prove inadequate to the tremendous burdens of the office.
America finds itself today not at a crossroads, but at the edge of an abyss. One hundred years of foreign adventurism, financial recklessness, and ever-increasing hubris on the part of our political class, has ravaged our great and proud nation; leaving us the most militarily powerful nation on Earth, yet financially bankrupt and increasingly vulnerable.
Virtually all of our problems as a nation stem from having abandoned our constitution. Crafted for us by our founding fathers more than two centuries ago, and strictly adhered to for decades, that great document gave us a system of governance where mankind was set free like never before. By freeing its citizens to pursue their own dreams, they lit a fire of creativity that would make America the envy of all mankind. Set free from the chains of oppressive government, American citizens almost single-handedly created the modern world; from electric light and telephones, to manned spaceflight and the Internet.
As our nation’s wealth and prosperity grew, our national character of charity toward others and strong sense of duty ironically began to undo us. So fond were we of our great political system, which became the model for the world, that we forgot the primary motivation behind its design – the understanding that governments are inherently inefficient and prone to corruption and tyranny. In the words of Thomas Paine, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” Because our federal government had worked so well, we began to see it as a force for good – for social progress and international justice. And so a little over a century ago we began to expand the power of the federal government in order to solve societal problems and help the less fortunate. We took power away from the states by having senators directly elected by the residents of the several states; we gave the federal government the power to seize whatever share of our citizens’ income they deemed fit; we surrendered our control of the money supply to a secretive, private corporation called the Federal Reserve; we abandoned sound money by ending the gold standard; we engaged in foreign colonialism and adventurism, leading us into nine major wars; and we have allowed the federal government to become a benevolent tyrant, cajoling and coercing its subjects to behave in ways our government masters desire; part of their central plan designed to make everyone happy. But, like hell, the road to tyranny is paved with good intentions.
Governments do not mend lives, build cities, lower sea levels, control the planet’s temperature, create energy, or turn natural resources into wealth. They consume and coerce. George Washington said it best, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” It is American citizens; men and women of ingenuity left free to pursue their own desires that accomplish such things, and it is they who built the foundation of this, the most powerful nation on Earth.
Fellow citizens, we stand here together today at the edge of a cliff. We need to not simply change direction, but perform an about-face. We stand amid the ruins of the good intentions, grand schemes, and evil designs of generations of politicians from both parties, who grew the federal government to its current size, and created the tyrannical leviathan standing astride the Potomac; a government drunk with limitless power that presumes to know better than we what is in our best interest; that seeks to run our lives down to the smallest detail. Without drastic change, we will have sentenced not only ourselves, but our children and grandchildren to a life as serfs under the heel of that monster; sentenced to a lifetime of labor to repay the debts of arrogant political elites, who presume to tell us what to eat, and how to adjust the planet’s thermostat, but can’t balance their own checkbook.
It is because we have broken free from the firm moorings of our constitution that we find ourselves in this morass. The real problem is, that it should not matter so much who the president is. Your daily life as a citizen of California, Texas or Pennsylvania should not be directly influenced by the president or any other part of the federal government. You are supposed to be governed by the people you elect to your town and city councils, and those you choose to represent you in your state houses. The federal government does not and cannot solve social problems or create jobs. It is the American people set free from the tyrannical hand of government that resolve problems and create prosperity. If elected, I do not promise to change the climate, build cities, mend lives, produce energy, or create jobs. The presidential oath is to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States, and that is my promise to you. I will endeavor to restore constitutional government; leaving the presidency and the federal monster smaller and weaker than it was when I entered office; but the nation stronger, more secure, and with the American people more prosperous and free. I will use such meager talents as God has given me to break the chains, forged in a distant federal capital, that prevent Americans from using their skills and creativity to generate wealth, produce energy, create jobs, and build cities. Government has been promising us these things for a century and delivered nothing but failure and corruption, while we citizens have been deluded into giving up ever-increasing amounts of freedom.
We will all rise or fall together. America is the first country on Earth founded upon a set of ideals rather than ethnic, tribal, or religious identity. That is why 300 million of us with heritage traced to every corner of the world can all be Americans – because we believe in these common values. But it is not our ethnic diversity that makes us strong – it is our shared belief in the American spirit – of individual liberty, hard work, and faith that makes us strong. We must all work together - not to surrender our wealth and freedom to incompetent and corrupt government in the false hope that it will solve all our problems - but to restore fidelity to the constitution and secure the liberty of our only true hope for national salvation – we the people of the United States. Thank you and may God bless you all.
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