Something more...

I refuse average. I reject mediocre. I will not be "just another guy." I am grateful to every friend, family member, teacher, and person who has promised to vote for me in 2036, and in many ways, this is for them. It is also for the doubters, for those that tell me that I have no chance, that for whatever reason, I'm aiming too high. There's something I have to get off my chest, and something about the way God has made me that you need to know.

I refuse to settle. I've always aimed high, and pushed to get there. From the golden days of building three and four foot long boats out of Legos or using every available piece I owned to build the biggest fort I could to re-writing the first paragraph of the same speech ten times until it was perfect to calculating just how much breathing room I had on final to still get an A, I've always tried to prove...something, whether it was to other people or just to myself.

Coupled with that is my greatest insecurity: failing. I won't try things that I feel I won't be good at, and that's everything from cheesy internet games to classes. I'm the guy who will get a 90 on a paper and ask the professor what I can do better next time, which is good sometimes, and I'll freely admit, annoying or peculiar at others.

The White House. I hear from several friends that I'll never make it, for whatever reason, whether it's that the country won't be in the shape for a staunch conservative or that we're not ready for a black President, or that I don't have what it takes, or a variety of other reasons. I refuse to be average. I was created to do something more. I was meant to change the world, heck, we all are.

I am not in this for the money, the power, the fame, or even for me. I will be working my butt off for the next 29 years to be the man best qualified to run the country, because I believe in a few things that make this country great. I believe that despite whatever downward spiral we may be on, we can turn things around and be the greatest country in the world far into the future. I intend to be King Josiah for the US; at Judah's lowest point, with inevitable destruction and judgment coming, Josiah came as this last gasp, one last light of righteousness. And if anyone thinks that we’re headed for the end times, and therefore there is no chance to ever see people choose righteousness anymore, Josiah was different. He led his nation in repentance by his own example, and God was pleased with him. I want to do that. Am I crazy? Maybe a little. Am I ambitious? Absolutely. But I am called to be a part of the political process, and I am going to press to be the best. Period.

God blessed me with the skill set to do the job. There are a great many things I am utterly unqualified for. I cannot write a beautiful piece of music, nor could I perform one written by someone else. I cannot write great poetry or unforgettable stories. I am no actor. I cannot paint, take great pictures, or excel in any form of the arts. I would make a disastrous doctor, and science is hardly my forte. I will not cure cancer, the cold, AIDS, or even administer life-saving treatment for the things we already know how to fix.

What I can do is communicate. I’m not just comfortable on the stage, I feel at home there. I have a multitude of insecurities, most of which you will never see because I’m proficient at masking them, but when I’m on a stage or behind a podium with something to say, all of that melts away. I read people, propositions, and conflicts well. I have many times shown people that they were arguing simply because they were saying the same thing a different way. I am a first-read learner with an analytical mind. I know how to be diplomatic but firm and how to push people to quit talking something to death and get up and do. I’m willing to fight for what I know what is right. I will never forget what is perhaps the single wisest thing I have ever heard (which comes from my dad) “Do the right thing, because it is the right to do, regardless of what it costs you.” I know how to do the things that the office of President requires.

On January 20^th 2035, I will formally announce my candidacy for the 2036 Presidential election for the second time (the first being December 2005). At noon on Tuesday, January 20^th, 2037 I will stand before 81-year-old Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. with my right hand on the Bible and swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God! And at 12:01pm, I will face the country as the 48^th President of the United States and declare that America will be something more. As a nation we will reject mediocrity, but strive to be something more. Every individual has value, every woman, man, teenager, child, and baby means something. We have not yet faced a challenge that has beaten us, and it certainly will not start on my watch. What we do, we will do with excellence, because we are Americans, and that means something. We will remember what makes us Americans. We are a nation of open arms that respects and reveres our godly heritage, but with love and respect for everyone, even those with whom we disagree. We love liberty but do not abuse it. We push to be better, because better is something worth striving for. We take up the cause of those with no voice and no strength to do it for themselves. We are Americans, and that means something!

And when I leave the White House, I don’t care if my approval rating is the lowest in history or the highest. Whether that departure comes after one term or two, or if someone determines that I ought to be removed by whatever means necessary, I will be satisfied if my God is pleased with and my parents are proud of what I have done. And when I walk out of the doors of the White House for the last time and watch my first court appointment administer the Oath of Office to my successor, I will leave with no regrets. Every sleepless night, stressful day, bitter fight, costly battle, tense meeting, and gut-wrenching decision will be worth it, because when I leave the White House, I want this country to be something different. Something better.

In His Grace,
The Notorious T.E.P.

Decieved about Iraq...

We are over a half-decade into the Iraq conflict, and some people are now wearied by it, though most don’t even know why. I feel there are several misconceptions about the war that need to be cleared up.

The first of these is casualties. As calloused as it sounds, casualties happen anytime men pick up guns, swords, bows, or large sticks to resolve conflict. Even donkey jawbones can be the cause of casualties (Samson). The goal is to minimize casualties, and if at all possible, avoid unnecessary casualties. I’d like to point out a couple of things. Comparatively, the number of casualties in Iraq has been low. Even at the height of US casualties, Washington D.C. has a higher violent death rate than Iraq as a whole (as do Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Atlanta), according to Representative Steve King of Iowa. Furthermore, among the causes of casualties one has to notice is the fact that Congress hijacked the war from the beginning. Congressional leaders, including 2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry, and his running mate John Edwards (who is also battling for the 2008 party nomination) voted against the initial Iraq spending bill, which included funding for body armor and high-grade ammunition. Furthermore, Bush’s initial battle plan called for 300k-400k soldiers, what he got was 185k. These two factors (which, by the way, were not in Bush’s hands) have largely contributed to American casualties in Iraq. I’d also like to point to the second spending bill that Congress hamstrung which called for the retrofitting of troop transport vehicles to protect against roadside bombs.

The second major misconception is the issue for which Bush is typically blamed: The pretense of destroying Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) which we haven’t found thus far. The accusation is that Bush “lied to us.” Fine, but if he did, then so did the Germans, the French, the British, the Swiss, the UN, Clinton, Bush Senior, Reagan, and even Saddam. A quick trip through the Encyclopedia will reveal that much.

If you pick up the Encyclopedia Britannica and read the long article on Military Science, it reveals that Saddam Hussein used Biological and Chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war, 1984-88 (Reagan era).

Encyclopedia Britannica World Book 1992 (page 232): “Third, the potential Iraqi wildcards of Scud missiles and CBW [Chemical & Biological Weapons] proved ineffective…Iraq’s  failure to use its stockpile of battlefield chemical weapons was yet to be fully explained, but it was cause partly by allied firepower, which destroyed chemical stocks and artillery and aircraft delivery systems.” 

EB World Book 1992 (page 342): “Iraq in May accepted a rigorous system of UN inspections of it’s military and scientific installations by a commission with Rolf Ekeus of Sweden as executive chairman, allowing nearly total freedom to investigate Iraqi weapons programs. One inspection team announced that it had discovered 12kg of highly enriched uranium in Iraq. The teams also established that Iraq was seeking to produce enriched uranium by three separate methods.

Beginning in June, UN inspectors complained periodically that Iraq was attempting to conceal or remove uranium-enrichment machinery. Tension rose when Iraq held 44 UN inspectors captive in a Baghdad parking lot for four days (September 25-28) after they had seized documents related to the country’s nuclear program.

Fact: In 1991, Bush part 1, Saddam Hussein had Biological, Chemical, and Nuclear capability, confirmed by the UN.

The EB World Book 1996 (page 261) reveals that Saddam himself admitted to possessing and arming chemical and biological weapons, and that he was trying develop radiological weapons. This would be during the Clinton Administration.

EB World Book 1999 (page 386): “On February 7 and 8, during the year’s first major confrontation between the UN and Iraq, US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned that they would use force, if necessary, to press Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to allow UNSCOM [the UN Special Commission] to fulfill its duties.

All through the year UNSCOM head Richard Butler warned the Security Council that the commission found it increasingly difficult to determine whether Iraq had actually destroyed all of its weapons of mass destruction. His evidence showed that Iraq was hiding biological and chemical weapons and refusing to supply an honest and full accounting. Iraq asserted that its project to produce VX nerve gas had failed, but UNSCOM found that Iraqis had actually produced four tons of it, still could produce VX in industrial quantities, and had not accounted for material sufficient to make 200 tons of chemical weapons. On October 26, American, French, and Swiss scientists agreed that Iraqis had loaded some of their missiles with VX and then used detergent to wash it off.

Iraq at least had the capacity to make WMDs, lied about that aforementioned capacity, and had attempted to cover it up, confirmed by the UN, as well as French and Swiss scientists. Furthermore, Iraq interfered incessantly with UN inspectors, And on December 16, 1998, the US and Britain bombed Iraq. That was also during the Clinton administration. I’d also like to point out that UNSCOM had changed directors by this point, which indicates that it was not just one man shading the data.

In 1995, 1998, and 2000, all years of the Clinton administration, Saddam refused to allow UN inspectors in the country, in spite of promises from the UN to lift trade sanctions if Iraq cooperated with investigations. Considering the fact that Saddam alleged that his people were suffering as a result of the embargo, it seems suspect that if he had nothing to hide, he would not allow for the lifting of the embargo. Clinton seemed to consider this sufficient evidence to use military force against Iraq…in fact, his justification for bombing wasn’t just WMD possession, but non-compliance with UN investigations. Taking into account the fact that he bombed “strategic sites” indicates that Clinton had some kind of intelligence to work with.

EB World Book 2002 (page 279): “German and US intelligence agencies reported that since the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, Iraq had been able to reconstruct a significant number of its production facilities for weapons of mass destruction.

Iraq had WMD production capacity, confirmed by German intelligence.

You see, if Bush had it wrong, then so did the Germans, the French, the British, the Swiss, the UN, Clinton, Bush Senior, Reagan, and even Saddam.

The Notorious T.E.P.

Backwards Logic...

Not a religious issue?

Yay for irrationality!