David Alan Black 

As everyone who reads Dave Black Online knows, I hold a deep and personal commitment to the U.S. Constitution. Sadly, this bedrock of our nation has practically been demolished. The Constitution has been betrayed by both Democrats and Republicans. Never has America been led by such a reckless head of state. The challenges we face as a country, from within and from without, demand that “We the People” salvage whatever we can out of our Republic before the curtain falls.

Our national leaders ask for our trust, but their trust has been abused on a thousand occasions. Our government wields its power with arrogance and utter disdain for the Constitution. There is virtually no attempt to display that “modesty of true strength” and “humility of real greatness” that George W. Bush expressed during his presidential campaign. Smug and superior, the White House disregards the very future of the country while amassing power in blatant disregard of life and liberty.

How ironic that a Republican administration should threaten the very republican foundation upon which our nation was built. The roots of this corrupt tree run deep in the soil of our nature. Ambition has replaced virtue as the primary qualification for office. Presidents get away with their outrageous policies through the generous complicity of the populace. Mr. Bush’s world is comprised of “us” and “them,” his “friends” and his “enemies.” Even Nixon’s paranoia over his “enemies” pales with Bush’s disdain for dissent.

Of course, not everybody in the country is asleep. Yet only a pitiful few speak out. Even evangelicals stand passively mute, seemingly stunned by the sheer weight of events. Europe sees us as a Wild West bully – and they are right. We are reaping what we have sown.

Whether you like a particular officeholder or not is beside the point. It’s not a matter of personal taste. It’s a matter of judging people by their fruits – and holding them accountable to their oaths of office. As a DBO reader once put it to me in an email:

Elected officials are not our leaders, they are our employees. We are Americans. Americans don’t elect leaders. Our leaders come from among us as they did in the 1770s and the 1860s. Bush isn’t our boss, he’s our butler. Senators such as John Warner and Charles Schumer aren’t our generals, they’re the janitors of our system of government. Elected officials are the housecleaners, scullery maids, cooks, dishwashers, gardeners and toilet scrubbers of our society, not the bosses or supervisors they pretend to be.

We are indeed to pray for our leaders, but let’s first identify who they are. One good rule of thumb is that if they draw their pay from the public treasury, then they aren’t leaders, but employees.

If we really love our country, we will sometimes have to exercise “tough love” toward our elected officials. It is not unpatriotic to challenge the new imperial cult that has developed in America. It is not anti-American to advocate constitutional government. To be responsible citizens, each of us must speak out against the social engineering philosophy of the New World Order in Washington.  Forget, “My country right or wrong.” How about, “The Constitution, freedom, and limited government!”

If there is one man who possesses this devotion to God and country, if there is one man who is willing to stand for the “Constitution, freedom, and limited government,” that man is Mr. Michael Anthony Peroutka. Mr. Peroutka announced his candidacy for President of the United States statement with these humble words:

To say that I did not feel qualified to take on such a massive task is to engage in gross understatement. After prayer and serious consideration, I am convinced that the question of my qualification and competence is not solely within my power to judge. The uniqueness of this undertaking and the special demands that it requires, make it necessary to rely upon the judgment, experience and counsel of men who have trod this path before me. In short, if men like Howard Phillips and Jim Clymer are convinced that I can adequately represent the Constitution Party in such a fashion, then I must weigh their opinion and their vision as well as my own knowledge of the task and of my own strengths and shortcomings. In light of these considerations, and despite previous misgivings, I believe God has given me this duty to perform.  

Mr. Peroutka entertained no illusions that his path would be easy or “successful” in the world’s eyes. He was simply carrying out to the best of his ability the will of God as he understood it:

[T]here are at least two distinct tasks against which competency must be judged. One is the running of a legitimate and appropriate candidacy. The second is the serving in office in the event that God would grant the victory. About the first I know almost nothing except that it will be a challenge that will test my knowledge, patience, energy, and stamina. I expect to take punches and I need to do so with equanimity and maintain the course despite attacks and setbacks. I am committed to this. Regarding the second, I feel a little more qualified. Although I am not well-schooled on every important issue, I do feel that I have an overall grasp of what a Constitutional Republic of Sovereign States based on Biblical principles would look like and I think, with practice, I can express this clearly and concisely. Applying these principles to every question of current events in a rapid-fire interview with good sound bites may not be my forte but I think I could actually do the work of the office if God gave it to me to do. Moreover, I am confident that if He gave it to me He would give me the resources and the help to carry out His will for me.  

Thus, as voters in the 2004 election, we were faced with a valid and viable alternative to the two-party monopoly that dominates American politics. And it is all because a man named Peroutka identified himself with that which is required by the Bible and the Constitution. Here was an individual willing to report to Divine Headquarters for his marching orders. He led, not Gideon’s 32,000, but a dedicated 300 patterned after Christ and not after the crowd. He was willing to be God’s seed corn, dying to self (and make no mistake about it: a presidential campaign is no bed of roses). He proved, at least to this writer’s satisfaction, that when the situation is desperate, the saints are not.