I'm Running for President

Note: This post is intended as an oration by myself, hence the notations throughout.  There are certain cadences, syllable elongations and forces of voice intended for certain moments for it to be properly presented.  

I am here today to announce that, after close consultations with family and friends, I am running as an Independent write-in candidate for President of the United States.  Given that this election will be held in the year 2020, I think it is important to keep vision and perspective in mind.  I’m not sure we’ve had much 20-20 vision in politics lately.

And that is why I am running for the Office of the President.  It is a constitutional office, obviously, but it is more than that and this election is more than just an exercise in democracy.  The Office of the President is the singular summit of our government.  It is the absolute height and the absolute limit of personal power in the United States of America.  This election comes at a time when we are deeply polarized as a people, with seemingly insurmountable problems happening all around us. 

Every day it seems we read about shootings in America.  Americans killing Americans.  Almost 40,000 in 2017, which is the most recent data we have.  You can count on another 40,000 or so next year.  (with force) Every 18 months more Americans kill Americans in America than were killed during the whole Vietnam War.  (pause) To my knowledge little or nothing is being done about this.  There is no consensus on what should be done about this.  Should we ban all guns?  Should we issue all citizens more guns?  Do we continue to ignore these killings while, instead, we debate about our feelings and rights?  How does this very real problem make America great?  I know one thing.  We cannot address this issue without great presidential leadership.

The irony is that, despite this challenge and others like it, challenges of racism and sexism, challenges of income inequality, challenges for healthcare affordability, in spite of all this America is doing great things in the world.  We weren’t made great in the last three years.  We were already great and have been great for many, many years.  Our military and industry saved the world in the Second World War.  We won the Cold War and have heralded democracy across the globe.  We have embraced free market capitalism which has generated a large and vibrant middle class that did not even exist before that.  Let’s not forget America’s great free market system has literally created the most successful consumer class of citizens in the world.  Our middle class is the envy of the world.  So much so that people from everywhere want to come live and work here.  We do have a challenge with income inequality but it isn’t keeping very many people away from us.  And it has been that way for decades.  It isn't something that happened in the last three years.  Think about that.

That same market system has been working “great” since long before my opponent wanted to build a hotel of envy in Moscow.  The current bull market cycle began in 2009.  (pause) 2009.  Seven years before the 2016 election.  That is not fake news.  That is a fact. We are doing great things.  We have freed millions of children in America from disease and helped millions more across the globe.  And, while adequate nutrition is still an issue, news of starvation that we used to routinely read about 50 years ago has vanished from the face of the Earth.  Thanks, of course, to a strong international community but, particularly, thanks to strong American farming, industry, military and political leadership.  America has always been great.  Even in the depths of our worst recessions and the Great Depression our nation never stopped being great.  To suggest we need to be “made great again” (hands making quotation marks) is to sow the seeds of falsehood.

But my opponent misguidedly thinks our greatness waned at some point.  I say my opponent but we all know he is really our opponent.  Some of you don’t think so?  I’ll prove it to you.  What kind of a man is he?  He is the sort of man that thought he could trademark American greatness into a propaganda scheme and a bunch of red hats.  Think about that.  Is our greatness something that can be reduced to a trademark? I have serious concerns about whether our opponent is fit to continue to serve in the Office of the President.  Another irony is the very man who thought he could trademark American greatness is the greatest single threat to our greatness in the world.  Oh yes, I have serious concerns about this great nation remaining great, great beyond all trademarks.   

There are other seemingly insurmountable problems facing us.  There are foreign policy entanglements and challenges to meet.  There seems to be no way to bring peace to the Middle East or to other parts of the world.  Worldwide, 7 million people die every single year all over the globe from air pollution, from stuff human beings push into the air of this beautiful Earth.  That's not counting the tens of millions of others with respiratory conditions brought on by all this air pollution.  

Say what you will, my friends, but the Arctic ice sheet has indisputably shrank to its lowest level in my lifetime.  In fact, this has all happened since 1988.  And that’s just a canary in a coal mine.  Fires rage in many parts of the America and around the globe on an unprecedented scale.  That has happened on my watch.  It has happened on your watch.

Now some of my friends tell me that this is a normal fluctuation.  The Earth has always warmed and cooled cyclically.  And this is true.  Every few centuries or so temperatures and conditions do get cooler or warmer.  No doubt about it.  (forceful) But there’s also no doubt, my friends, that we have never seen the Earth warm up when there was this much CO2 in the atmosphere.  It has not happened in more than 400,000 years.  (faster) We know CO2 is natural.  We’re not claiming it isn’t.  We’re claiming human beings have artificially inseminated this natural element into our atmosphere at an unprecedented rate as the Earth is heating up.  (pause) Does that make what we are currently doing wise?  Would you create conditions like this in your house for your family?  Then why create those conditions for the entire world?

So there is a lot of greatness and a lot of seemingly insurmountable problems facing the Office of the President.  Ironically, that gives me cause for optimism.  American greatness has always risen to the challenge and it will continue to do so, it must do so, in the future.  But, I don’t want to give you the usual political spiel here.  All those issues and many others are important and they should be the focus of our country.

(slower) But they are not really the focus of our country are they?  Not really.  No.  It seems our attention has strayed to the Office of the President itself.  And not without good reason.  The Office and, more importantly, the leadership that comes from that Office, is fundamental to our national greatness.  That is why it is important to acknowledge that there is more focus being spent these days of who is President than on these challenges we all face.  There are many reasons for this because part of America’s continuing greatness is its diversity.  Diversity means there will be some disagreements.  But diversity also usually gives you more options than standardization.  So I am optimistic about a country built on diversity. 

These days our national attention span is focused on answering the question: Who is this President?  What is the content of his character?  What do we know about our opponent that is beyond dispute?  41% of our opponent's handpicked top officials quit him after just one year.  Beyond dispute he has had the highest staff turnover in recent presidential history.  A staggering 74% among non-Cabinet staffers working under him have quit.  And the truly scary thing about that is he still hasn’t even filled all his positions.  Still.  3 years on.  So his turnover rate is being compared with other presidents who had full staffs.  That makes it even higher because he hasn’t hired as many people.  

But beyond that there is the indisputable damage this man has done to his own party.  Many fine men and women with outstanding public service records from the Republican Party have not sought re-election.  They were here in 2016 and now they are gone.  Most of them are gone not because they were voted out of office.  Most of them are gone because they chose not to continue to serve.  I won’t name them all but this country misses the diversity of ethical and practical leadership their service provided.  Our opponent has cheated America of the great wisdom of the party of Eisenhower and Reagan.  Almost all of the strong ones are gone now and virtually all of those that remain will march the way our opponent tells them to march because that is what kind of character the man has.  Goose-stepping character.

What’s up with that?  Our opponent is on record as saying he’s the only one that matters.  On record.  Not fake news.  There’s no fake news in anything I’m saying today.  Think about this.  (faster) He’s the only one that matters.  His handpicked supporters won’t keep working for him.  They resign.  Or they are fired.  Few remain loyal to him and that infuriates him because, God knows, our opponent prizes nothing, not even America’s greatness, above loyalty toward himself.  (slower) That is on the record too.  Indisputable.

We know some remain inside this administration and are actively working to keep it from going off the rails, sometimes defying our opponent without him even knowing it.  This is on the record.  We know former handpicked men who served under him and who were close advisors to him are now in prison.  Six of them now, I believe.  Six of his closest political allies, men he personally preferred to serve him, are imprisoned since serving under him.  That is most definitely on the record.  From a legal and ethical perspective this is the most corrupt administration in American history.  Far surpassing Richard Nixon’s administration.  Nothing reveals the character of a man better than the company he keeps.  How can we as a nation continue to be great with leadership like this?  

Some of my friends say, well, the economy is doing great, so why rock to boat?  Let these things slide.  We are free to have our weekends.  We still our vacations and our shopping.  And it is true.  America is such a rewarding and entertaining country to live in especially when unemployment is low and the stock markets are high.  But hold on a minute.  Are you serious?  A fundamental part of our national fabric, a constitutional office, is being misused, ethically if not also legally, and you want to talk about our weekends?  There’s something wrong with this picture.  It may not matter this weekend or the next.  But, over the accumulation of weekends and years it starts to matter.  Big time.  This is what the my 2020 candidacy is all about.

And let us be clear, my friends.  20/20 vision demands we deal with facts, not perceptions.  (forceful) Nothing our opponent has done has made our economy great.  The undeniable fact is that the previous administration ended the Great Recession and more jobs were created in America during that time than have been during our opponent's time.  (more forceful) The previous administration inherited the Great Recession and still created 16 million jobs after that recession ended.  By comparison, over the same period of 31 months, 1.5 million fewer jobs, yes, fewer jobs have been created under our opponent's watch.  The rate of job growth in 2019 is slowing, not increasing.  These are facts.  Not fake news.  Our opponent's boasts of "transforming" our economy are simple BS.  (slower) The best that can be said for him is that our economy has continued on its established trajectory in spite of him.  His boasts about putting an additional $4,000 in the pockets of every working family and bringing back manufacturing jobs and dominating the global economy are all lies.  These facts are on the record.

(faster and building up in force) We know in the estimation of former high-ranking officials of this administration that our opponent has been played like a fiddle in foreign policy by virtually everyone.  Russia.  North Korea.  Even Israel.  His policy in Syria has our top military leaders ashamed of him.  This is on the record.  Not fake news.  Generals from our great military are on record as criticizing our opponent’s conduct as a leader.  The former Secretary of the Navy says his actions "completely dishonor" the great Americans serving our military.  And you know what?  (slower but with emphasis) I trust the military definition of great leadership over my opponent’s self-aggrandizement as being “the only one that matters.”

Think about all that.  (pause) Would you want this sort of leadership in your company?  How about your church?  As a friend you can always count on?  He tried to trademark greatness.  Think about that.  (pause) How can America continue to be great when the Office of the President no longer possesses anything resembling greatness?

What else do we know without spin or hype?  What else is unquestionable regardless of your political persuasion?  We know he actively intimidates people.  He’s done it on Twitter numerous times but, recently, during separate government proceedings.  Intimidation during the proceedings.  Indisputable.  Even Fox News couldn't believe it.  (hands waving) But, hey, let’s let that go.  He lost his cool for a moment and said something that even a conservative like Ken Starr said  showed "Extraordinarily poor judgment.”  That’s on the record too, by the way.  Let’s let that go and a lot of other stuff go and give him the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe he’s just that dumb.  (longer pause)

(like rolling thunder) But I know and what I want my fellow Americans to know is that our opponent is not dumb.  And that’s the scary part.  He knows exactly how he wants things to go and he is executing that path come hell or high water no matter how many of his staff quit him.  He has demonstrated on a global stage that he will be a tough guy.  He brags in his political commercials about "no more Mr. Nice Guy.”  What is this tough guy stuff he is talking about?  When was he ever "Mr. Nice Guy" to begin with?  Does he give America any major policy victories?  Does he strengthen our relationship with our allies?  Does he induce a rock solid trust on Wall Street and the offices of America’s businesses?

This tough guy is just the branding of a political spin doctor.  (faster with rhythm) Our opponent is a thug.  Our opponent is a bully.  Our opponent is incapable of great leadership.  Our opponent only knows that things will be his way or no way at all.  And there’s a term for people like that.  (pause then with strength) History teaches us that thugs and bullies in positions of leadership are, at worst, fascists and, at best, mobsters.  I defy anyone to look at the record as I have just stated it, all indisputably backed up without a single iota of fake news, and tell me this behavior, up and down the board, is not thuggish.  

Threats.  Intimidations.  Disrespect for almost everyone not wearing a MAGA cap.  My fellow Americans those caps are flashing red and have been from the beginning.  This is like having Al Capone or El Chapo in the Office of the President.  (building to great force) And that Office is too important for us to allow this clear, tangible, factual, absurd, failure of basic leadership to go on.  Our opponent is unfit to be President not because he’s crazy or a Neanderthal.  No.  He’s unfit because he is incapable of leading anyone anywhere.  Everybody he doesn’t fire quits on him.  He doesn’t lead America so much as he drags us down with him.

(pause) Our opponent has done great damage to the Office of the President.  He thinks being President is sitting behind a desk and smiling and holding up his extra-large signature on official documents for photographs.  (rhythmically again)  And he thinks he can go on with the threats.  Go on with the intimidations.  Go on behaving like a bully and bulldozing his way through America’s honor.  “I will have it my way of there will be hell to pay,” that is how my opponent lives.  That is on the record as how he conducts himself and America cannot allow this to go on.

I am running for President because, unfortunately, the Office of the President needs to be repaired and allowed to heal.  It has been assaulted by a man who will stop at nothing, nothing, to obtain loyalty from his people; who bullies everyone, friend or foe.  Sometimes he bullies friends even worse.  Loyalty comes easy to those with great leadership because it is earned out of respect.  But loyalty to a thug is a different matter entirely.  That isn’t loyalty at all.  It is simple, mind-numbing fear.  (pause) Some say hope is not a strategy.  What about fear?  Have we come to the point where fear is more of a strategy than hope?  Where does Paul teach us that in Second Corinthians – or as our opponent calls it "Two Corinthians"?

(forceful) The President of the United States of American should not be a bully and a thug.  It’s as simple as that.  But he is.  And his own staff and party cannot handle it.  They quit in droves.  The more he craves their loyalty, the more he practices his politics of fear, the more people desert him.  (slower but still with emphasis) And that is an encouraging sign.  I am optimistic.  Our opponent has alienated so many for so long that he will not be reelected.  We the American people, as the great people we have always been, will rise up and put a stop to this.  This is no way to run a company or a family or a nation.

(pause) So, my fellow Americans I am here today to announce my candidacy for President with a goal to bring 20-20 vision back to America in the year 2020, not some twisted, cultish, mob-like, loyalty-dependent version of it.  (build-up again) Great leadership doesn’t think it already has all the answers and that it is the only one that matters.  Great leadership is always inclusive, being receptive to all perspectives, seeking strength out of the diversity of opinions.  Great leadership moderates itself and finds the common ground.  Great leadership moves things forward in spite of the polarity of the times because it is inclusive of everyone who wants the best for everyone else in America - those of us who want all of us to prosper and benefit from the incredible tapestry of our great economy regardless of how progressive or conservative we might be.
 
(pause) We are all in this together.  We must make 2020 count.  We must bring great leadership back to this great country.  We have many challenges and opportunities before us but we cannot bring the strength of America to bear on any of them without great leadership.  The overriding issue in 2020 is to return great leadership to the White House and to mend the undeniable damage done to the Office of the President in the eyes of the American people and the world.  If we can do that I have no doubt, as I have already said, in America’s ability to rise to the challenge no matter how insurmountable it may seem.

God bless you all!  And this election, please, God bless the United States of America.  Thank you!

Note: Of course this is tongue-in-cheek.  But the content is serious and accurate.  Pssst!  Dems!  This is how you win.  (Keep that on the low-down.)  No mention of this impeachment circus, which is a mistake, in my opinion.  Do you want to be right?  Or do you want to win???  When I lived in Athens, before I went to India, the UGA student radio station played sermons by Martin Luther King on Monday evenings, IIRC.  I listened to dozens of them.  That's the style intended for this speech.