Posted by
Charles Lewis on Monday, April 28, 2008 10:28:59 PM
by Charles R Lewis
It's April 27, 2008, and America's faint flicker of hope is
walking a tightrope over an abyss of one world totalitarian socialism. Beneath
one side of the chord lies the in-your-face, virtually identical Marxist,
oppressive policies of the three-headed HillabaMcCain, a hazard by
now identifiable, ironically, to just about anybody outside the
government-schooled American majority.
The other side appears at first glance more inviting to the
rest of us, but it's a disguise, the work of the RonPaul/AlexJones axis, which
gets our confidence by informing us of a large body of urgent facts unavailable
in the mainstream media or even the conservative talk circuit, then betrays that
confidence by
(2) coaxing us into giving great power to the far left via our
chanting of the most agonizingly illogical, most distant from the truth
traditional mantras of the communists about our country and her military and
weapons industry that are just about the only institutions that have kept us
free lo these many decades,
(3) brainwashing us into swallowing whole the group's
fatal foreign policy, which amounts to feeding our friends (such that remain) to
our enemies, and
(4) upending the candidacies of the few
genuine visionary patriots (Tom Tancredo. Alan Keyes) in the race.
If you doubt any of the above (especially the last point), I
wish you had been with me (along with several other SaveAmericaSummit - SAS -
members) in Kansas City this week at the Ron Paul Cult Lovefest referred to
euphemistically as the Constitution Party (CP) National Convention.. The
pertinent speeches consisted essentially of the message that the party
had wanted to nominate Libertarian Populist Ron Paul, but that he'd turned them
down, and that therefore they chose to nominate Paul's hand-picked surrogate,
even though that individual had next to zero credentials.no name recognition or
following, and no chance of mustering any significant endorsements, and figured
to just maybe get as much as 1% of the popular vote in this year when America
has everything to lose and no candidate for conservatives to
support.
...Which might make sense on some level if the party didn't
have the brilliant, solidly constitutionalist, and fabulously eloquent Dr Alan
Keyes (whom the CP itself had wooed to leave the GOP specifically to seek the
party's presidential nomination) on hand, ready and willing. Keyes is noted for
being excluded from the Republican debates the three times he's run for that
party's nod - for the simple reason he tends to win them all hands down,
according to most observers (and because he's a genuine patriotic Christian
conservative, and the GOP simply can't have that).
Keyes is a national conservative icon (he had won the party's
online poll - among rank and file members - by a landslide). Major wags (with
names like Farah, Coulter, Boortz, Limbaugh, Schlafly, Levin, Dobson) who've
burned their bridges with John McCain, pretty much all know and revere Alan
Keyes and would at some point have had to endorse him, if only to maintain their
credibility. And behind them would almost certainly have followed masses of
disaffected and disenfranchized conservatives, and a new major party just might
have emerged.
But instead, the CP chose Pastor Chuck Baldwin, whose claim to
fame is having garnered all of 150,000 votes nationwide as the party's vice
presidential nominee in '04, and whose presidential aspirations can be best
characterized as a wish to become the Neville Chamberlain of the War Against
Islamic Terrorists And Their Bolshevik And Globalist Sponsors (WAITATBAGS, if
you will).
The handwriting was on the wall from the start this week for
Alan, witness his icy reception at the platform committee meetings, where the
Keyes people tried in good faith to reconcile his minor differences to the
satisfaction of both sides. As Keyes recounted it, not only was the committee
unwilling to change one jot or tittle, it wasn't even willing to discuss any of
them. I'll give you one example:
SAS had asked its reps on the committee to try to insert the
concept of "oil" (ever heard of that?) into the energy plank, from which it was
missing. A delegate from Alaska (the one state that was to give all of its
votes to Keyes) beat them to it, and our Greg Thompson emerged satisfied that
the "unintended omission" (as CP National Chairman Jim Clymer had described it
in an on-air chat with me a couple weeks earlier) would be remedied. The
document, however, was later distributed with the same flaw.
At the platform's presentation for general approval, I went to
the microphone to address this. I told the assemblage that I wasn't asking for
specific mention of ANWR (or the rest of Alaska, with its vast reserves and
willing populace), or the Caribbean (which Cuba and China are currently
depleting), or the North Pole (rightfully ours, but which President Bush is busy
trying to cede to Russia, via the Law of the Seas Treaty), or our failure to
approve the building of a new refinery in over thirty years...Or even, given the
fact that Dr Jerome Corsi - who'd helped discover that petroleum is not an
exhaustible "fossil fuel," but a virtually infinitely available substance from
the earth's mantel - was to speak the next day, that the currently accepted
premise is a lie concocted apparently to restrict our movements in the coming
police state...
No, I was just asking that the word "oil" be added to the
platform's list (consisting of just about every other form of energy). of energy
forms which the platform stipulated should be free from government prohibition
of the exploitation. I did, though, pose the question as to how high gas prices
had to get before the party decided it was time to allow us to drill for our own
soil instead of ransoming it from the terrorists and communists. A voice rang
out from across the ballroom (which an unconfirmed report later told me was
that of CP founder Howard Phillips - more on him later) to the effect that I
should not be allowed to speak, as I was not an official delegate (more on that
state of affairs later, as well). The matter died there.
As the issue had been raised and rejected in committee, we
have nothing to conclude but that the Constitution Party is firmly against
domestic oil production. Its overall position on energy is approximately that
of John McCain.
A platform thoroughly hostile to Keyes (whose views on the
issues match those of SAS better than do those of any other candidate of any
party this election year) having emerged, it was time for the presidential
nominating process to begin. Phillips, who had been scheduled to address the
convention on general topics, also wished to give the nominating speech for
Baldwin. He was told he could combine the two speeches, in opening the
nominating process.
Phillips proceeded to launch into a lengthy diatribe that
amounted to a vicious, capricious character assassination of Dr. Keyes. He
accused Keyes of being everything from a neocon to a carpetbagger from the
Republican Party who just wanted to exploit the CP for his own ends
(conveniently forgetting that it was the party that had invited Alan). And the
fact that Alan didn't want to simply hand over Iraq to the terrorists - well,
that went totally against what the party was all about, you see.
The venomous tirade was so over the top that Clymer (a
respect-worthy, gentlemanly individual) actually took time to apologize for
Phillips' "denigration of an honorable man." But seeds had been
planted.
Phillips' soliloquy had taken up so much
time - and there were so many frivolous candidates who had filed (the only two
serious ones were Keyes and Baldwin, but it seemed that at this ad hoc
affair all comers got equal time) that an extremely streamlined process had to
be contrived to keep the program on schedule. The 9 or 10 candidates met with
Clymer, and it was decided that each would get 15 minutes combined for
nominations (if desired) and their own presentations, with Keyes given an
additional five minutes, to compensate for the Phillips calumny. Each of the candidates chose to dispense with the nominating speeches and
do all of the talking for himself.
Baldwin got his "15 minutes of fame" first, and no less than 4
of the other "candidates" used some of theirs to essentially present seconding
speeches for Chuck (and lobby, in some cases, for the slot as his running
mate). This meant Chuck got approximately 2 hours of favorable
speeches.
Then it came time for Keyes to speak. (By my watch, he was
denied the full 20 minutes promised, and seemed to have been given only
fifteen.) One can only imagine the pressure this man may have felt, at having
to cram so much into so little time, and under such duress, at
that.
As usual, this superior orator of our time spoke without
notes. He resisted being put on the defensive, answered none of the Phillips
inventions and quarter truths directly, and simply gave his speech. He
presented his incredibly well thought out positions on the issues, and let that
speak for itself. He didn't sugar coat anything, and took on areas where he
diverged somewhat from the CP line, explained the constitutional basis for his
stances, and always emerged sounding sensible. His words
put the lie to the Phillips contentions that he was not in line with the
Constitution or the party's principles that derive from that
document.
As the speech went on, Keyes' passion built to a crescendo.
It was pitifully little time to present even a fraction of what he needed to
say, and one would have thought that at least the unexpected subtraction of
about five minutes might have thrown him. Not Alan. The thing went off like
clockwork and ended with a dazzling display of thoroughly substantive and
totally cogent verbal pyrotechnics.
He got a standing ovation (from about half the crowd). Given
the circumstances, it was the most moving speech I ever heard. (Mine were far
from the only eyes there that could not remain dry.)
After this segment came a "question and answer" period, with
all of the questions coming from Mary Starrett, from whose writings I have
derived the knowledge that she is very much in the "Pauldwin" camp.
Predictably, she lobbed slow-pitch softballs to Baldwin and reserved the tough
ones for Alan.
She asked the latter about his "dream" cabinet, and he did not
cop out, providing a "someone like so-and-so" list. He mentioned first
Chief Justice Roy Moore, which drew applause, although his (very reasonable, in
my view) reference to Duncan Hunter in terms of DOD met with surprising silence
(another harbinger, as Hunter, while in tune with CP on nearly all issues. is
not a surrender monger.
Baldwin's reply to a question on his non-negotiable positions
included, predictably, an allusion to immediate pullouts in both Iraq and
Afghanistan (who needs Barack?). He also advanced his customary
commie-style accusations of an "American empire mentality" (a grating theme he
harped on practically every time he opened his mouth at the
convention).
Keyes handled Starrett's curve ball on foreign aid (which the
CP has traditionally opposed under any circumstances) adroitly, saying
as charity, never (not a function of coercive obtained taxpayer funds, but
rather of the church), for the advancement of America's strategic interests,
yes. His thorough knowledge of the Constitution once again showed, as national
security is clearly a valid function of the feds.
Once again predictably, it was Baldwin (among all the
candidates) who got the honors of fielding the last question, a veritable
tee-ball that he obliging hit out of the park.
Then it was a few minutes of scheduled "mingling" time for the
candidates and delegates. This process displayed Alan Keyes at his most
remarkable. Varying crowds of a dozen or more stayed around the man for
something like 5-7 hours, hanging on his every word. He answered every question
- including some hostile ones I heard from people wearing Baldwin buttons - with
class and polish, and invariably seemed to disarm all doubters with his
incredible on-his-feet reasoning and the obvious care with which he'd
constructed each of his positions beforehand.
The performance conjured images of a Michael Jordan with his
in-flight improvised moves, or a master jazz musician, able to think 16 bars
ahead in the construction of a solo. I held out hope that
this genius of statesmanship had turned things around.
The next morning came the presidential polling of the various
state delegations. Phillips' speech had originally been scheduled for this hour
before this tallying; he was replaced by a John Birch Society official, who
delivered what amounted to yet another Baldwin endorsement. Only worse. It was
what the Phillips attack would have been if he'd done it more shrewdly. The
Bircher's talk consisted mostly of listing various ills the CP wished to
correct. Fair enough. But within each list, the one he emphasized by far the
most heavily was inevitably the one where there was a shade of difference
between the CP stance and that of Keyes.
This happened consistently enough that it could not have been
by accident. And this was the taste left in the delegates' mouths going into
the individual state caucuses leading into the balloting. And this balloting
produced an approximately 3-1 Baldwin win. And with that disappeared the
Constitution Party's one chance of becoming anything but a distant also-ran.
And along with that - apparently at least - disappeared America's final chance
at saving herself electorally. Sad.
Oh, and for those of you unaware of why I wasn't a delegate, I
was not eligible because I'd been kicked out of the state party by the chairman
of the South Carolina CP, ostensively (according to the similarly incoherent
southern region director, whose Florida delegation, like South Carolina's was to
go 100% for Baldwin) because he (the SC chair) determined that I had gotten
myself elected Secretary of the Greenville County CP (unanimously, by the way)
illegally (since the chairman didn't approve it - he couldn't have, as he wasn't
present to approve them either, meaning theoretically the other three officials
elected at the same meeting should have been booted,as well, except they
weren't). (Never mind that I submitted the completed, perfect minutes of that
meeting in record time - if you're totally confused by now, you know how I
felt.)
I was told in the end that the South Carolina chairman has
dictatorial power to do as he pleased with membership status in the state (a
little ironic for a party dedicated to the rule of law, something not lost
on the national credentials committee chairman, with whom I later spoke).
One would have thought that, at worst, I would have been
relieved of my county Secretary duties, but, no, I was totally out of the state
party, while remaining a member in good standing in the national. It was
eventually revealed that my removal had everything to do with my having publicly
criticized party icon Ron Paul (himself never a member of the party at any
level, by the way). And my non-state-membership status kept there from being
any possibility of my being a delegate, meaning I had no voice at the
convention, in spite of the hundreds of hours I'd worked trying to build the
party toward viability.
This may have some bearing on the explanation as to how Keyes
could have won the on-line rank-and-file poll with huge numbers and with Baldwin
barely registering, whereas the delegate poll at the convention was
complete contrary. I know of no other cases as bizarre as mine, but I have
little doubt that in many states (the states set their own rules in terms of
delegate selection and even the diverse ways in which their votes are counted at
the convention), a "Ron Paul litmus test" was applied is this totally arbitrary
process..
A meeting with Keyes in his suite with his supporters produced
an extended gem of an analysis by this master of such
extemporaneous presentations. Not at all bitter, Alan endeavored - successfully
- to bolster our spirits. Mine were lifted in the knowledge that God was still
producing greatness among His flock, and the sense of privilege I felt being in
the presence of this giant among men.
His reflections on how he always seemed to get so close to the
breakthrough he sought, only to be asked to endorse some policy - in this case
the CP's insane appeasement doctrine - that if he accepted it would mean death
(in this case for America). I later conveyed to him that my life experiences
had been amazingly similar, but that I was not giving up and implored that he
not do so either. I thanked him for being an inspiration to me, and expressed
the hope that I could in this way return the favor. He thanked me warmly, and a
group of us prayed with him before we left.
I understand that Baldwin later approached Keyes about the
vice presidential nomination. A Keyes acceptance would have put an end once
and for all to even the fantasizing about a way out for this nation (via an
instant third party, independent run, or whatever). With Keyes subsumed in the
Baldwin campaign and forced to adopt those objectionable policy positions, he'd
be useless, and there would be likely nowhere else to turn. And the ticket
still would not get the necessary endorsements or mainstream support - not with
Baldwin so out of the conservative mainstream, what with his Jane Fonda
view of America.
Thankfully (and unsurprisingly), Dr Keyes chose not to
prostitute himself. And I can still dream about America's survival a little
while longer.
A couple of closing notes:
Communism and Islamism are - by their inherent nature - about
destroying American, western, and Christian civilization, and killing or
enslaving us and our progeny. They declared this from the start (both centuries
ago and recently), and have since busied themselves 24/7 in pursuing these aims,
on every front imaginable. They each have declared all-out war on us, and
nothing they have done since has given the impression that either of these
declarations is hollow.
Under such conditions, I cannot for the life of me conceive of
an action we might take against these enemies that could reasonably be
considered "pre-emptive," "interventionist," or anything but self defense.
(Bush's Iraq affair, by the way - in which our troops' hands are utterly tied,
in which we court martial them for acts of heroism, and in which we are standing
idly by while the millions of Assyrian Christians there are annihilated, does
not qualify - for these very reasons and others similar.)
Secondly, if Uncle Sam ever did decide he wanted to colonize
the world, I reckon the vast majority of the world would kill to be
included in the empire. Or haven't you noticed that most of that part of Latin
America that hasn't already invaded is lined up at the border to join their
compadres that have?
My fear is that within the next couple of years (at the most)
our problems will reach a critical mass where the demand for entry will be
exceeded by the demand for escape. Pray that some miracle keeps that from
happening.