Acting like Americans

By Helen Valois

Alan Keyes said something thought-provoking the other day. That in itself is unremarkable; it happens every time the man opens his mouth. One particular tidbit of historical insight he offered on Janet Folger's show, however, has given me no rest, and I'd like to invite all of you to front-burner it in your 2008 presidential race considerations as well.

We all know well the fix we're in. The Republican defection not only from principle but from all that is decent (and even commonsensical) that we have long feared and predicted is coming to pass at last. What to do? The number of good-hearted, well-intentioned people apparently willing to chug the Kool Aid for whomever the professional chatterers and political insiders unilaterally designate as "presumptive Republican front runner" is nothing short of blood-chilling. Where will it all lead? "Who can justify voting for somebody who's going to destroy your country, because they wear a Republican label rather than a Democrat label? It doesn't matter a bit," Dr. Keyes argued, irrefutably enough, but that is not the quote I mainly wanted to point out to those of you as non-negotiably dissatisfied with the McCandidacies being served up to us as I am. Rather, this is (Faith 2 Action, April 4, 2007):

You know, in a system of self-government, the better way is for people to consider who's actually got what we need right now. And whether that person is running or not running, you go to them and say, 'You must stand forward and do your duty.' And that, actually, by the way, in both form and sometimes in substance, was the way our politics was conducted throughout the early part of the twentieth century. As a matter of fact, it was considered bad form for candidates to go out and campaign for themselves. The whole idea was that people at the grassroots would organize, that they'd agree amongst themselves as to who could really represent what they thought was best for the country, and they would promote that person, who would then have to give a yeah or nay as to whether or not they were going to accept the support that these people were offering.

And who on the national political scene actually has "what we need right now"? Alan Keyes himself, of course, and I challenge anyone to sustain a charge of hyperbole against me when I add, "and Alan Keyes alone." I have been one of the many Americans — and yes, we do exist, no matter how invisible the mainstream media chooses to pretend we are — waiting patiently and praying steadily for Keyes to throw his hat in the ring, but it never occurred to me until considering his remarks cited above that, in fact, he may consider himself to be waiting for us.

So, guys and gals, let's stop allowing the political process to go on defining us (right out of civic existence). It's time to stand forward and do our own duty — that of recruiting Alan Keyes to run for President in 2008. Who can get an online petition going? Who can restart the home-centered informational sessions through which I myself first learned about Dr. Keyes over a decade and a half ago? Who can schedule a "KEYES IN 2008" Rally and make it a must-be-there event?

Conversely, we could choose to subscribe to the flipside of leftist thinking in the form of platitudes like, "A real conservative is unelectable," "The country isn't ready for a black President (unless it's Barack Obama)," and "Anything is better than another Clinton in the White House!" People, do we really want to find out what that "anything" might prove to be? Unless we do our part and do it now, the 2008 election will not be the pivotal event it is universally touted as. It will become but a blip on the screen in the tragic story of America's ultimate downfall, the story of a people who were never conquered from the outside but who let their country die by attrition in the quiet of their own hearts. If that is not the outcome we are looking for when the Bush 43 administration ends at last, then it's time to start acting like Americans again.

© Helen Valois